Megan Barry elected Nashville mayor

Megan Barry was elected the seventh mayor of Nashville's metropolitan government Thursday, making history as the first woman to hold the city's top office and reaffirming Democrats' stronghold on the nonpartisan post.

Barry, who also became the first Metro Council member elected Nashville mayor, beat David Fox comfortably 55 percent to 45 percent in the runoff election — a larger margin than most observers predicted. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Barry had 60,519 votes compared to 49,694 for Fox.

Her sizable win — one that retains Metro's power base in the mayor's office — signals a statement in favor of the direction and politics of outgoing Mayor Karl Dean. The 51-year-old Barry, a progressive ideologically, campaigned on the mantra of keeping Nashville moving forward and continuing public investments. Meanwhile, Fox pushed for a more fiscal conservative approach amid the city's unprecedented growth.

Barry's victory, which capped a five-week runoff that turned unusually partisan, also means a sigh of relief for Nashville and Tennessee Democrats, who staved off a tide of conservatives and Republicans who united around her opponent. Though candidates didn't run officially on party labels, Barry capitalized on a traditional Democratic coalition to handily win the race.

Thursday's outcome, however, will perhaps be most remembered for the historical moment — a moment that was not lost on Barry as she addressed an elated room of supporters at the Nashville Farmers' Market.

"Tonight we start a new chapter of Nashville — The Nashville Story," Barry said as she kicked off her victory speech. "And that story is the saga that is written every day by the people in this room and the people who are watching at home.

"And then there's the chapter that we're writing today — you the Nashville voters," she later added. "This one is going to go down in the history books. Today, you went to the polls and you elected the first woman mayor."

Those words ignited a chant of "Megan, Megan, Megan!" from her loyalists.

Barry delivered her remarks after Fox had conceded minutes earlier before a more somber crowd at Nelson's Green Brier Distillery at Marathon Village. The 54-year-old Fox, former chairman of the Metro school board and a hedge-fund executive, congratulated Barry for a "tremendous campaign and a tremendous victory."

"We have run a very serious hard-fought campaign — both sides," Fox said in his concession speech, calling for reconciliation as Nashville has done after past elections. "We always have hard-fought campaigns, and we as a city always come together. That is the Nashville Way. And certainly we want to wish Megan all the success in the world to lead this fabulous city."

Barry's win Thursday ends one of the most divisive and bitter races in recent Nashville memory, one fueled by the injection of partisanship and dominated by debates over negative advertising, city finances and the intersection of God, religion and family with politics.

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In her speech Thursday, Barry sought to appeal to the working class. She said Nashville's next story is about police officers, firefighters and teachers who need "a mayor who will make sure that promises made are promises kept."

"This is really a story about our working families, and those families are the backbone of our economy who need access to transportation, excellent public education and affordable places to live," Barry said. "Our working families need a mayor who is going to create prosperity for everyone."

Mayor's mission: Help Nashville's at-risk youths

Barry thanked some of her top supporters, early campaign staffers and friends who endorsed her, including former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and former mayoral candidates Charles Robert Bone and Howard Gentry, both of whom lost in last month's general election.

"Tomorrow, our real work begins, but this is a job that I've been preparing for the last eight years," Barry said.

Barry, a two-term at-large Metro councilwoman, was forced to play defense early on in the runoff after Fox set out to define her as a liberal far outside Nashville's mainstream driven foremost by national social issues.

She would end up confronting issues of faith and religion, holding a prayer breakfast at a historic black church to reject what she characterized as a whisper campaign that she's atheist. A week later, she denounced a Fox radio ad that singled out blog writings from her husband, Bruce Barry, a longtime contributor to the Nashville Scene, to cast the Barry family as hostile to people of Christian faith.

For her part in negative advertising, Barry labeled Fox​ a "Wall Street hedge-fund manager" who made millions while many Nashvillians suffered during the Great Recession. A controversial mail ad paid for the Tennessee Democratic Party characterized Fox as a segregationist over a vote he took as a Metro school board member.

At times over the past few weeks, Barry's campaign felt like a bid for a third term of Dean as the candidate routinely referred to "Karl and I" as she discussed the actions of the city over the past eight years. Though Dean himself did not endorse in the race, several Dean allies, including his finance director, Rich Riebeling, publicly supported Barry.

Fox countered with a different message. He called for a "new pro-growth agenda," one focused on infrastructure and fiscal conservatism to build on Dean's legacy and Nashville's rise in national prominence. Fox went after Barry for her votes on the Metro Council to increase property taxes in 2012, the use of $73 million in rainy-day funds to pay for this year's budget and $1 billion in debt that accumulated during the past eight years.

Talking to reporters about his defeat, Fox said there's nothing he would do differently and that he was surprised it wasn't a closer election. After such a tough race, he called the size of her win "probably a good thing for the city." He said he's not sure why he lost but acknowledged that running in Democrat-heavy Davidson County didn't help.

"We always knew it was a challenge because I'm not a registered Democrat," Fox said. "In round one, that didn't seem to hurt us. Maybe that was an issue for us in round two."

In a prepared statement, Dean congratulated Barry on her win and thanked Fox for campaigning for the chance to serve.

"This is a great city and a great job, and Megan is more than capable of leading Nashville to its next plateau," Dean said. "I always say that Nashville's best days are still ahead of it, and I have no doubts about that."

Barry will be working with a new council, led by newly elected Vice Mayor David Briley, that features several members who endorsed her candidacy.

"Mayor Barry knows the Metro Council better than any mayor before her," Briley said. "And tonight Nashville made a clear choice electing a mayor and council committed to extending the successes of our city. On behalf of the council, we look forward to working together to that end."

Barry's win concludes a race that began two years ago and attracted seven candidates and became the most expensive in city history.

Reporters Jill Cowan and Adam Tamburin contributed to this report.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.