Tennessee’s capital city could have its fourth mayor in less than five years as incumbent Mayor John Cooper announced Tuesday that he would not be seeking reelection. The race to lead the growing city will take place on Aug. 3.
Briley was appointed acting mayor and won a special election to serve the remaining time of Barry’s term prior to being defeated by Cooper. Cooper was the first candidate to defeat an incumbent mayor seeking reelection in the history of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, which was established in 1963.
Touting His Actions as Mayor
In a short press conference Tuesday, Cooper said he was making a “happy” announcement.“I have had a great time in my government service,” Cooper said. “I came as a councilman seven and a half years ago to make government work better for all of us. And four years ago, I ran for mayor, knowing that the city needed to change.” (4:42)
Cooper touted his plans to have safe neighborhoods with better infrastructure, beautiful parks, and well-funded schools. (5:15) “And we have done all of that,” Cooper said.
Cooper’s term started out with struggles and those struggles only continued to pile up. The week he took over as mayor, the government faced a state takeover of finances for financial mismanagement, the water department was an officially distressed public utility, and cash reserves were depleted, Cooper said. (5:25)
“In less than a year, Nashville suffered from the tornado, derecho, COVID, courthouse attack, the downtown bombing, 101 COVID press conferences in one year to guide the city through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic,” he said. “In many respects, 2020 was itself a full term in office.”
Cooper said he saw his mayoral tenure as two terms: a term of crisis and a term of course correction.
“My term as your mayor has been in many ways two terms. It was a term of crisis and a term of investment,“ Cooper said. ”A term to course correct and a term to move forward. A term of perseverance and a term of progress, and we have delivered.” (6:25)
Under his tenure, Cooper touted what he saw as wins, including finalizing a $1.2 billion deal with tech giant Oracle, creating a Department of Transportation for the city, and a transportation plan. He has also overseen negotiations for a major league soccer stadium and a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans.
Cooper said during his remaining time in office, he will focus on public safety, Nashville’s homelessness response, and the redevelopment of the city’s East Bank.
“We’ve accomplished so much in the last 40 months, and it’s true, there’s much to get done,” he said. “We have created a platform for the next great chapter in our city’s history.” (10:30)