Megan Barry has been elected and will be the first woman mayor of Nashville when she’s sworn in on Sept. 25.
Our live updates from election night are below.
Updated 10:00 p.m.
Mayor Karl Dean released a statement following tonight’s election, congratulating Megan Barry for her win and offering thanks to David Fox and the other candidates “
who campaigned for the chance to serve and lead our city”
:
“I want to congratulate Megan Barry on her election to be Nashville’s next mayor. This is a great city and a great job, and Megan is more than capable of leading Nashville to its next plateau. I always say that Nashville’s best days are still ahead of it, and I have no doubts about that.”
Updated at 9:10 p.m.
Megan Barry began her speech by saying she just received a nice phone call from David Fox.
She said to a jubilant crowd: “This one is going down in the history books … You went to the polls and elected the first woman …” The roar drowned her out.
Listen to Barry’s acceptance speech in its entirety here:
Megan Barry seems much more at ease tonight than after the general election.— Emily Siner (@SinerSays)
September 11, 2015
“Let’s all pledge to work with the next mayor.” —
@DavidFox2015 ends speech, kisses wife, and they exit to hug their boys.— Tony Gonzalez (@TGonzalez)
September 11, 2015
Updated at 9:00 p.m.
Listen to David Fox’s concession speech in its entirety:
David Fox is speaking now, offering his support and congratulations to his opponent Megan Barry.
Hearing
@DavidFox2015 concession speech.
http://t.co/Y5qtmJSWv9— Tony Gonzalez (@TGonzalez)
September 11, 2015
Updated at 8:51 p.m.
Barry 44,847 to Fox 37,093 at 8:45 p.m. w/ 78 of 161 precincts in.— Tony Gonzalez (@TGonzalez)
September 11, 2015
Blake Farmer is with the Fox campaign, and says there’s still optimism in the air:
The
@DavidFox2015 team says there’s still time. Decent crowd remaining. Biggest smiles may be from the three Fox boys.— Blake Farmer (@flakebarmer)
September 11, 2015
Updated at 8:45 p.m.
Results are still coming in, still favoring Megan Barry. She has a near-7,000 vote advantage with 49 of 161 precincts reporting.
Our reporters attending the candidates’ live events tonight say it looks like speeches may be given soon in both places. Megan Barry and her supporters are gathered at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, while the Fox camp is a short distance away at Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery in Marathon Village.
Updated at 8:30 p.m.
Some of the votes cast today — rather than just early and absentee votes — are starting to be added to the tally board. Barry still leads by a significant margin, with 37,423 votes to Fox’s 31,554.
WPLN’s Chas Sisk appears to be putting himself in harm’s way, reporting to you from the Barry camp:
I’ve of course been hit in the head already by one of these foam Hammers for Barry.
pic.twitter.com/FN7NtGNtQi— Chas Sisk (@chassisk)
September 11, 2015
Updated at 7:45 p.m.
The polls closed a few minutes ago — after a 40-minute delay caused by a late opening at one location this morning (see below).
The early voting totals have just been published, and they show an edge for Megan Barry. She’s got 31,915 votes, with 26,605 counted for Fox.
The Tennessean’s Joey Garrison points out that’s a 54% to 46% spread. Fox has a lot of ground to cover.
That’s a 54 percent to 46 percent advantage for
@MeganBarry2015 That’s going to be very tough for
@DavidFox2015 to overcome.— Joey Garrison (@joeygarrison)
September 11, 2015
Here’s a snapshot of where we are on the mayoral and at-large Metro Council races, with only early voting counted:
Original Post:
As recent as last week, a poll conducted for The Tennessean
showed the two
candidates in a “statistical dead heat
.”
The race has been full of vitriol — with a barrage of negative ads from both sides — that it’s attracted the attention of the
New York Times, and
this story for NPR News from our own Blake Farmer.
Polls remain open in one location, shortly after seven. There was a snafu at East Nashville’s Martha O’Bryan Center polling place this morning that caused voting to begin 40 minutes late. So that site will remain open until 7:40 p.m., and no vote tallies will be released until after it closes.
Nancy DeKalb, Davidson Co. Election Cmsr.: “…we cannot release any election results (including Early Voting results) until 7:41 p.m.”— WSMV-TV, Nashville (@WSMV)
September 10, 2015
We’ve got reporters with each of the campaigns. We’ll also check in with the at-large Metro Council race.
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