Nashville mayor declines second run for top city office
Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced Tuesday morning he will not run for re-election, surprising political insiders and likely opening the floodgates for candidates.
Cooper termed his announcement a happy one. He also reviewed the promises he made when he ran in 2019 and how his administration has addressed challenges.
He touted his accomplishments, including paid family leave for Metro Schools employees and raises for teachers, a raise to $18 minimum wage for all Metro government employees, creation of departments for transportation and housing, investments in public safety — including body cameras for Metro Police — and development of the city’s East Bank of the Cumberland River.
He also reflected on the challenges he faced in office.
“The actual week I was elected, we faced a state takeover for financial mismanagement. Our water department was officially a financially distressed utility. Our city departments and our communities suffered from chronic underinvestment,” Cooper said. “We were selling historic sites to pretend to balance the budget. We were giving away the city’s most valuable assets.
“Bad deals for taxpayers were costing our city resources we needed to fund our core priorities.”
His first full year in office — 2020 — felt like a whole term, he said.
A tornado devastated portions of North and East Nashville on March 3, 2020, just as COVID-19 emerged in Davidson County. Two weeks later, Cooper ordered closures of nonessential businesses, including restaurants and bars considered crucial to the area’s tourist economy. The decision earned him enmity from several prominent downtown business owners, including Steve Smith, owner of properties that include Tootsie’s. Smith recently took out a TV ad titled, “Anybody but Cooper.”
Then, on Christmas Day 2020, a bomb devastated a block of Nashville’s historic Second Avenue.
The city’s relationship with the supermajority Republican Tennessee General Assembly has been, at best, a tenuous one.
Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, this year introduced a bill to cut the size of Nashville’s 40-member Metro Council in half, a move seen as retribution for the council’s voting down approval for the city to host the 2024 Republican National Committee.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge, the Senate speaker, filed a bill to strip state support of Nashville’s convention center.
Cooper has garnered criticism in his tenure for what has been perceived by progressive members of the Nashville community as an over-emphasis on the East Bank development and not enough focus on social issues, including a permanent plan for housing members of the city’s unhoused population.
Announced candidates are Metro Councilwomanat-Large Sharon Hurt, Metro Councilman Freddie O’Connell and Matt Wiltshire, former director of Nashville’s Office of Economic and Community Development.
Cooper was widely considered a safe bet to win re-election, and political insiders have described the current field as weak.
“This changes the nature of the race significantly,” said Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville.
“The mayor’s race is no longer going to be about what John Cooper got wrong, but how we ensure we get Nashville’s future right,” Yarbro said. “And that’s an entirely different debate that all of Nashville should be excited to have.
“I’m not sure just yet what role I’ll play in that debate. But as someone who loves this city, I’m eager to see us start planning for the city’s future,” he said.
Davidson County Property Assessor Vivian Wilhoite tweeted Tuesday morning that she is considering running and will launch an exploratory committee.
Dr. Alex Jahangir, whose name has surfaced as a potential candidate to replace Cooper, said Tuesday he’s given no thought to a campaign.
Jahangir, who led Nashville’s COVID-19 response, said, “I saw firsthand (Cooper’s) ability to lead people through crises, both with COVID and the bombing. He personally mentored me in city-type operations.”
“Whoever the next mayor is has a strong foundation to build on,” he said.