NASHVILLE ECLIPSE
NASHVILLE HOMELESS ADVOCATES
APRIL 11, 2024 | VOLUME 36 | NUMBER 14
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Vanderbilt poll showcases positive belief in Nashville’s future
Nashvillians respond to politics, East Bank, fairgrounds, transit referendum questions BY NICOLLE S. PRAINO
Shaundelle Brooks campaign launch
PHOTO BY HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS
Election qualifying deadline: Who’s in and who’s out
Vanderbilt University has released its 2024 poll about Nashville — with an increase in respondents indicating they believe the city is on the right track for the first time in four years. In 2020, 63 percent of Nashvillians said they believed the city was headed in the right direction, a figure that decreased to 44 percent by 2023. Now, 53 percent of respondents said they see things moving along the right path. Also, 78 percent of those polled said >> PAGE 2
BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT, NASHVILLE BANNER This story is a partnership between the Nashville Banner and The News. The Nashville Banner is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization focused on civic news. Visit nashvillebanner.com for more information. Thursday marked the qualifying deadline for candidates hoping to run in August primaries for state and federal offices. Here’s a rundown of who made the cut: 5TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Eyes were on Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston, who told the Banner last month that she was considering a Republican primary challenge of U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in the district that includes part of Nashville and Williamson County, plus Maury and other counties to Nashville’s south. She turned in a qualifying petition on
Thursday and her signatures are considered “pending” by state election officials. Tom Guarente, a Brentwood software executive, also qualified to run in the Republican primary. Would-be candidates and operatives tell the Banner the best hope for unseating Ogles is to have just one GOP challenger facing him, and candidates still have a week to withdraw from the ballot. On the Democratic side, Nashville’s Maryam Abolfazli, Kiran Sreepada of College Grove and Arnie Malham of Nashville qualified for the primary ballot. 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT U.S. Rep. John Rose (R-Cookeville) qualified to run for reelection in the district that includes part of Nashville and counties to the east. Rose confirmed to the Tennessee Journal this week that he is considering
running for governor in 2026. The district favors Republicans, but Lore Bergman of Hendersonville, Clay Faircloth of Nashville and Cyril Focht of Cookeville qualified to run in the Democratic primary. 7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Ashland City) threw a wrench in the race for the 7th District — parts of Nashville and Williamson County, plus Montgomery County and other areas to the east of Nashville — when he announced in February that he would not run for reelection, saying “our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington.” Less than a month later, he changed his mind and reentered the race. Several potential Republican successors pulled petitions when it looked >> PAGE 2
Mayor Freddie O’Connell PHOTO BY SHANE POTTER
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