Monday ends statewide voter registration drive

Monday, October 8th ends statewide voter registration drive for Republicans and Independents. (Democrat voter registration drive ends Monday Oct.15th.) If you know anyone who should be registered, please register them by Monday.

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Will you please join me in the battle to combat Alzheimer’s?

The Walk to End Alzheimer's is this Saturday. If you are in Nashville and can join me, please do. The letter below tells why I am walking to end Alzheimer's and how Alzheimer's has touched my life. For those who have prayed for me and Louella and offered words of encouragement, thank you. For those who have contributed to the cause, I appreciate it.  If you have not contributed and would like to do so, I would be greatly appreciative. If you can't afford much, any amount would be appreciated. You can contribute by following this link. I know the worse part of this journey is ahead and I know finding a cure is too late to help my sweet Louella, but finding a cure will help others escape this terrible disease. Please continue to lift us up in prayer. Thank you, Rod

My dear friends,

Will you please join me in the battle to combat Alzheimer’s?

My life has been touched by this terrible illness.  My wife has been diagnosed for almost ten years now but probably had it for a couple years before that and she is

Louella in her cast

now in the advanced stages of the disease.

On October 11th, I will be taking part in the Nashville Walk to End Alzheimer's. Louella is currently in rehab, but if she is out, I hope she can walk with me. Would you please sponsor us in this walk? A contribution of any amount will be appreciated. Can you contribute $5 or $10? If you will click on this link, it will take you to my donation page.  (Once on that page, just click on "$ Donate to my team" and then it takes you to another page where you can submit your credit card information. This is a secure site administered by the Alzheimer Association. After submitting your donation you will receive a confirmation message.

If you are more comfortable writing a check, make the check out to “Alzheimer’s Association” and mail it to me and I will turn it in. My address is Rod Williams, 758 Roycroft Pl. Nashville, TN. 37203.

If you are here in Nashville and can join me for the walk, I would be honored. We will be walking a two mile walk starting at the Public Square Park, which is the park in front of the Courthouse.  Registration is at 8:00 am, Ceremony at 9:00 am, and the Walk is at 9:30 am. They have coffee and pastry that morning or they have in the past and I assume they will.  To join the "Rod and Louella Team" in the walk to end Alzheimer click on this link and then click “join my team.”  If you fail to register for the walk and want to join us at the last minute, just show up and look for me.

Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging and just getting senile. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder that damages and eventually destroys brain cells, leading to loss of memory, thinking and other brain functions. Alzheimer's usually develops slowly and gradually gets worse as more brain cells wither and die. Ultimately, Alzheimer's is fatal, and currently, there is no cure. Unless a cure is found, you or someone you love may develop this disease. Currently, more than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's and that number is expected to grow to as many as 16 million by 2050. It is the 6th leading cause of death. Our future is at risk unless we can find a way to change the course of this disease.

If you are a reader of this blog and live here in Nashville, some of you probably know Louella from

Louella and Sue, taken last year in New Orleans

my civic involvement and political activity. She has gone with me almost every place I have gone for about the last ten years up until the last year. She was usually happy and smiling and enjoyed being at events. Most of this time she still had good social skills despite her illness. Despite her illness we tried to live a normal life and for the most part, life was still good. Unfortunately that has changed. Now, much of the time Louella is unhappy and often agitated. This last year and a half has been rough, especially the last three months. Louella has lost most of her vocabulary skills and mumbles nonsensical syllables. She still knows me and she know her caregiver Sue, but I don't know that she knows other people.

In June, I put Louella in Parthenon Pavilion, a mental hospital.  The reason, I put her in there is that she was not sleeping.  Some nights she would sleep maybe two or three hours and sometimes maybe a couple hours but in 15 or 30 minute increments.  She had slept all night long only a couple night in the prior two weeks. Her not sleeping was taking a toll on me. Being on medication and exhausted from not sleeping, she would stumble and fall. I was afraid she would hurt herself so I put her in the hospital. Then things got worse.  She was in there a month and while there, supposed to be under one-on-one supervision, she fell and broke her ankle.  It was a bad break, broke in five places.  She then went to the hospital and had to have two operations.  While in the hospital she developed Pneumonia.  She spend two periods in the intensive care unit and I was afraid she was going to die.

