Weiner to face Shulman in Nashville vice mayor's race runoff

Joey Garrison | The Tennessean

Nashville will have to wait five more weeks before it gets a new vice mayor.

Councilwoman Sheri Weiner finished first in Nashville's vice mayoral race Thursday. But because she captured less than 50 percent of the vote she will square off against At-large Councilman Jim Shulman, the second-place finisher, in a September runoff.

Weiner, a Bellevue-area councilwoman and acting vice mayor, collected 45 percent of the vote, according to unofficial figures from the Davidson County Election Commission. That topped Shulman, who took in 42 percent.

The spoiler was Matt DelRossi, a local musician, who got 13 percent in a race that was overshadowed by higher-profile gubernatorial and state legislative primaries. It was enough to prevent Weiner or Shulman from winning a majority.

"I am grateful that the voters of Nashville showed that they have confidence in my leadership, and I am looking forward to continuing to earn their votes," Weiner said in a statement.

Next month's winner will complete the final year of the term left by David Briley, the city's former vice mayor. Briley won a special election in May to succeed Megan Barry after she resigned amid a sex scandal with her former police bodyguard. Briley's special election victory triggered the race to replace him.

The election commission has yet to set a date for the runoff.

"You back up, you take a look at the results, and then you start again," Shulman said. "We have a second round. I hate it for people having to go back and vote in another reelection, but that's what's required under law."

Shulman predicted a "much more focused, specialized" runoff.

"I think there will be much more of a focus on who we are, what the vice mayor's role is, and what we do," he said.

Round two will almost certainly be lower turnout than round one, which coincided with the state's two competitive primaries for governor and a slate of state legislative primaries in Nashville.

More than 92,500 people voted in Thursday vice mayoral race, much more than what will be expected in a stand-alone election next month with no other races on the ballot.

Weiner, who was elevated to acting vice mayor when Barry stepped down, is in her second term representing the Bellevue-area District 22. Shulman, a former district councilman representing parts of Green Hills, is in his first term as one of the council's five countywide at-large members.

Vice mayor's race: Nashville vice mayor's race: Contenders look to calm turbulent stretch in Metro government

Both candidates have campaigned on getting the 40-member council to "work together" over the final term before the next round of council and mayoral elections set for August 2019.

They've touted the need to focus the council on two of the city's top priorities, transportation and affordable housing.

Shulman: How I plan to bring Nashville together as vice mayor | Opinion

Weiner: Nashville is in good shape, but work remains on housing, education, transit | Opinion

Weiner, considered a political moderate, sought to overcome some partisanship in the race with Shulman enjoying the backing of the Davidson County Democratic Party. Her first-place performance Thursday shows that she won the support of many Democrats in the Democrat-leaning city.

Weiner is the only vice mayoral candidate to pay for television advertising after amassing a slight fundraising advantage in the race, $93,185 to $83,740. Shulman has benefited from two personal loans he gave to his campaign totaling $27,500.

DelRossi ran as an outsider and raised very little resources for his campaign.

But he garnered perhaps the most attention of the three candidates due to a court appearance he had last month involving an order of protection requested by his ex-girlfriend, foul tweets that surfaced about Barry, and a verbal eruption he had outside an early voting site.

In other local races in Davidson County, Daron Hall was elected sheriff, Martesha Johnson was elected public defender, Charlie Cardwell was elected county trustee, Karen Johnson was elected register of deeds, Brenda Wynn was elected county clerk, Howard Gentry was elected Criminal Court clerk, Lonnell Matthews Jr. was elected Juvenile Court clerk, and Ricky Rooker was elected as Circuit Court clerk.

Each ran as Democrats and ran unopposed in their contests.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236, jgarrison@tennessean.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison.