Republican Chad Bobo and Democrat Shaundelle Brooks are facing up for the open District 60 House seat in Davidson County. (Photos: John Partipilo)
The race for an open seat in Tennessee House District 60 pits a gun-law reform activist against a former aide to the state’s Republican House speaker. They are diametrically opposed on nearly every issue.
Democratic candidate Shaundelle Brooks, 54, has been lobbying for tighter restrictions on guns since her son, Akilah DaSilva, was killed in a 2018 Waffle House shooting. She is accustomed to visiting lawmakers to push for tougher laws and only accelerated her efforts after the 2023 shooting deaths of six people at The Covenant School in Nashville.
“I want to prevent this from happening to another family, because after six-and-a-half years, my family’s still going through this pain and agony,” Brooks says.
The Hermitage resident and mother of three is a Nashville parole officer who believes her career gives her first-hand experience with the criminal justice system. She defeated Tyler Brasher in the Democratic primary for what became a bluer seat after redistricting two years ago. The district takes in Old Hickory, Donelson and Hermitage.
In part because of her primary race, Brooks raised $86,685 this year, spending $74,265, compared to Bobo’s $35,696, a large portion of which came from Republican House members, and spent $28,310.
Brooks contends stronger background checks are needed on gun purchases, along with safe-storage laws, red-flag laws and restrictions on military-type weapons often used in mass killings such as the one that claimed her son. She testified against the governor’s permit-less carry bill three years ago but found herself up against people wearing AR-15 pins and was told her murdered son should have been armed so he could defend himself.
Shaundelle Brooks outside the Tennessee Capitol. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Republican candidate Chad Bobo, though he has a streak of right-wing conspiracy views, is focusing his campaign on better jobs in the eastern Davidson County House seat left open by the departure of Democrat Darren Jernigan for a job in the mayor’s office.
Bobo, 49, a Hermitage resident with two adult children, appears comfortable with the state’s permit-less carry law adopted in 2021, and he doesn’t want restrictions on assault-type weapons such as the one used in the Covenant mass shooting. He argues that those type weapons use the same mechanism as handguns, and controls on those types of weapons would lead to restrictions on handguns, calling himself a “staunch defender” of the Second Amendment.
Bobo says he doesn’t want to take any steps that would dial back gun laws and stop people from being able to protect themselves.
“I know that was a terrible thing that happened to Shaun and her family and the other people who had to witness that, a horrible event. But what I don’t want to happen is to take away, or in any way, infringe upon the rights of others to secure themselves and their family,” Bobo says.
He declined to comment on where he might stand on a proposal by Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally to withhold Shelby County’s state-shared sales tax revenue if it places gun-restriction questions on the November ballot. He says he needs more information on the matter.
Even though unemployment is low statewide and in Metro Nashville, around 3%, Bobo says his focus is to bring higher-paying jobs to District 60, increasing manufacturing employment in the area, which for decades depended on the former DuPont plant for economic stability.
He also would like to attract a trade school or college of applied technology to the district, saying he’s “open to all options.”
Bobo, held jobs in warehouse management and the insurance industry, says he worked with Sexton on forming policy, in addition to handling constituent service, but notes nothing “stands out.”
Voucher views
Sexton changed his stance on private-school vouchers, supporting the governor’s effort to pass a statewide program for all students this year after opposing the education savings account program in 2019.
Bobo is uncertain how he would vote on private-school vouchers but says he believes Metro Nashville should put more emphasis on placing students in its magnet schools and charters.
Brooks opposes private-school vouchers, arguing they “drain resources” from public schools. She backs better pay for teachers and staff and supports strong youth programs such as sports, arts and STEM initiatives to improve science and technology offerings.
In addition, she wants to offer more affordable housing in the district, expand Medicaid, increase reproductive rights in light of the state’s abortion ban, provide comprehensive sex education for young people, broaden LGBTQ rights, bolster mental health services and improve accountability in politics, including campaign finance reform to cut back the influence of money in politics.
Election questions
Called an election “denier” on social media, Bobo doesn’t think the 2019 presidential election was fair in some states, saying it was “obvious” that “rules were broken” that led to “illegal votes.” Even though every legal challenge by former President Donald Trump was turned back in court, he continues to claim the election was stolen.
“I do hear that a lot,” Bobo says, about Trump’s legal challenges being turned back, including a Texas effort joined by Tennessee. “But I also hear that there are a lot of courts changing from how we voted in 2020 back to where things were before that.” He noted absentee voting and mail-in ballots are two areas where rules are shifting. Several battleground states, such as Arizona and Florida put more restrictions on voting access in advance of this year’s presidential election while Michigan, for one, took steps to increase access.
Chad Bobo, Republican candidate for House District 63, photographed at his home. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Bobo also believes in a conspiracy theory called “replacement,” which refers to immigrants taking the place of white Americans, although he says they are taking over blue-collar jobs.
In light of those stances, Brooks says her opponent comes off as a “mini-Trump” and expressed dismay that he held those beliefs.
Endorsed by Democratic Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville, one of two lawmakers expelled from the House in 2023, Brooks says she felt the way it was handled was “unfair.”
“Six people lost their lives in a mass shooting, and our government chose to end session without doing anything,” she says. “They just totally ignored it.”
Brooks says she understood the frustration of the two lawmakers and notes they did “what they had to do.” Jones and Pearson led a rally for gun-law reform on the House floor and were accused of violating the chamber’s decorum rules. They were later expelled after a lengthy hearing but then sent back to the House by their local governments and won re-election.
Bobo says he feels the House followed its rules in expelling the two lawmakers but adds he would have handled the matter differently.
“I would have reconsidered the moment and pulled the motion” for expulsion, he says. Yet Bobo adds, “The best-case scenario is that the voters vote out these rabble-rousers and troublemakers for good, so this isn’t an issue in the future.”
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