After about a month in the hospital, she was moved to a rehab facility called Good Samaritan. She was free of pneumonia before leaving the hospital and Louella is stronger than she was. She had lost a lot of weight, but is now back up to almost her normal weight and she has a good appetite. Her ankle is healing and she goes to the doctor in a couple weeks and if all goes well the cast will be removed.

I have been so disappointed in the whole process of being involved in the health care system. At all

April 2007 at the Inauguration Ball for Bill Haslam

three institutions, I have felt that people would not know what they were doing. As an example, where she is now, she is supposed to have no weight on her broken leg, yet a tech would come in and try to get her to stand to get out of the wheel chair to the bed.  I would tell him she is to have no weight on that leg and he would say he didn't know and he would then get help moving her, but the next day a different tech would not know. While there have been some people who have been very sweet to Louella, often patients are treated like something to be processed, not like you would want the person treated if she was your mother. Louella went to the hospital because she could not sleep and ended up with a broken leg and pneumonia. Avoid going to the hospital if you can.

There is a risk that Louella may not be able to walk when the cast comes off. Some people with Alzheimer forget how to walk and cannot relearn after something like this. Also, her sleeping is still not regulated.  I still plan to bring her home, but am not sure how I will manage.  We still have Sue working for us.  She has been with us for almost four years now.  She is so sweet to Louella and really loves her.  I don't know what I would do without Sue.

It is sad to watch Louella fade away and difficult to face the inevitable. Louella and I have had a

We were married in a ceremony at our home Dec. 4th, 2005

wonderful portion of our life together.  I just wish I would have met her much earlier than I did and shared more of my life with her.  (See How Ayn Rand changed my life.) We really were soul mates. She shared my passion for political ideas and current events. We had read the same books and knew a lot of the same stuff. We could talk for hours. She was my best friend and we grew as a couple.  We learned about wine together.  We cooked together and became pretty good at cooking Thai and Asian foods, finding new receipts and searching for the best authentic ingredients. We shared an appreciation together of art and architecture and history and learned more together. And, we travelled. Every year for about ten years before she got sick we took a great vacation together. We would spend months studying, reading history of the country we were to visit and we traveled cheap with nothing but one rolling suitcases each and two good guide books. We really experienced the countries we visited. We went to Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary and more. Our trips were adventures and romantic. (See Drinking wine in Turkey.)

It is too late to find a cure for Alzheimer’s that will help Louella, but a cure will save others from this terrible disease. Please join me in the fight against Alzheimer’s by sponsoring my walk. Just follow this link and follow the instructions. Please keep us in your prayers and thank you.
 Rod Williams

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Roy Herron distorts history in celebrating the Civil Rights Act and labels Republicans the party of racist.

I am reposting this editorial by Roy Herron, Chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, which appeared in the Commercial Appeal. It was emailed to me, distributed by the Tennessee Democratic Party. This is one of the most disgusting examples of an attempt to label Republicans as the party of racist I have seen in a long, long time. My comments are in brackets in blue.

 Friend,

2014 is the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the following op-ed, published in the home city of the National Civil Rights Museum, Chairman Roy Herron reflects on how too many Republicans still rely on the same racially charged politics of the past. 

By Roy Herron, Special to The Commercial Appeal

Fifty years ago, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that I was in elementary school and had no clue about the law that would drastically change daily life for African-Americans. I surely had no idea how it would improve life for white Americans like me.

This historic legislation outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin at “places of public accommodation.” The movie theater I frequented had to discard its “coloreds only” entrance and the segregated balcony. Restaurants where we ate had to let African-Americans out of the kitchens and into the dining areas. My future friends, like state Sen. Reggie Tate of Memphis, were no longer excluded from admission to the Mid-South Fair six days a week.

