Clifton David Briley (born January 8, 1964) is an American politician. A Democrat, he was the eighth mayor of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County. He was elected in 2015 as vice-mayor and was sworn in as

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

mayor after

Megan Barry Megan Christine Barry (née Mueller; born September 22, 1963) is an American businesswoman and politician who served as the seventh mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County from 2015 until March 6, 2018, when she res ...

's resignation on March 6, 2018. Briley went on to win the May 24 special election for the balance of Barry's term with 55% of the vote over nearly a dozen challengers, avoiding a runoff and making him the official mayor of Nashville. John Cooper defeated Briley in the

2019 Nashville mayoral election The 2019 Nashville mayoral election took place on August 1, 2019, to elect the List of mayors of Nashville, Tennessee, mayor of Nashville, Tennessee. Incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Mayor David Briley, who succeeded Meg ...

. Briley was the first native of both Nashville and Tennessee since

Bill Boner William Hill Boner (born February 14, 1945) is an American educator and former Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician from Tennessee. He was the third list of mayors of Nashville, Tennessee, mayor of the Metropolitan governmen ...

in 1991 to be mayor.

Education

Briley is a lifelong Nashvillian, and his grandfather was the first elected mayor of Metropolitan Nashville. His early education included Glendale Elementary School, Lipscomb Middle School, and

Montgomery Bell Academy Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee. The school is located in the Whitland Area Neighborhood. History MBA was established in 1867 in the aftermath of the American ...

. Briley earned a bachelor's degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in 1987 before traveling to

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

where he volunteered as a teacher of English. He completed his JD at

Golden Gate University Golden Gate University (GGU or Golden Gate) is a private university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1901, GGU specializes in educating professionals through its schools of law, business, taxation, technology, accounting, ...

in 1995 and received honors for administrative and

environmental law Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. The term "environmental law" encompasses treaties, statutes, regulations, conventions, and policies designed to protect the natural environment and manage the impact of human activitie ...

Political career

Briley was elected to serve as an At Large Metro Councilman for Davidson County from 1999 to 2007. He was the Vice-Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee and held seats on the Personnel, Public Information, Human Relations and Housing Committee, the Traffic and Parking Committee and the Greenways Committee. He was past Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Solid Waste and the Water Rate Oversight Committee. Briley was voted Best Council Member by the ''

Nashville Scene ''Nashville Scene'' is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with ...

'' in 2001, 2002 and 2006 and was spotlighted as one of "40 under 40" by '' Business Nashville'' magazine in June 2000. During the 2000 presidential election, Carter was a Tennessee state co-chair of GoreNet. GoreNet was a group that supported the Al Gore campaign with a focus on

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

and

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

organizing as well as hosting small dollar donor events. In November 2006, Briley announced his candidacy for

Mayor of Nashville The Mayoralty in the United States, Mayor of Nashville is the chief executive of the government of Nashville, Tennessee. The current mayor is Freddie O'Connell. Each mayor serves a term of four years, with a limit of two consecutive terms, unless ...

. His campaign included a number of familiar political faces, including Will Cheek Jr., member of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

and former chair of the

Tennessee Democratic Party The Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in Tennessee. The party was founded in 1826 initially as the Jacksonian democracy, Jacksonian Party. The Tennessee Democratic Party w ...

, and his son, Will Cheek III, an attorney at the firm of Bone McAllester Norton. Jerry Martin, who served at Finance Director under

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

Jim Cooper James Hayes Shofner Cooper (born June 19, 1954) is an American lawyer, businessman, professor, and politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for (based in Nashville and containing parts of Davidson ...

in 2002, chaired the campaign's finance committee. Emily Passini was campaign manager; Drew Staniewski was deputy campaign manager. Sarah Lingo was finance director and Alex Youn was director of field operations. Briley finished fifth in the August 2007 election and returned to private life. In 2015, Briley was elected

Vice Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

of Nashville. On March 6, 2018, Mayor

resigned her position after pleading guilty to felony theft in a

plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

regarding improper use of public funds for travel expenses and an affair with the head of her security, leaving the Vice Mayor to fill the position. Briley was sworn in as acting mayor of Metro Nashville. Within a week of his acceding to the office, Briley announced both his intent to run for the remaining year of Barry's term in the Nashville mayoral election, which was initially set for August 2, 2018 by the Davidson County Election Commission, but subsequently moved to May 2018 after a lawsuit filed by opponents was successful, and a plan to demolish the abandoned

Herschel Greer Stadium Herschel Greer Stadium was a Minor League Baseball baseball park, park in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately south of the city's downtown district. The facility closed at the ...

, former home of the

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

baseball team. Greer Stadium was on the grounds of

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Fort Negley Fort Negley was a fortification built by Union (American Civil War), Union troops after the capture of Nashville, Tennessee during the American Civil War, located approximately south of the city center. It was the largest inland fort built in th ...

, and Briley announced a plan to leave the area as undeveloped, natural park space, in part out of respect to the many

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

and former slaves who worked on the construction of Fort Negley, several of whom died in the process and whose remains are buried on the grounds. Briley also continued the mayor's office's support of the

Let's Move Nashville Let's Move Nashville was a local referendum in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 1, 2018, that would have funded the construction of a mass transit system under the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority in Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson Cou ...

transit referendum, signing a "Declaration of Transportation Independence" on April 2. Briley's support seemingly meant little to the transit referendum, which was defeated by over a three-to-two majority on May 1, 2018, but apparently his support did little to dampen his personal popularity, as he was elected by an absolute majority to the balance of Berry's unexpired term in a special election only three weeks later over a dozen opponents, all of whom had expressed opposition to the transit initiative. Briley campaigned for re-election as Mayor of Metropolitan Nashville in the

. In the election's first round, John Cooper led Briley 35% to 25% as both advanced to a runoff election in the 10-candidate race, followed by Vanderbilt University professor Carol M. Swain and Tennessee House of Representatives member

John Ray Clemmons John Ray Clemmons (born July 14, 1977) is an American politician from the state of Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he serves in the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing the 55th district, in West Nashville. Early life ...

. In the runoff, Briley was defeated by Cooper by approximately 70% to 30%. Cooper then succeeded Briley as Mayor of Nashville when he was sworn in on September 28, 2019.

Contributions

In 2005, Briley proposed citywide wireless Internet access for Nashville. Received coolly by the administration, Briley's proposal nonetheless contributed to the development of free wireless access at Davidson County's public libraries as well as many public parks, including Centennial Park. A task force, led by Briley and including council members and representatives from technology and infrastructure providers, ultimately supported this narrower public access. In 2006, Briley was one of a small number of vocal opponents to proposed development which would have moved the city's AAA baseball team, the Nashville Sounds, into downtown Nashville. This proposed development, adjacent to Nashville's Riverfront Park along the

Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...

, was eventually cancelled and later replaced by a plan for a new stadium located slightly north of downtown Nashville, First Tennessee Park. In 2007, Briley wrote legislation requiring government buildings in Nashville to be built within

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

certification requirements.

Personal life

Briley is married to Jodie Bell and has one son. He is the grandson of Beverly Briley, first mayor of the combined Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. His brother, Rob Briley, has previously served as a Tennessee State Representative for the 52nd District. Briley has been a practicing lawyer and was a member of Bone McAllester Norton PLLC prior to becoming mayor and having to wind up his legal practice; unlike his former position of vice mayor, being Mayor of Nashville is a full-time occupation. After his defeat for a full term, Briley returned to his previous position at Bone McAllester Norton.

References

External links