FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Emotions were running high at a mayoral forum Wednesday night in Franklin with controversial candidate Gabrielle Hanson and her supporters at the center of what became a chaotic scene.
NewsChannel 5 was invited by the organizer of the forum — a face-off between Gabrielle Hanson and incumbent Mayor Ken Moore — in the exclusive Westhaven community.
But some of Hanson's supporters tried to block NewsChannel 5 from entering the room, with one knocking a phone out of this reporter's hands and hitting the phone a second time, as we attempted to document the scene.
"Get your camera out of my face," the woman snapped.
A Franklin police officer quickly stepped in.
"Stop touching him, or you're going to jail. Do you understand?" the officer told the woman.
We were invited to a Franklin mayoral forum at Westhaven, but Gabrielle @HansonforMayor supporters became quite agitated and attempted to keep us from entering the room. One kept backing into me and then accused me of assaulting him. pic.twitter.com/Y9blWj7qwY
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) September 28, 2023
"Ok, but tell him to stop filming me," she responded.
"Keep your hands to yourself," the officer insisted. "You're a grown woman."
And that was just a small part of what NewsChannel 5 encountered there in Westhaven as Hanson supporters repeatedly tried to order us to leave the premises, telling us that they did not want us at this forum.
At one point, those supporters were standing shoulder to shoulder to try to keep our camera out. Police eventually cleared the entryway.
Another observer had captured audio of Hanson directing those supporters, "No Channel 5. They have to leave."
And here is Franklin’s “transparency” candidate, @HansonforMayor, telling one of her goons that @NC5/@NC5PhilWilliams “has to leave.”
— Jared Sullivan (@JRSLLVN) September 28, 2023
I was right next to her when she whispered this; I guess she didn’t notice that I had my recorder rolling. pic.twitter.com/CzGd97VqfM
It was the first face-to-face between Hanson and Moore since this mayor's race blew up.
At one point, Mayor Moore asked Hanson to apologize for spreading unfounded rumors about the Covenant school Shooting.
Hanson still claimed to have a secret source.
"Someday I hope the truth will come out, and people will know that I knew some things that happened," Hanson answered, adding: "And I'm sorry if anyone in any way was offended."
Moore pressed back.
"Your comments have been debunked," he said. "Would you apologize to the Covenant families that are here right now publicly?"
Hanson never answered, citing rules for the forum that said she did not need to respond a second time.
Later, she asked Moore about the recent arrest of a protester who refused to leave the Pride fest at a Franklin Park.
"I wasn't there, but I have reviewed the bodycam footage," Moore said.
"The bodycam footage shows the person that she mentioned telling people they are not Christian. They took the man to the police department to booking. The entire ride to the police station he was telling them that they were Christian.
"It wasn't about praying, it was about his activity"
The mayor said that, because the festival organizers had rented the park, they had the legal right to remove anyone who they believed was interfering with their event.
Early voting begins next Wednesday in Franklin.
Election day is October 24th.
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