Democratic primary in Nashville House district exemplifies style split in party

Shaundelle Brooks and Tyler Brasher are competing for the Democratic nomination in Nashville's House District 60. (Photos: John Partipilo)

Among the few competitive Democratic primaries in Tennessee is the battle for District 60, a cluster of economically diverse neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Davidson County.

Two first-time candidates – Shaundelle Brooks and Tyler Brasher – are vying for a seat held for more than a decade by Democrat Rep. Darren Jernigan, a political moderate who exited office to serve in the administration of Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell.

Brooks and Brasher hold similar policy positions: a commitment to reproductive rights, gun control and public schools. Both vehemently opposed Gov. Bill Lee’s failed school voucher plan, likely to rear its head in legislative policy debates again next year.

Where they diverge is in style rather than substance — a not insignificant difference in tactics also reflected in the Tennessee Democratic party writ large as it contends with an increasingly emboldened GOP supermajority that is well into its second decade of controlling all levers of power in state government.

I think we have to work across the aisle.The supermajority can obviously push anyone into a corner, but I think we can work with them to get incremental progress on day one.

– Tyler Brasher

Brasher, 32, is a healthcare management and finance consultant, who in his six years in Nashville has thrown himself into civic life.

Married with a young daughter – and one on the way – Brasher serves on the local chamber of commerce, is active in neighborhood groups and has served as a citizen representative on a Metro Nashville health and facilities board.

“I think we have to work across the aisle,” Brasher said. “The supermajority can obviously push anyone into a corner, but I think we can work with them to get incremental progress on day one.”

Brasher believes it’s not only possible for Democrats to find common ground with Republican colleagues but that Democrats must seek out opportunities to make incremental progress on issues like abortion. That issue is of particular importance to his family, he said.

“I’ve got a daughter that’s two and another daughter on the way,” he said. “ It’s been scary to know (my wife) might not get the reproductive care she needs. And I want my daughter to have the same reproductive rights her grandmother had.”

Brasher sees a narrow opening in achieving exceptions to Tennessee’s strict abortion ban for rape and incest victims, particularly minors. “I think Democrats have to help them find their courage to be able to expand exceptions to the abortion ban,” he said.

Brooks’ path to public life began with the murder of her 23-year-old son, Akilah DaSilva, one of four people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at a Nashville Waffle House. Her son Abede DaSilva, now 34, survived that shooting. Then last year, Abede DaSilva was struck in the head by a bullet as he sat outside a Nashville club, where he had just performed.

A former parole officer – and the daughter of two police officers – Brooks has become a fierce and prominent gun control advocate, a consistent and sometimes solitary presence at the Capitol in the years since her son died, long before the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville brought waves of noisy gun control protests to lawmakers.

It was ultimately the deaths of the three children and three adults at the elementary school that served as the tipping point for Brooks, 53, who had toyed with the idea of running for office before then but was “waiting for the right time.” The frustration she felt after years of inaction by the Legislature on gun violence prevention bubbled over.

“When I saw lawmakers weren’t listening, weren’t going to do anything and expelled the Justins for standing up to do something I decided I had to get in there and I had to do something,” she said.

Brooks believes the time has come for GOP lawmakers to have to contend with her as a peer, rather than an outside activist or a mourning mom.

Saying you support a lot of the issues and actually doing the work are different things. If you look at my resume, the things I’ve been talking about I have been doing for six years.

– Shaundelle Brooks

“They haven’t been listening to me for six years, right, when I was on the outside.,” she said. “I feel like on the inside talking to them and actually seeing me there, having to deal with me as a colleague, I think it’s going to be different than me testifying and they can shut me down.”

Brooks and Brasher both express cordial views of one another, but each is also clear about what separates their approaches.

“I think there’s a place for advocacy and activism, but I think folks need someone who is plugged in on day one making the connections to serve their constituents’ interests,” Brasher said.

“Saying you support a lot of the issues and actually doing the work are different things,” Brooks said. “If you look at my resume, the things I’ve been talking about I have been doing for six years. I’m a fighter.”

Second quarter campaign finance disclosures, released last week, show Brooks has raised more than $52,000 to Brasher’s $41,000.

Brasher has garnered the support of Nashville council members, including Russ Bradford, Erin Evans and Jordan Huffman.

Brooks, meanwhile, has the backing of progressive Democrats including Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Aftyn Behn in the Legislature and Nashville councilmembers Zulfat Suara, Emily Benedict and Russ Pulley.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face either Republican Chad Bobo, a former aide to Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton or Christopher Huff, who ran against Jernigan in 2022.

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