RELEASE: TIRRC VOTES CANDIDATES AND VOTERS DOMINATE METRO COUNCIL ELECTIONS

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 3, 2023

CONTACT

Hamp Price, hamp@tirrcvotes.org

TIRRC VOTES CANDIDATES AND VOTERS DOMINATE METRO COUNCIL ELECTIONS

22 TIRRC Votes endorsed candidates win, advance to runoff.

NASHVILLE— Immigrant voters and their allies were a dominant force in this year's Metro elections with 22 out of 26 TIRRC Votes endorsed candidates winning their races or advancing to runoffs, including Freddie O'Connell for Mayor; Zulfat Suara, Delishia Porterfield, Olivia Hill, and Quin Evans-Segall for Metro Council At Large; and district council candidates across the county.

“The results of this election are clear, voters in Nashville are ready for leaders who will represent our values, defend our city, and give us all opportunities to thrive,” said Lisa Sherman Luna, Executive Director of TIRRC Votes. “We're on our way to electing a Mayor and Metro Council who will stand by our communities and build a truly welcoming Nashville.”

TIRRC Votes was one of the few progressive groups to endorse a single candidate in the mayor's race, and mobilized mail, ground, and digital efforts to ensure Freddie O'Connell made it to the runoff election. The group contacted immigrant voters across the county, as well as Black and brown allies.

TIRRC Votes also ran one of the largest non-partisan civic engagement programs in the county this cycle, hitting 17,500 doors, sending 107,000 text messages, writing over 8,000 postcards, and contacting every immigrant voter in the county by mail. The group plans to replicate these efforts leading up to the September 14 runoff election.

Additional TIRRC Votes candidates winning their race include Jeff Preptit (D25), Terry Vo (D17), and Sandra Sepulveda (D30), progressive champions with immigrant backgrounds who have pledged to be powerful advocates for Black, brown, immigrant, and working families. Sepulveda was one of TIRRC Votes’s first Metro Council endorsements in 2019. 

“These candidates’ victories show there's a new power rising, and it looks like us,” said Sherman Luna. “Immigrants and refugees will play a powerful role in shaping the direction of our city, from getting out the vote to the ballot box to sitting in elected office.”

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TIRRC Votes was launched in 2018 to strengthen and expand our democracy by building power in immigrant and refugee communities and advocating for equitable and inclusive public policy. TIRRC Votes is affiliated with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC).