Metro Nashville Council Member Joy Styles (District 32) announced her candidacy for mayor on Tuesday, drawing a sharp contrast with incumbent Mayor Freddie O’Connell, whom she criticized for what she described as an “ineffective” leader who maintains an “inability to be decisive.”
“I’m running because Nashville needs a fighter…Because over the last six years, I have shown what inclusive leadership looks like…We deserve better,” Styles said during a press conference, held intentionally at the old Hickory Hollow Mall to bring attention to how the city, under O’Connell’s leadership, has stalled at redeveloping the site.
“The administration we have now, there have been promises made that have not come to fruition…I did not endorse this mayor, I did not encourage anyone to vote for him because I had a sense that this is what we would get with his leadership. I then watched in succession starting in November of 2023 bad decisions being made,” Styles said.
A main focus of Styles’ remarks on Tuesday was that O’Connell O’Connell has neglected community engagement, citing missed meetings, limited communication with council members, and what she described as a rush to advance large-scale projects without meaningful public input.
“When you don’t participate in community conversations, which, by the way, he didn’t attend a single community meeting I invited him to in 2023 or a Global Mall planning meeting, and to now think that you can make decisions for us, this is what we get,” she said, pointing to the covered windows behind her at the old mall site.
“My concern is that there are other neighborhoods suffering from neglect,” she added. “When you don’t talk to council members, which is happening a lot, you don’t know what the community needs are, and you can’t come up with plans that benefit the constituents of that area.”
Styles said rezoning projects across Nashville have been emblematic of residents’ frustration, contending that the O’Connell administration rushes the process without adequately working with the community to develop a plan.
“What we saw in August with the rezoning of 323 acres in West Nashville really was indicative of people’s frustration…People just aren’t ready. We’re moving way too fast. We need to slow down, and we really need to have a plan. You can’t just come up with a plan and give it to the people, you have to work with the people to come up with one,” she said.
Styles, who noted that she has been weighing entering the mayoral race since last year, said the central issue facing the city is whether its leadership is truly listening to constituents or advancing personal priorities – using O’Connell’s “pet transit projects” as an example – instead.
“I think the biggest issue that you’re going to see is who cares about constituents. It’s the argument that you’ve been hearing for months, that [O’Connell] is not listening to us,” she said.
Elected mayor in 2023, O’Connell has yet to formally announce his intent to run for reelection.
The next mayoral election will take place in 2027.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
