Nashville ran their general election back on August 3rd with the mayor, vice mayor, and all 40 city council seats up on the ballot. Of those, five of the races, including mayor, went to a runoff after no candidate achieved a 50%+1 majority of the vote. The mayor’s race featured twelve candidates competing for the office left open after Mayor John Cooper opted not to seek a second term. Freddie O’Connell was the top finisher getting 27% of the vote and Alice Rolli finished in second with 20%. Although the race is technically nonpartisan, the party affiliation of both of the candidates is known. O’Connell is a Democrat who has served on the City Council representing the 19th District since 2015. Rolli is a Republican who worked on the staff of both former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and former Tennessee US Senator Lamar Alexander. Nashville is typically a staunchly Democratic city.
In the City Council at-large race 21 candidates were vying for five seats on the council in the August 3rd general election. Only one candidate got over the 10% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. That left four seats still open allowing the next eight highest-finishing candidates to advance to the runoff. Of those eight candidates, four are incumbents. None of the three district council seats that have gone to a runoff feature incumbents.
There is also a special election for a vacant seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives. The 51st District seat is vacant after Democratic State Rep. Bill Beck passed away unexpectedly back in June. The district is heavily Democratic and contained completely within Davidson County. The Davidson County Metro Council chose Anthony Davis as an interim replacement to serve in the seat until a special election could be held. Davis lost in the special Democratic primary on August 3rd to progressive challenger Aftyn Behn. She now faces Republican David Hooven and independent candidate Annabelle Lee to be the next representative for this east Nashville district.