 [Well, why start with the 64 Civil Rights Act and public accomodations.  In 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, deployed the 82nd Airborne Division to desegregate the Little Rock, Ark., schools over the resistance of Democrat Gov. Orval Faubus.That was a pretty big event in the civil rights struggle. Also, don't forget Republican Abraham Lincoln who freed the slaves it you want to go back a little further.]

The new law gave the U.S. attorney general authority to seek redress when school boards deprived students “of the equal protection of the laws.” Two years later, my school in Weakley County, Tennessee, was desegregated. And for the first time, I began to spend time daily with African-American children. I had new friends in the classrooms, and the lessons went beyond reading and writing.

[Herron fails to mention that the Democrats filibustered the bill for 74 days in the Senate and that the leader of the filibuster was Democrat Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), himself a former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. 82% of Senate Republicans supported the bill and only 69% of Senate Democrats. In the House 80% of the Republicans supported the bill and only 63% of House Democrats]

After signing the Civil Rights Act, President Johnson said to an aide, “We (Democrats) have lost the South for a generation.” The president underestimated the political impact, which continues now two generations later.

[The South did not immediately turn Republican over Civil Rights issues. There was also the fact that the Democrat Party launched the Great Society that wasted millions of dollars and did next to nothing to eradicate poverty.  The Democrat Party changed.  It became what would be called a Socialist Party in Europe and the Democrat Party was the party that abandoned their anti-communism and became the party of appeasement and military weakness. Those factors contributed to the political realignment. Anyway, in the '68 election the four States of the Deep South went for George Wallace of the Independence Party, not the Republican Party.  And, in '72 the South voted Republican but so did all of the nation except for Massachusetts  and the District of Columbia. The Democrat nominee was anti-war Senator George McGovern. In '76 the South went for Jimmy Carter. The Republicans courted southerns, but it was not on the basis of race.]

In 1966, just two years later, the people of Tennessee for the first time popularly elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate. [And that Republican was Senator Howard Baker Jr.  Mr. Herron are you alleging Howard Baker Jr. won because of an appeal to racism?  That is just not so.  There was never a more decent man than Howard Baker Jr.] In 1968, in Memphis, the sanitation workers went on strike and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was struck down. In Nashville the Republicans took control of the state House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction. Then in 1970, Tennessee elected a second Republican to the U.S. Senate, throwing out Democratic Sen. Albert Gore Sr. [Good ol' Albert Gore Sr. who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and who joined in the filibuster.] [While like the rest of the South, Tennessee was controlled by segregationist Democrats, east Tennessee was always overwhelmingly Republican. Republican voting habits took hold in the civil war in east Tennessee.  East Tennessee being mountainous, was not as conducive to the plantation economy as most of the rest of the South. While there were some slave-owners in east Tennessee, there were not many. East Tennessee was pro-union and against session and many east Tennesseans volunteered to fight for the Union. After the war, east Tennessee remained a Republican strong hold, so when in the 60's and 70's Republicans started making inroads into the south, there was already a Republican Party in Tennessee.]

Despite the backlash, the Civil Rights Act changed customs and changed society. With those changes, what could not have been imagined in 1964 became reality in 2008: An African-American was elected president.

Yet some Republicans responded to this historic progress with crude jokes and racist appeals to fellow bigots. [Some? How many? I never heard in anti-Obama appeal made on the basis of race.] In just one of many examples, a Tennessee Republican state legislative aide sent e-mails caricaturing President Barack Obama’s official portrait as two cartoon eyes peering from a black background. When in 2010 I ran for Congress, racism was too easy to find. I can still see the angry face of the man at the duck supper who responded to my handshake with “Lemme talk with you about your (N-word) president.” And the scowling man at the rodeo who snarled, “I don’t shake hands with darkies or Democrats — and they’re often the same.”[That ignorant jerk was probably not even register to vote.]

Thankfully, most Republicans are not racists. [Well how generous of you to say so.] But while most Republicans would never discriminate, degrade or demean, their leaders’ legislative actions still repress voters and reverse progress.[Mr. Herron, so is wanting people to prove they are who they say they are, before they can vote racist?  Is being required to show an ID racist?  You must show an Id before you can get a passport, buy a beer, board an airplane, cash a check and do lots of other things. Why is proving you are who you say you are a racist action?]

