CAPITOL VIEW
By Pat Nolan, NEWSCHANNEL5 Political Analyst
October 21, 2022
MAYOR JOHN COOPER AND THE TENNESSEE TITANS REACH A DEAL ON A $2.2 BILLION DOMED STADIUM, COUNCIL LEADER BOB MENDES REACTS ON INSIDE POLITICS; A SURPRISING DEVELOPMENT IN SOME OF TENNESSEE’S MID TERM ELECTIONS; AS THE MIDTERM ELECTION ENTERS ITS FINAL WEEKS ARE REPUBLICAN REGAINING THE UPPER HAND? THE TENNESSEE CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW BOARD ENDS ITS 2022 YEAR BY OVERRULING METRO SCHOOLS THREE MORE TIMES; NASHVILLE IS BECOMING A NEW MECCA FOR CONSERVATIVE MEDIA
MAYOR JOHN COOPER AND THE TENNESSEE TITANS REACH A DEAL ON A $2.2 BILLION DOMED STADIUM; COUNCIL LEADER BOB MENDES REACTS ON INSIDE POLITICS
After months of negotiations, Mayor John Cooper and the Tennessee Titans NFL football team announced on Monday they had reached an agreement to build a new $2.2 billion domed stadium on the city’s East Bank.
The new stadium would be the largest public building project in Nashville’s history with funding coming from the Titans, the state of Tennessee and Metro government.
Next up to consider approval of this public-private partnership are the 40 members of the Metro Council.
Councilmember at Large Bob Mendes is one of the leaders of the Council and chairs a Council task force overseeing plans to revitalize the East Bank.
He is our guest on INSIDE POLITICS this week.
We welcome the Councilman back to the program.
Our interview can first be seen at 6:30 PM Friday night (tonight) on the main channel of NEWSCHANNEL5.
INSIDE POLITICS can also be seen on its regular weekly schedule on NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS.
Those times include:
7:00 p.m. Friday.
5:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
1:30 a.m. & 5:00 a.m. on Sunday.
THE PLUS is on Comcast Cable channel 250, Charter Cable channel 182 and on NEWSCHANNEL5’s over-the-air digital channel 5.2. We are also on DISH TV with the rest of the NEWSCHANNEL5 NETWORK.
One option for those who cannot see the show locally or who are out of town, you can watch it live with streaming video on NEWSCHANNEL5.com. Just use your TiVo or DVR, if those live times don't work for you.
This week’s show and previous INSIDE POLITICS interviews are also posted on the NEWSCHANNEL5 website for your viewing under the NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS section. A link to the show is posted as well on the Facebook page of NEWSCHANNEL5 PLUS. Each new show and link are posted early in the week after the program airs.
Finally, I am now posting a link to the show each week on my own Facebook page, sometime the week after the show airs.
A SURPRISING DEVELOPMENT IN SOME OF TENNESSEE’S MID-TERM ELECTIONS
Early voting began on Wednesday for the November 8 mid-term election in Tennessee.
The races for Governor, U.S. Congress and the Tennessee General Assembly have been perceived as again strongly favoring Republicans.
That is likely to be the case when the votes are counted, even though perhaps surprisingly, some of the Democratic candidates have lately been raising more money than their GOP opponents!
There has been very little new or ongoing polling in the Tennessee races, so how do we know the Republicans will win? In terms of the legislative and congressional seats, the GOP Super Majority drew the new district lines effective for this election, and they have every confidence their candidates will prevail.
If they perceived otherwise, you can be sure their campaigns would pull out of their leisurely glide paths to Election Day and become more active on the campaign trail, on TV and online to turn out their vote and to attack the Democrats. In the congressional races, if there was doubt about the outcomes, both national parties would be sending in money and other resources to protect their incumbents or seize an unexpected opportunity to pick up a seat or snatch one away.
The Republican-led carving up of Nashville/Davidson County into three different congressional districts was done so the GOP would capture one long-held Democratic seat in Middle Tennessee. But now, even one of the Republican incumbents involved in the Nashville area redistricting, Congressman Dr. Mark Green admits, what has occurred is “inherently unfair.”
Green did complain about how his district was reconfigured when the issue was being decided in the Legislature earlier this year. It appears the Republican/ Democratic mix in his new district is a tighter one than in his old district, or in most of other new Nashville area congressional districts. It is thought Dr. Green blames Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton for making his district more competitive for Democrats, both now and over the next decade, as the area’s demographics grow and change.
It is a feud that could spread to the 2026 governor’s race with both men thought to be likely candidates in the Republican primary. Meanwhile this week, Congressman Green began a TV ad attacking President Joe Biden and indicating that it is time to fight to get America back.
