Please Vote Nashville

Natisha Brooks

Natisha Brooks is a self-described conservative from Gimer, Texas. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Prairie A&M University and became a home school and tutoring consultant in 2001.

She resides in Nashville and is the owner and director of The Brooks Academy, a Christian homeschool institution. In 2022, Brooks unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 5.

The key issues in Brooks’ campaign are mental health, public safety, and education. Brooks proposes addressing these issues by increasing funding for mental health facilities, improving compensation and staffing for the Metro Nashville police department, and raising teachers’ salaries, although she has not outlined how these priorities would be paid for.

Brooks believes that reducing property taxes will improve affordability in Nashville. She views conventions such as the Republican or Democratic National Conventions as valuable economic opportunities for the city, and she does not support a new Titans stadium due to the lack of community support. As an educator, Brooks supports school choice for parents and children.

Fran Bush

Fran Bush is a native Nashvillian who has lived in Antioch since 2001. She attended Metro Nashville Public Schools and went on to attend Tennessee State University. She has served as president of her homeowner’s association for 20 years.

Bush owns and directs a childcare center, Model Kids Learning Academy, which has been operating for more than 15 years. After serving on the Metro Nashville Board of Education for four years, Bush lost her bid for reelection in 2022 following her support of reopening schools during the pandemic.

One of Bush’s priority issues in her mayoral candidacy is affordable housing and homelessness, which she plans to address by “providing incentives for developers to build more affordable units.” Bush recognizes the importance of transportation issues and supports adding light rail, improving bus routes, and developing other infrastructure, all with community input. Regarding public safety, Bush supports early intervention and prevention through mental health support, and she believes that crime can be addressed through implementing restorative justice and addressing economic inequalities.

Heidi Campbell

Heidi Campbell earned her bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College and her MBA from Vanderbilt University. In 2022, Campbell ran to represent Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, losing to Republican Andy Ogles. She previously served two terms as the Mayor of Oak Hill.

Campbell is currently serving her first term in the Tennessee State Senate, which lasts from 2020 to 2024. She sits on several committees, including the Transportation and Safety Committee, and she chairs the Davidson County Legislative Delegation. Outside of her work, Campbell values being a mother and has professional experience as a music industry executive, songwriter and musician.

Campbell’s key issues include public education, affordability and transportation infrastructure. Campbell has been vocal about common sense gun reform following the Nashville school shooting in March 2023. She believes her experience in politics and government proves her ability to work across the aisle and gives her a deep understanding of the city, as she has developed strong relationships with other leaders in Nashville.

Bernie Cox

Bernie Cox received a degree in business administration from Fullerton College and is an entrepreneur and songwriter. Cox feels his private sector experience will benefit him as mayor, having lived as a “private citizen, never once [living] on a taxpayer’s dime as a politician.” He considers himself in touch with the needs of Nashville community members. Cox has served on the board of directors for the Cumberland Apartments on Church Street.

Cox’s campaign priorities include criminal justice through upholding laws and supporting the daily operations of the police to protect the community. Cox wants to address homelessness through guided direction and provide “homeless community centers” with training and personal services. He plans to protect Nashville’s tourism industry and improve transit by doubling the number of bus routes as an initial step.

Jim Gingrich

Jim Gingrich received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Cornell University as well as two graduate degrees, a master’s degree in engineering and an MBA. He grew up in the Kansas City area and moved to Nashville in 2018.

He is the former Chief Operating Officer of AllianceBernstein, a global asset management firm. As COO, Gingrich orchestrated the relocation of the company’s headquarters to Nashville before he retired in 2020.

Gingrich has concerns about what the rapid growth of Nashville means for its citizens, and he cites his business background and managerial experience as qualifications for leading the city. He told the Tennessean, “I am not a career politician, I’m a problem solver.”

Gingrich has promised to implement a growth management plan to build more affordable housing through a mix of public and private partnerships, and address transit, public schools, crime, and infrastructure. Gingrich criticized the deal to build a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans, but he would support a new stadium if the financing were better for Nashvillians.

Sharon Hurt

Sharon Hurt is a longtime Nashville resident. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Tennessee State University and a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership from Belmont University.

She serves as the executive director of Street Works, which aims to help those with HIV/AIDS, and is the former CEO of J.U.M.P. Nashville, an organization aiming to revitalize and steward growth in the historic Jefferson Street neighborhood. Hurt has served on the Metro Council since 2015, winning reelection in 2019. She has served as Chair of Metro Council’s Health, Hospitals and Social Services Committee.

Civil rights is a central part of Hurt’s platform. She wants to reestablish Nashville’s Community Oversight Board and involve formerly incarcerated individuals in workforce development programs. Hurt voted in favor of the recent Titans Stadium funding bill. She believes her balanced approach, having lived and worked in many different parts of the city, makes her uniquely qualified to be mayor.

Stephanie Johnson

Stephanie Johnson is the creative director for Shea + Coconut, a skincare company. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.

She received a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership and management from Regent University, where she also served as the president of the International Justice Mission. During this time, she helped successfully lobby the Virginia State Congress for the passage of anti-human trafficking legislation. She has worked as a nonprofit and business consultant. Johnson moved back to Nashville in 2015, and unsuccessfully campaigned to represent District 7 in 2019.

Johnson wants to keep schools safe from violence and improve their educational impact. She is focused on providing safe and affordable housing. Johnson plans to increase community safety through de-escalation training, nonviolent conflict resolution methods for students, and holding a 35-district gun buyback event. Johnson would like to improve infrastructure through alternative transportation modes, composting waste to divert trash from landfills, and assessing sidewalk needs.

