Gentry Jumps Into Mayor’s Race Saying Nashville Needs More Talk About Poverty

Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk Howard Gentry argues that his late entrance into the mayor’s race is not meant to judge the current field, which is already a crowded one. But he says he feels like his vision for the city is unique.

“I never could shake the idea that a mayor could lift up a skyscraper but also lift up an impoverished community,” Gentry tells WPLN. “We can easily say that a rising tide is not lifting all ships.”

Gentry came close to becoming the city’s first African American mayor in 2007. After the defeat, he went to work on poverty issues for the city’s chamber of commerce and then became court clerk. He says he tried to convince himself that was enough.

The former vice mayor says he doesn’t want to become the “poverty candidate.” He just feels like he has a broader focus, which ranges from the illiterate to the immigrant, he says.

“People do care about it, but they don’t talk about it because it’s hard,” Gentry says. “And it’s not sexy. People even say those issues can’t get you elected. But you know what, those issues are important.”

Some of Gentry’s best friends have already picked other horses to back in what is now a seven-way race. Gentry says that’s just part of coming late to the game, noting that he even encouraged political allies to get involved in other campaigns.

Gentry says others in the race might make great mayors.

“I’m not running to be a great mayor,” he says. “I’m running to do what needs to be done to make Nashville the best it can be.”