As far as I can tell, besides Congressman Green, none of the other Republican congressional candidates in the Nashville area are running TV ads, as early voting begins, and Election Day looms on November 8. It seems obvious they don’t think TV ads are needed, although after running a lot of ads in the primary along with supportive TV spots from outside groups, there are late reports that 5th District GOP nominee Andy Ogles is beginning some late media. By the way, the former Maury County Mayor has picked up the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. If the new 5th District had existed in 2020, Mr. Trump would have carried it by double digits.
Meanwhile, is of one Nashville’s state legislative races more competitive than expected? The new 59th District was drawn by Republicans to give them a somewhat rare chance to pick up seat in the Nashville/ Davidson County House delegation. Is the GOP nominee Michelle Foreman gaining some traction in this race that has no incumbent? The Democratic candidate Cabel Hemmer is launching a hard-hitting TV attack ad going after her conservative MAGA politics. Hemmer is also airing a positive introductory ad to introduce himself, outlining his goals and his background to be a lawmaker.
As for Governor Lee, every Tennessee Governor who has sought re-election to a second four-year term has been easily re-elected. Even before campaign season began, the Governor raised a massive campaign war chest and is spending some of it on two well-produced TV spots in an effort to convince voters that “while the rest of the world has gone a little crazy, not in Tennessee.”
In the Governor’s ads he makes a point about much he’s done for families and children. But I guess he is not counting some stories, first done by NEWSCHANNEL5 INVESTIGATES’s Ben Hall, and now by THE TENNESSEAN. The newspaper story says in just the past 5 months, state records indicate dozens, if not hundreds of children in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children Services have been sleeping on the couches or on the floors of DCS offices because state officials have, at least temporarily, no place to put them.
The state says this has happened for 1,134 nights since the spring.
Governor Lee says he is just getting started in his first term. As for what to do next, I would suggest he begin, as soon as possible, to solve this terrible situation regarding how our state is treating at-risk children.
Governor Lee is also not debating his Democratic opponent Dr. Jason Martin. That’s a strategy many incumbents pursue if they don’t perceive their opponent presents a major challenge to them. None of the Nashville-area Republican congressional candidates are debating their Democratic challengers either.
AS THE MIDTERM ELECTION ENTERS ITS FINAL WEEKS ARE REPUBLICANS REGAINING THE UPPER HAND?
We discussed this on INSIDE POLITICS a couple of weeks ago.
With the growing number of government reports and news stories about continuing record-high inflation and other bad economic news, are Republicans regaining some of the political edge they had earlier this year over the Democrats?
Things seemed to change towards the Democrats in the summer after the Supreme Court struck down its Roe v. Wade abortion decision after nearly 50 years. The tidal wave of negative reactions to the High Court decision, especially among women, seemed to make reproductive rights at or near the top of top issues for voters.
But several recent polls find a significant move back towards the economyas the biggest issue.
A NEW YORK TIMES SIENA COLLEGE poll, in particular, shows a significant sudden shift of among independent women, going from favoring Democrats by 14 points in September to now favoring Republicans 17 points in October!
To try and regroup and reenergize supporters, President Joe Biden gave a speech this week saying the first he will send to the new Congress in January is to write the Roe v. Wade abortion standards into federal law. The President also vowed to veto any bill passed by Congress to outlaw abortion nationwide.
To strike back at the most prominent symbol of ever-rising inflation, gas prices, Mr. Biden on Wednesday announced the release of more oil from the nation’s strategic reserve.
It remains unclear what the impact of the President’s moves will be. Meanwhile renewed questions are arising about whether he has become a drag on Democrats’ chances next month.
Meanwhile, several Democratic candidates across the country are reluctant to campaign with the President, given his job approval poll numbers, which remain below 50%.
THE TENNESSEE CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW BOARD ENDS ITS 2022 YEAR BY OVERRULING METRO SCHOOLS THREE MORE TIMES
The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission this week ended its work for 2022.
It did reject appeals from 6 charter operators wanting to operate in Clarksville, Brentwood, Hendersonville, Fayette County and two in Memphis. But it approved three more taxpayer funded charters in Davidson Country despite objections of the Metro School Board.
And so the political feud between Metro Nashville and the State of Tennessee over education and so many other issues rages on.
NASHVILLE IS BECOMING A NEW MECCA FOR CONSERVATIVE MEDIA
Nashville has been known for many things over the years.
That includes Music City USA, the Athens of the South, the Buckle of the Bible Belt and more.
Now it appears we are quickly becoming a mecca for conservative media.
The latest developments include a new Nashvillian, Kanye West (Ye), along with new businesses such as The Daily Wire, and now Parlor coming to town among other additions to the local media landscape.