Freddie O’Connell

Freddie O’Connell is a lifelong Nashvillian with bachelor’s degrees in music and computer science from Brown University. He founded Mimetic Industries, a company that creates tangible artifacts of internet-based moments, and has served on the boards of Nashville MTA, Walk Bike Nashville, the Belcourt Theatre and Cumberland Region Tomorrow. 

He has served on Metro Council since 2015. During this tenure, he has served as chair of both the Public Works Committee and the Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Committee. In 2021, he led efforts to regulate “transportainment,” or large entertainment vehicles in the downtown area.

O’Connell believes he is the only mayoral candidate ready to lead on day one. He released a list of “15 Fixes on Day One” where he discusses developing a public safety plan that incorporates both safety and justice, establishing a standalone department to manage solid waste (currently managed by Metro Water Services), ensuring all Metro buildings are powered by solar energy within three years, and creating new standards to ensure Metro’s effective and transparent communication with the Nashville community. He intends to implement a three year public transit plan to reduce bus transfers and traffic without raising taxes.

Alice Rolli

Nashville native and Republican Alice Rolli earned her bachelor’s degree in international relations from Stanford University and an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. She has worked in both state and federal government, including serving as the assistant commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development under Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration, as well as Senator Lamar Alexander’s campaign manager.

Rolli is the former Vice President of Sales and Advocacy for QuaverEd, a music education technology company. In May 2022, she became the vice president of sales and marketing for Possip, a company providing a teacher-to-parent communication platform.

Rolli believes in shoring up the city’s finances and resetting spending priorities. Rolli considers discussions of gun safety legislation to be “a national political issue,” but would ensure school resource officers in elementary schools to increase school safety. To fight crime, Rolli is focused on the recruitment and retention of first responders and police officers. She wants to manage growth from a regional perspective, understanding the reliance on state and federal funding for infrastructure and program implementation.

Vivian Wilhoite

Vivian Wilhoite is from Gulfport, Mississippi. She earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Tennessee State University. From 2016 to 2020, she was the assessor of property in Davidson County, and the first African American woman to hold this office. Prior to this, Wilhoite served on the Metro Council as District 29’s Representative for eight years.

In 2018, the Tennessee Association of Assessors recognized her as an Outstanding New Member, highlighting her office’s outreach to deaf and hard-of-hearing property owners. Between 2017 and 2018, her office completed reappraisals that brought in $58 million of new construction revenue.

Wilhoite believes that a multifaceted approach, including utilizing grants, taxes and bonds, as well as public-private partnerships, is necessary to provide affordable housing and that these efforts are the first step in ending homelessness. She supports creating mixed income neighborhoods. Wilhoite wants to work toward becoming a carbon neutral city by 2050 through the creation of a sustainable transit plan. She wants to increase public safety by bringing conflict resolution education to schools and by supporting violence prevention non profit groups that work with high risk populations.

Matthew A. Wiltshire

Matt Wiltshire is a Nashville native who received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College. Wiltshire began his career in investment banking. He helped found a private capital firm called Greenbridge Partners, worked as a partner at venture capital firm NEST-TN, and as a director at investment banking group Avondale Partners. Wiltshire has also served as the president of the board of Hands On Nashville and on the boards of the Center for Nonprofit Management and Tennessee Justice Center.

In 2011, Wiltshire was named director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development, where he helped recruit corporations to expand in Nashville. In 2019, Mayor David Briley named Wiltshire the chief strategy and intergovernmental affairs officer for the Metro Development and Housing Agency where he was in charge of affordable housing initiatives.

As mayor, Wiltshire seeks to increase the supply of affordable housing in Nashville, but sees a solution in increasing access to tax relief and tax freeze programs. He would increase funding for the Barnes Fund and accelerate the implementation of the MDHA Envision program. He also feels coordinating services such as mental health care, combating domestic violence, addressing substance abuse, and that finding a job will help.

Wiltshire feels a large-scale mass transit system is unlikely to solve current traffic issues. He supports the Titan’s stadium financing. He proposes reducing gun violence by supporting police in enforcing dispossession orders and partnering with community organizations to hold gun buyback events and giving away free gun locks.

Jeff Yarbro

Jeff Yarbro grew up in Dyersburg, Tenn. He received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and later served on Al Gore’s presidential campaign. Yarbro then pursued a law degree from the University of Virginia and moved to Nashville. After a clerkship with a federal judge, Yarbro has practiced law with Bass, Berry & Sims, where he helped formalize the firm’s pro bono program.

Yarbro was elected to the Tennessee Senate representing District 21 in 2014. In his first term, Yarbro was appointed chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and he was appointed senate minority leader in 2018. While in office Yarbro has served on the Health and Welfare, Rules, Transportation, and Safety committees. In addition to his political service, Yarbro has co-chaired Nashville community-based organization Casa Azafrán’s capital campaign and served on the board of directors for East End Preparatory School.

After the Tennessee abortion ban went into effect, Yarbro warned that criminalizing abortion would result in an increase in infant and maternal mortality rates. During recent education hearings, Yarbro argued that the Tennessee Charter School Commission should ensure an independent review and approval process rather than prioritizing opening more charter schools. Yarbro has argued against efforts to include right-to-work provisions in the Tennessee Constitution.

As mayor, Yarbro seeks to prioritize education, specifically recruiting and retaining teachers and supporting students and families in the transition from early childhood to elementary school and high school to higher education, training, and the workforce. Yarbro plans to invest in neighborhood-scale infrastructure and long-term efforts to improve mass transit, thereby maintaining affordability and strategically directing growth. Yarbro also seeks to improve staffing, training, and compensation for Nashville’s police force, as well as developing a trauma response strategy.