Why Megan Barry Got The Nod: In The Words Of Nashville Votersundefined

Nashville made a statement in electing Megan Barry mayor. Her 10-point margin approaches landslide territory. And when asked, voters offered a variety of reasons for their support.
undefined

undefined

Gender was hardly discussed in the campaign, but for some, it was the top issue.

undefined

“I like to vote the estrogen ticket when I can,” Vicki Williams of Madison said.

undefined

Having the city’s first woman mayor pushed many people into the Barry column, even men. Paul Smith is a transplant from the North, who now lives in Antioch.

undefined

“We’re like the new Atlanta, and I think a woman could shake things up and really get things going,” he said. “I just think it’s good for Nashville.”

undefined

Ken Lauer, also of southeast Davidson County, met both Barry and rival David Fox. He said he feels like Barry will defend the city from the Republican-led legislature. She’s already led several initiatives on discrimination that have yielded resistance from state lawmakers.

undefined

“I think she would be more willing to take on the state as it concerns gun laws and our inability to maybe do what Nashville would like to do about gun laws,” Lauer said.

undefined

The fact that working people are finding it increasingly difficult to afford living in Nashville was a central theme for both Barry and Fox. Ann Walker-King, a criminal defense investigator from the Richland-West End neighborhood, said Barry just seems to have a more sincere understanding.

undefined

“She was concerned about affordable housing before others were talking about it, before it was kind of the ‘in’ thing to be talking about,” Walker-King said. “I appreciated that.”

undefined

And for mother Torey Black, who lives in the James Casey housing projects of East Nashville, there was a single pocket-book issue that drove her to walk to the polls — just as they were closing — to vote for Barry.

undefined

“I was told that she’s going up on the minimum wage for the jobs,” Black said, with her one-year-old on her hip. “And I need that. I need that.”

undefined

Neighborhood By Neighborhood

The Tennessean’s Joey Garrison has an
interactive map breaking down vote totals. David Fox won big in more affluent parts of town such as Belle Meade and Forest Hills. The most evenly split precincts were in Bellevue, Green Hills and Old Hickory. 

Barry dominated the city’s core and adjacent neighborhoods like Edgehill and East Nashville. While North Nashville’s African-American community was the most contested area in the final days of the runoff, the results weren’t even close. At several precincts, Barry got nearly 90 percent of the votes.