Freddie O'Connell (left) and Alice Rolli
After a rainy Election Day that some observers worried would depress turnout, mayoral candidates Freddie O’Connell and Alice Rolli are headed to a runoff next month.
O’Connell, the two-term District 19 Metro councilmember, finished in first place, with 27 percent of the vote as of 9:30 p.m. Rolli, a Republican strategist, bested former Metro official Matt Wiltshire and state Sen. Jeff Yarbro for the second spot in the runoff.
Though Wiltshire, O’Connell and At-Large Metro Councilmember Sharon Hurt launched their bids for mayor last year, the race kicked into higher gear in January, when Mayor John Cooper announced he would not seek a second term (this despite having already been endorsed by the police and fire unions and having started fundraising for the expected campaign).
Soon after Cooper’s announcement, several candidates entered the race or said they were considering it. Jim Gingrich, a retired AllianceBernstein executive who moved to Nashville in 2018, announced his bid for mayor, running in part on opposition to construction of a new Titans stadium. He spent more than $2 million before dropping out in July, citing lagging poll numbers.
State Sens. Jeff Yarbro and Heidi Campbell, both Nashville Democrats, launched campaigns too, though the ongoing state legislative session hampered their ability to begin campaigning and fundraising in earnest.
Rolli, who has worked on Republican campaigns and for former GOP Gov. Bill Haslam, ran on a platform of limited spending and support for the police. Though her campaign was slow to catch on, she eventually appeared to successfully consolidate much of the city’s conservative voting block — which traditionally has not been large enough to win a countywide race but can be sufficient in helping a candidate reach a runoff in a crowded field of left-leaning contenders.
Davidson County Property Assessor Vivian Wilhoite announced her campaign in April, a month before the qualifying deadline, and struggled to raise the money necessary to run a competitive campaign.
Others who qualified to be on the ballot were former school board member Fran Bush, former Republican congressional candidate Natisha Brooks, Bernie Cox and Stephanie Johnson.
