Bill Freeman
For the first time since the Democratic gubernatorial field melted down in 2010 to a single serious candidate, Mike McWherter of Dresden, the state’s Democrats seem able and determined to up the ante and make a valid run for Governor in 2018 against the now dominant Tennessee Republican Party.
As the Tennessee Journal has reported, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has been making the rounds statewide as a prelude to a likely run for Governor two years from now.
And the Flyer has learned that Bill Freeman, well-known Nashville businessman and prominent donor and activist in Democratic circles, is seriously intending a gubernatorial race as well.
Freeman, currently serving as co-chair of Hillary of Tennessee and a member of Democratic presidential candidate Clinton’s national finance committee, will be the “special guest” and principal speaker at what is being billed as a “Reception for Sen. Lee Harris & Rally for Our West Tennessee Candidates,” to be held in Memphis at the home of Democrat Linda Sowell on November 3.
The affair, which is co-sponsored by a number of prominent local Democrats, will double as a Clinton for President rally. And Freeman’s role in it is related as well to his quest to develop a local base for a proposed gubernatorial run.
Freeman was previously a candidate in Nashville’s 2015 mayoral race. He outspent all other candidates and barely missed making the runoff in a contest ultimately won by current Mayor Megan Barry.
