Barry beats $1 million mark in Congressional District 7 race

Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, photographed at a July event in East Nashville, has raised more than $1 million for her 7th Congressional District bid. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, a Democrat, has raised more than $1 million for her bid to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.

Green has raised just under $1.7 million since the beginning 2023. His second quarter financial disclosure for the period ending June 30 showed him with cash on hand of $444,713. For the same period, Barry showed $453,924.81

“Our campaign is building something truly special,” said Barry in a statement. “This isn’t just about the dollars raised — it’s about the movement we’re creating.

With 60 days left to fundraise before the November election, Barry is on track to to set a fundraising record among recent Democratic candidates for the district: In 2022, community organizer Odessa Kelly raised $1.049 million while Kiran Sreepada, a policy analyst, raised $207,644 for his 2020 campaign. Justin Kanew, who founded the Tennessee Holler, a digital media outlet, raised $491,053 when he ran for the seat in 2018.

Barry’s campaign reported in a press release that 85% of donations have come from within the state and from 3,550 donors.

Elected in 2018, Green, who serves as chair of the U.S. Homeland Security Committee announced in February he would not run for 2024 election, changing his mind two weeks later.

Following the 2020 U.S. Census, the Tennessee legislature redrew district lines as part of a move to enable Republicans to win Congressional District 5. The district now takes in portions of Nashville that are heavily Democratic. But the Cook Political Reports rates the district R+10 on its partisan voting index, meaning that in the past two presidential elections, the district performed an average of 10 points more Republican than did the nation has a whole.

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