Former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain is exploring running for mayor again.
The conservative finished second in last year’s special election, when Mayor David Briley won the right to finish out former Mayor Megan Barry’s term. She has appointed a campaign treasurer and tells the Scene that if she falls short fundraising she may decide not to run after all. The qualifying deadline for the Aug. 1 election is May 16.
“Everything you publish in the Nashville Scene has been derogatory and insulting, so I don’t think I should be talking with you,” says Swain.
She declined to comment further.
In the past, Swain has drawn protest for homophobic and Islamophobic statements, including a Tennessean op-ed in which she wrote that Islam “poses an absolute danger to us and our children.” She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina.
Briley is running for his first full four-year term in the August Metro election. Swain joins Democratic state Rep. John Ray Clemmons and Harold Garoutte, an Army veteran and former actor, in the race.
In the May special election, Briley won 54 percent of the vote, while Swain took 23 percent. Several other candidates split the rest of the vote, each finishing in single digits.
