New Mailer Makes Briley Sound Rad as Hell – Nashville Scene

New Mailer Makes Briley Sound Rad as Hell  Nashville Scene

Yet another weird mailer has turned up ahead of tomorrow’s runoff election. This one, which accuses Mayor David Briley of good progressive politics, recently hit …

The attack ad compares the mayor to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her squad

ImageYet another weird mailer has turned up ahead of tomorrow’s runoff election. This one, which accuses Mayor David Briley of good progressive politics, recently hit mailboxes and features headshots of congressional newcomers Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar over a green, dingy landscape shot of a swamp.

“With his out of control spending and attempts to make Nashville a Sanctuary City,” the mailer reads, “David Briley is turning Nashville into the type of swamp that would make this trio proud.”

The flipside includes an endorsement for Steve Glover, a local conservative clawing for one of the four remaining at-large Metro Council seats (not to be confused with Childish Gambino’s brother and writing partner Stephen Glover).

The “sanctuary city” line stems from Briley’s most recent move on immigration issues. In September, the mayor issued a mostly symbolic executive order that called for the repeal of a state House law that prohibits sanctuary cities in Tennessee. More concretely, the order also requires Metro employees to report any requests from ICE asking for assistance.

Another mailer warning Nashvillians of lefty utopias circulated last week in District 16. That one endorsed Tony Tenpenny for his district race, and similar to the newest mailer, summoned the specter of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken socialist and target of attacks from the right.

As we pointed out in our coverage of the Tenpenny mailer, the comparisons are kinda silly. Not only is AOC further to the left than Briley, she’s also way cooler — she’s been in The Simpsons, has a three-letter nickname, and her congressional crew is called “The Squad.” Meanwhile, Briley tried to go from Milhouse to Thrillhouse by swearing more and dropping a winking emoji in a tweet.

The Briley team knows a compliment when they hear one, and responded to mailer with a statement: “While we’re proud to be considered in the same vein as these three elected officials, this flier is fear-mongering at its worst.”

For his part, John Cooper — the incumbent mayor’s challenger who earned 10 points more than Briley on the Aug. 1 election — condemned the mailer via tweet: “There is no place for this kind of divisive politics in Nashville.” Still, you get the feeling the wealthy developer won’t turn away those conservative votes tomorrow night when Nashville heads to the polls for the runoff election.