District 34 Councilmember Angie Henderson upset incumbent Jim Shulman for the Vice Mayor on Thursday.
“Tonight’s win is about the future of our city,” Henderson said via social media. “Nashville voters decided they want to follow a new and better path, a more productive path.”
A largely administrative position, Vice Mayor is typically one of the lower-profile races on the ballot. Henderson, who was term-limited as the District 34 councilmember, had the backing of 10 current councilmembers. But with Nashville’s business community at his back, as well as the Fraternal Order of Police and a handful of councilmembers, Shulman went into the election as a favorite. Despite his backing, Henderson beat out Shulman with 51.7 percent of the vote.
Notably, Henderson trailed by 1.4 percent after early voting but won the Election Day vote by eight percent to slingshot past Shulman. Henderson spent two terms as the District 34 councilmember.
With Henderson gaining so much support from councilmembers, the start of this next metro council term could have held some tension had she lost. Some of the more progressive councilmembers had criticized Shulman over the years for his handling of council meetings.
The vice mayor only votes on policy in cases where the metro council is tied. The vice mayor’s biggest job is making sure Metro Council meetings go smoothly, whether that be working in the background to keep things organized, or gaveling people down when things get ugly at the Metro Courthouse.
During Shulman’s first full term — he won a 2018 special election over Sheri Weiner to succeed David Briley following Megan Barry’s resignation — Shulman oversaw the passage of the Titans’ Stadium deal, a license plate reader pilot program and traveled to Capitol Hill in an attempt to smooth things over between Metro and the Tennessee General Assembly.
Prior to winning in 2018, he was an at-large councilmember from 2015-2018, and was the District 25 Councilmember from 1999-2007.
