Sharon Hurt, a Metro Councilwoman at-large who was the number one vote-getter for Council in Nashville in 2019, officially announced her campaign for Mayor with the following statement:
“Nashville is a city of growth and opportunity for some, but too many longtime Nashvillians have been forgotten and shut out of the city’s prosperity. These forgotten working and middle-class families need and deserve a voice and a leader in City Hall who fights for them. I will fight for all people and no one can be left behind as Nashville experiences astronomical growth and a lack of affordable housing.
I am running for Mayor because people who get up every morning, do the hard work our community needs – our home care workers, teachers-aides, custodians, and city workers like those who pick up the trash or maintain our parks – are the hearts and souls of our neighborhoods. These multi-generational residents should be able to afford to live here, start a business here, pay a mortgage, make a car payment, and put food on their tables – but right now too many can’t.
Nashville invests hundreds of millions in attracting and helping the largest businesses, but just a fraction in building mom-and-pop businesses to anchor neighborhoods across Nashville. That will change if I’m elected because poverty anywhere in our city is a threat to prosperity everywhere.
Nearly ten thousand black and brown people have already voted with their feet and left Davidson County. We can’t afford to lose more people because they can’t afford to live here – regardless of their race or background.
As the next Mayor of Nashville, I will work my heart out to restore hope and prosperity on every forgotten block in our city.”
Over the coming weeks and months, Sharon Hurt will spell out detailed plans for strengthening neighborhoods by creating more home ownership, more capitalization of small neighborhood-based businesses, more minority participation in city contracts, more community-based policing, and investments in public schools that need it the most. Hurt believes Nashville must be a union-friendly city to help properly train our working class for trades jobs – and to build a stronger more hopeful middle class.
As Mayor Sharon will work to create a housing trust fund that not only helps working-class people make down payments on their first mortgage but also teaches them how to be successful homeowners who pay taxes and strengthen Neighborhoods.