All over the country, Republicans are pushing new impediments to discourage and decrease voting by minorities and low-income citizens. While Republicans say they oppose big and oppressive government, they rammed through Tennessee’s voter ID law, now notorious as one of the nation’s most burdensome. Only certain government-issued photo ID cards now are acceptable at the polls, after Republicans outlawed using a Social Security card or even photo ID cards from the Memphis public library or the University of Memphis. Those without a driver’s license — nationally, 25 percent of African-Americans — now must go to a driver’s license station to obtain a photo ID card if they wish to vote, but fewer than half of Tennessee’s counties even have such a station.

Republicans claim these laws fight voter fraud, [Voter fraud is a reality. Do you miss the good ole days with Boss Crump bussed in truck loads of Blacks from Mississippi to vote in Memphis Elections?] but instances of persons trying to vote while using someone else’s identity are almost nonexistent. And in a recent study researchers at the University of Southern California showed strong evidence that “discriminatory intent underlies legislative support for (these new) voter identification laws.”

The first book of the Bible teaches, “So God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them.” God’s image does not have a color, but it does have a creed. The Apostle Paul put it this way in Galatians 3: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Our American ideals long have taught that we are one. The Great Seal of the United States proclaims “E pluribus unum” — from many, one.[amen]

But it was just 50 years ago today that statesmen and idealists and people of a deep faith in Almighty God and in America together created the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Let us celebrate their good work for justice and freedom. And let us carry on their good work, so all God’s children can live in peace and love in truth.

[Let us join in celebrating the advancements in Civil Rights, but not distort the truth. Unfortunately, it is the Democrat Party that has sponsored policies that have destroyed the Black family and created a situation in which it is only with extraordinary effort that a person born in poverty can get out of poverty.  By subsidizing poverty, it becomes too difficult for people to stop being poor. When one is on public housing, AFDC, foods stamps, medicaid, and all kinds of other freebies, to stop being poor is too expensive. If I was as cynical as Roy Herron, I would assume the Democrats want to keep Black people poor so they will continue to be dependent on government and keep voting Democrat.  The next civil rights movement should free Blacks from the liberal plantation and let them join the larger society.] 

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Jeremy Kane Formally Launches Mayoral Run with 24-Hour Event

Plans to work around the clock will set tone for campaign

Jeremy Kane

Kane for Mayor Press Release, Nashville, TN. – Jeremy Kane revealed in a speech to supporters on Wednesday that he plans to formally launch his mayoral campaign with a full 24-hour day of events beginning tomorrow, Thursday October 2.

The 24-hour long series of events will emphasize Kane’s commitment to working around the clock for all corners of Nashville. Kane will travel across the county to showcase the individuals and institutions that exemplify Nashville at its best.

Kane told supporters that the 24-hour event is a statement on how he plans to run his campaign:

“From our first 24 hours to our last 24, from my front door to yours, no one will campaign harder. No one will be more optimistic about what we can achieve or more humble in asking for your support,” said Kane.

The day kicks off at 5 a.m. with a morning run and will conclude by greeting workers arriving for their shifts at Nashville Electric Service.

Nashvillians can follow Jeremy’s progress throughout the day on his Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts.

JEREMY KANE REMARKS, OCTOBER 1, 2014

Tracy, I love you. I am so proud we’ve committed our lives to carry on the work so many did for us—to create meaning with our love, strength with our relationships, and purpose with our faith.

Wells—I pray that one day I will inspire you as much as you already inspire me.

What a pleasure to welcome you to our home and share this day with all of you. I’m humbled by your enthusiasm and confidence. Without you, I would have never have been inspired to leave LEAD and the colleagues I love to embark on this campaign.

I’m so proud to live and work in Nashville. This is where I grew up, where I was married, where I went to some of our best schools and where I drop my own daughter off for school most mornings. This is where I’ve lived my life and followed my family's tradition of public service.

