O&AN survey shows overwhelming support for Megan Barry among Nashville mayoral candidates

Out & About Nashville posted two surveys on this website last week to find out which candidates for Nashville mayor and At Large councilors garner the most support among our readers.

In the race for mayor, we asked the question: If the Nashville mayoral election were held today, who would you vote for? Megan Barry received 72% support among those surveyed. Runners up included Bill Freeman (9%) and Charles Robert Bone (8%).

Respondents self-selected to the survey which was administered via a Facebook app. It was promoted via a paid “boost” to the post directly to Nashville residents who follow O&AN on the social network. Of the total 86 respondents, 62 chose Barry, 8 chose Freeman, and 7 chose Bone.

Jeremy Kane and Linda Eskind Rebrovick each received the support of 3 respondents. David Fox received 2, and Howard Gentry received 1.

Regarding the At Large race for Metro council, O&AN posted a survey online via Survey Monkey. It was also promoted via a paid “boost” to Nashville residents who follow O&AN on Facebook. Both surveys were shared via Twitter to nearly 3000 followers and over 2500 subscribers to our weekly email newsletter. Both surveys were online from June 17 through June 23.

We asked the question: If the Metro Nashville election were held today, which five At Large candidates would you vote for? Respondents were only allowed to choose five of the 26 candidates.

Of the 178 respondents, the candidates with the most expressed support in our survey were:

John Lasiter — 87

Jim Shulman — 84

Jason Holleman — 63

Lonnell Matthews Jr — 62

Bob Mendes — 62

Erica Gilmore — 53

With the exception of John Cooper (47), the remaining candidates each received far less than 50 votes of support. They were:

Erin Coleman — 37

Don Majors — 27

Sharon W Hurt — 24

Walter Hunt — 19

Sandra Moore — 17

Adam Dread — 15

Karen Bennett — 15

Buddy Baker — 15

Elizabeth Dachowski — 12

Phillip Joseph Hostettler Jr — 11

Ken Jakes — 11

Robert Duvall — 10

Frank Harrison — 8

Ronnie Greer Sr — 8

Martin Holsinger — 7

James Keeton — 6

Leroy Johnny Ellis — 6

Jody Ball — 4

Al Carota — 2

In this survey we also asked respondents to endorse any candidate and provide the reason for their support. Eleven people wrote little more than John Lasiter’s name. Three identified him as either the only or the first openly gay candidate which may be the case in the At Large race. In the districts, there are three more LGBT candidates: Nancy VanReece​ (district 8), Brett Withers (district 6), and Paula Foster (distrcit 17).

Others who received a name drop in the section reserved for endorsements included Sharon Hurt, Erica Gilmore, and Erin Coleman.

We received the following write-in endorsements:

Jason Holleman is the best At-Large candidate to support LGBT issues as well as issues of concern to all Nashvillians. He is a proven leader, having taken stances on tough issues. He is progressive, careful, and kind. He understands our metro.

Jim Shulman. He is the most considerate and warm person I know- and has always advocated for LGBT.

I would like to endorse Bob Mendes. I have known Bob and his family for many years and know him to be an outspoken advocate for the LGBT community.

I’ve known Bob Mendes for about 20 years. He’s super smart, thoughtful and progressive. I wouldn’t have agreed to be treasurer of his campaign if I wasn’t 100% sure he will be a strong advocate for the Nashville LGBT community. Additionally, Jim Shulman has my support for the same.

Jim Shulman is a solid progressive and has experience from his previous work on the council (without attempting to jump directly from a district seat to an At Large seat). He knows transit and affordability are the two most important issues facing the city.

We also received the following reader endorsement regarding district 17:

Colby Sledge, council district 17. Colby is a long-standing ally of our community. He has been supporter of Victory Fund, TEP and the HRC. Colby is actively involved in his neighborhood, where he enjoys broad support. He’s focused on affordable housing, safer streets and taking care of the least among us—including those youth in need of transitional housing. He may not be LGBT but he is the most qualified.