Photo: New York City GovernmentDemocratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is visiting Nashville Thursday to kick off his campaign in Tennessee, with a team of local political veterans already on board.

The billionaire and former Republican New York City mayor has tapped Courtney Wheeler as his state director. Wheeler was campaign manager for former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean’s unsuccessful 2018 gubernatorial bid and was a consultant for former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s now-shuttered presidential campaign.

Holly McCall, a veteran of several local political campaigns and Hillary Clinton’s Tennessee communications director in 2016, is communications director for Bloomberg. She also serves as board chair for Emerge Tennessee, a group that trains Democratic women to run for office.

Ashford Hughes, a top aide to former mayors Megan Barry and David Briley, is Bloomberg’s political director in Tennessee. Spencer Bowers, who worked on Howard Gentry’s 2015 mayoral campaign and for the state Democratic party, is Bloomberg’s Tennessee digital director. Another Gentry veteran, Carol Brown Andrews — who has also worked for Reps. Bob Clement and Harold Ford — is a senior adviser to the campaign.

State Rep. London Lamar (D-Memphis) is working as Bloomberg's outreach director, while Rod Wright is organizing director and Alex Ryan is data director.



The team will oversee the latecomer’s Tennessee campaign in the run-up to Super Tuesday on March 3, when Tennessee Democrats will pick a nominee. After requesting paperwork to make it on the Tennessee ballot in mid-November, Bloomberg’s effort was successful, and he will be one of 15 Democrats voters can choose from.

“We’re pretty excited about the fact that the campaign is making such a significant investment in Tennessee’s political infrastructure,” McCall says.

She adds that the campaign plans to hire at least 20 field organizers around the state. The team is based out of office space at 500 Church St. downtown.

Bloomberg isn’t the first presidential contender with paid staff in Tennessee. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was the first in Tennessee when she hired a state director in October. Billionaire Tom Steyer has also hired staff in the state.

Bloomberg has been flooding Nashville-area airwaves with ads in recent weeks, spending more than $100,000 on local networks, according to Federal Communications Commission records. Steyer is the only other candidate with ads running on Nashville network television.