I have learned in Nashville: Not far from here in South Nashville, I grew up watching my father’s ministry and learned the compassion it takes to help people improve their lives.

I have been inspired in Nashville: Just on the other side of this interstate at a familiar front door, I met parents like Gale Conner and learned how to put my values in action.

I have rolled up my sleeves and built dreams in Nashville: over off Lafayette Street, I learned how to make tough decisions, how to build a team, and how to fix what’s broken and improve on what’s already working well.

Through it all, the most important lesson I learned is that real leadership begins with listening.

When Tracy let me mortgage our house to start LEAD, I listened. And, over the last 8 months, I listened. What I heard was who we are at our best. We’re a city of neighborhoods, made up of good and decent people like Frank Trew and Jeff Syracuse who transformed an empty parking lot in Donelson into a bustling farmer’s market.

We’re an entrepreneurial and dynamic city, driven by innovators like Alex Tolbert and the Goldberg brothers whose businesses grow our city in creative ways.

We’re a generous and compassionate city, comforted by Dr. Alex Jahangir and Pat Shea who care for us when we’re at our most vulnerable.

We’re a faithful and welcoming city, united by people like Remziya Suleyman and Sgt. Ramirez who tirelessly weave our many cultures together to make us a better, safer, more connected city.

We’re a city where commitments mean something, persistence pays off, and partnerships count.

It matters who our next Mayor is: the decisions we make in the next four years will shape the next forty. Managing our finances, strengthening our schools, and giving our prosperity greater purpose requires a leader who will bring us together—with passion, persistence, and partnership.

Today, I’m proud to kick-off my campaign for Mayor of Nashville.I am ready to be your Mayor.  I know the VISION and goals worthy of our great city and I know we are up to the task.

I see a Nashville that’s not just better off, but at our best. A Nashville that grows economically and together as a community. Where jobs increase but so do our volunteer hours. Where we pay down our debt by investing in each other and the places we love.

I know the PASSION—day after day—it takes to deliver on a vision.

As an executive, I know it’s not luck—it’s leadership that drives growth and expands opportunity. We’re in a good place because of strong leadership. I’ll continue that legacy by listening, leading by example, respecting our limited resources, and waking up every day focused on getting results.

It will take that kind of leadership to make education the most collaborative and optimistic thing we do.

As Mayor, I will practice partnership, invest in what works, and empower all of our school leaders and teachers, parents and volunteers to give ALL our children a great beginning, a great school, and a great chance to thrive in our global economy.

I know the PERSISTENCE it takes to make payroll, respect public dollars, and leverage limited resources to do more with less.

We know that money will be tight for the next Mayor. All that I learned growing and managing LEAD teaches me that we can’t be at our best if we’re not financially stable

The first thing I will do as Mayor will be to identify the results we want and prioritize our spending to achieve them. I will publicly commit to performance standards so everyone will be able to hold our government—AND ME—accountable for delivering results.

But tight finances can’t be an excuse for scaling back our dreams or reneging on our commitments. My first budget will include a multi-year plan to invest in people, drive innovation, and share opportunity.

As an entrepreneur, I know how to stretch a dollar. They may not get the headlines, but there are real dollars to be saved in taking simple steps like changing out street lamps for LED lights and returning the pharmacy to Metro General to improve care, save patient’s time, and promote healthy choices.

I will create innovation funds in all departments to support creative solutions, share best practices, cut costs, and empower employees.  As Mayor, I commit that if a solution protects your money and gets the results we want—there will be no idea too small or innovation too creative.

I believe that government can’t do everything. Where we can partner we will.  That begins with investing to make our government a good partner. To improve service delivery and save money, we will focus on outcomes, not process. To expedite service requests, we will invest in and deploy technology. To tap our abundant creativity, we will kick open the doors to our data and double-down on transparency.

Growing our economy, creating new jobs and expanding our tax base is essential to deliver services and achieve our vision. As Mayor, my economic plan leverages our strengths—our neighborhoods and schools, our infrastructure and businesses, our churches and immigrant networks.

