Metro Nashville At-Large Council Member Sharon Hurt announced her candidacy for Nashville Mayor this week. Hurt is looking to unseat Mayor John Cooper, who has not yet formally announced if he is running for re-election in 2023.
Hurt was first elected to the Metro Nashville City Council in 2015 and won re-election in 2019. Her current term ends in 2023.
“Nashville is a city of growth and opportunity for some, but too many longtime Nashvillians have been forgotten and shut out of the city’s prosperity. These forgotten working and middle-class families need and deserve a voice and a leader in City Hall who fights for them,” Hurt said in a statement announcing her candidacy, according to WSMV Nashville. “I will fight for all people and no one can be left behind as Nashville experiences astronomical growth and a lack of affordable housing.”
Among the ways Hurt plans to strengthen neighborhoods will be to encourage home ownership, capitalize small neighborhood businesses, increase minority participation in city contracts, increase community-based police work, and invest in public schools, WSMV notes.
“As the next Mayor of Nashville, I will work my heart out to restore hope and prosperity on every forgotten block in our city,” Hurt added, according to WSMV.
Hurt has been outspoken on a number of issues surrounding Nashville. Recently, on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, she expressed support for the new Tennessee Titans’ stadium being put on the taxpayers tab.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurt advocated for “strong legislation” for those who did not wear masks and suggested they be charged with murder or attempted murder, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
Hurt is not the only one challenging Mayor Cooper this election. Metro Nashville Council Member Freddie O’Connell (District 19) and former government official Matt Wiltshire have also announced their candidacies.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Sharon Hurt” by Sharon Hurt and “Nashville Skyline” is by Jason Mrachina CCNDNC2.0
If this is the best that Nashville can do we are in more trouble than I thought.
She defines an Authoritarian!
No Thanks, next candidate…..
Randall – For sure.