We know that foreign visitors stay longer and spend more—I will leverage our Sister City and international connections to promote Nashville as a world-class location for business, investment, and visitors.

Health care and logistics are becoming more technology-driven and our infrastructure needs have never been greater, yet many IT and concrete engineering jobs remain unfilled. I will partner with our schools and companies to attract and train the workforce that can tackle the tasks today and remain nimble to build our future tomorrow.

But I will go a step further. I will partner with our medical training programs so medical residents can serve mental health rotations in our community clinics to provide care for our most vulnerable Nashvillians.

I know the PARTNERHIPS it will take to realize this vision because I know what it took to build schools where there weren’t any, create over 200 new, good paying jobs that didn’t exist, and design and execute a transportation system that gave families access to stronger schools, better housing, and available jobs.

It’s impossible to double exports or create more affordable housing without modernizing our infrastructure. That’s why transforming our infrastructure is the foundation of my vision.

Whether bus lanes or broadband, school buildings or sewers, as Mayor, I will coordinate infrastructure development—especially funding—across all of Metro government to ensure we make investments that deliver the most potential for creating jobs, strengthening schools, connecting neighborhoods, and promoting healthy and safe lives.

Our vision is bold and won’t be realized by promises alone—there will be tough, hard choices ahead. We’re facing a big choice next year. What we do with our good fortune is just as critical a test of our character, values and vision as how we deal with adversity.

There’s a crowded field running. I think that’s more evidence of what a good city we’ve become. Everyone running is a good person who cares about kids and jobs. But the important thing isn’t who cares the most, but who has the record and leadership to seize this moment to build a Nashville of our best.

I’m proud to have a record to run on. I’m proud that so many of you are here today because you share and believe in my record of service, commitment, and leadership.

When we were deciding whether to run, Tracy and I talked about the kind of Mayor I want to be. We agreed that if we can look back and say that I was a mayor of passion, persistence and partnership, we’ll not only have won this election—we’ll have made a statement about who we are as a city. That’s why today is about more than kicking off my campaign. It’s about making a statement about how I will lead.

I won’t—and can’t do it alone. I will find my courage in the police officer who tucks her daughter in so she can keep our streets safe while we sleep.

I will find my dedication and sacrifice in the teachers who stay late and dig deep into their pockets for their students.

 I will find my commitment and compassion in the volunteer who signs up to serve as a Big Brother for a child in need.

 I will find my entrepreneurism in the business owner who risks personal loss to create opportunity for others.

 I’ll find my mission in them because they are there for us when we need them, and I’m prepared to work around the clock to be there for them. That’s why tomorrow we will start our first full day on the campaign trail by standing shoulder-to-shoulder for 24 hours alongside the good people doing good things in Bellevue and Bordeaux, Downtown and Donelson.

From our first 24 hours to our last, from my front door to yours, no one will campaign harder. No one will be more optimistic about what we can achieve or more humble in asking for your help. Let this be our goal: that years from now—when Wells and all our children retire from jobs we helped create; when the neighborhoods we love remain vibrant and our streets safe—they will know that we were at our best when they needed us most. The road ahead is long, but we start today.

I ask you to join me. May God bless this campaign and may God continue to bless Nashville!

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Who is running for Mayor and Council

These are the people running for Mayor or assumed to be running for Mayor:

• Megan Barry, very liberal Council-member-at-large.  link
• Charles Robert Bone, an attourney (link)
• Linda Rebrovick,  Consensus Point president and CEO. Maybe a Republican. link
• Kenneth Eaton owner of Eaton's Used Cars and other business interest. He is a Republican.
• Howard Gentry, former Vice Mayor, former candidate for Mayor who came close, African-American.
• Jeremy Kane, CEO and President of Leed Academy  link
• David Fox, a former Tennessean business reporter,  former Titan Advisors, former school board member. He may be a Republican  link.  link.  
• David Freeman, local businessman and major fund raiser for the Democratic party. 

These are people who were once thought to be running for Mayor who have said they are not: 

• Daron Hall, the Sheriff
• William F. Carpenter III, Chairman and CEO of LifePoint Hospitals. (link)

 These are people I wish were running for Mayor, but have no indication they are (If you know any of them, maybe you can encourage them to run):

• Tim Garrett, Councilman-at-large and former state representative.  He is in the funeral home business. I know he is a Democrat, but he is a reasonable, fiscally conservative Democrat and a very nice guy with a depth of knowledge about Nashville.
• Lee Beaman, Owner of Beaman automotive companies and other business interest.
• Charlie Tygard, currently a term-limited Councilman-at-large. He knows Metro Government and he is fiscally conservative. He is a Republican.

These are people who have said they are running for Council-at-large or assumed to be running: 

• Karen Bennett, currently represents a Council District and is a member of the Republican Party State Executive Committee. 
• Ken Jakes, he owns a produce company and is a citizen activist who has often exposed government waste and corruption. 
• Robert Duvall, currently a district councilman, term limited out, former unsuccessful candidate for the State House, and current Chairman of the Davidson County Republican Party.

These are the people who are running for a District council seats or are rumored to be running for District Council seats: 

• Don Majors, who has been working in constituent services for Rep. Jim Cooper, is leaving that position to run for council. He previously represented the Maplewood area in the 90s and early aughts.
• Stephen Clements, District 7, a Republican who heads the Caffeinated Conservatives group. 
• Lonnie Spivak, District 35, a Republican. 

Who is "termed-out," meaning they have served two terms and not eligible to run again:

METRO ELECTED OFFICIALS

Italics indicate termed limited.

OFFICE	INCUMBENT	Who is Termed-out
Mayor	Karl Dean	Termed
Vice-mayor and President	Diane Neighbors	Termed
COUNCIL
At-large	Megan Barry	Termed
At-large	Ronnie Stein	Termed
At-large	Tim Garrett	Termed
At-large	Charlie Tygard	Termed
At-large	Jerry Maynard	Termed
Districts		Termed
1	Lonnell Mathews, Jr.	Termed
2	Frank Harrison	Termed
3	Walter hunt	Termed
4	Brady Banks
5	Scott Davis
6	Peter Westerholm
7	Anthony Davis
8	Karen Bennett	Termed
9	Bill  Pridemore
10	Doug Pardue
11	Open
12	Steve Glover
13	Josh Stites
14	Bruce Stanley	Termed
15	Phil Claiborne	Termed
16	Tony Tenpenny
17	Sandra Moore	Termed
18	Burkley Allen
19	Erica Gilmore	Termed
20	Buddy Baker	Termed
21	Edith Lancaster	Termed
22	Shreri Weiner
23	Emily Evans	Termed
24	Jason Holleman	Termed
25	Sean McGuire	Termed
26	Chris Harmon
27	Davette Blalock
28	Duane A. Dominy	Termed
29	Karen Y. Johnson
30	Jason Potts
31	Fabian Bedne
32	Jacobia Dowell
33	Robert Duvall	Termed
34	Carter Todd	Termed
35	Bo Mitchell

This is a work in progress and I will be updating from time to time when new information becomes available. There are probably some candidates for Mayor or the Metro Council that I inadvertently left off of this list.  If there is an obvious candidate I failed to add to this list, please let me know. 

If you are a candidate, please be sure to send me your announcements and press releases.

Readers of this blog should not assume that because I post news of a campaign event or a press release from a candidate, that that constitutes an endorsement of that candidate. If I endorse someone, I will make it clear. 

I am making very few endorsements at this early stage. My endorsements are highlighted in red. I may not make an endorsement in every race, as I may not have enough information to make an informed decision in each race. For Mayor and Councilman-at-large races, I want to know who all is running before I make a decision of whom I am support. Winnability is a factor in who I support as well as experience and philosophy of government. When it comes to recommendations for Councilmen-at-large, while one may vote up to five candidates to fill five slots, I often vote for only one rather than dilute my vote. So, other than knowing I am supporting Ken Jakes, I am holding off on endorsing any other candidates until I see the full list of who is running and look at some data to determine who can mount a serious challenge and some other factors.

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