Stephen Downs
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Stephen Downs ran for election for an at-large seat of the Nashville Metro Council in Tennessee. He lost in the general election on August 3, 2023.
Downs completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Stephen Downs was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He served in the U.S. Army from 1978 to 1980. Downs earned a bachelor's degree from Tennessee State University in 1993 and studied at the University of Tennessee Knoxville in 2006. His career experience includes working as a freelance paralegal, public servant, and founder of PrayerTown4All.
Downs has been affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Military Order of Purple Heart.[1]
Elections
2023
See also: City elections in Nashville, Tennessee (2023)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Nashville Metro Council At large (5 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general runoff election for Nashville Metro Council At large on September 14, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Delishia Porterfield (Nonpartisan) | 14.4 | 49,588 |
| ✔ |  | Quin Evans-Segall (Nonpartisan)  | 13.8 | 47,774 |
| ✔ |  | Burkley Allen (Nonpartisan) | 13.1 | 45,317 |
| ✔ |  | Olivia Hill (Nonpartisan) | 12.9 | 44,443 |
 | Chris Cheng (Nonpartisan) | 12.3 | 42,644 | |
 | Howard Jones (Nonpartisan) | 11.5 | 39,632 | |
 | Jeff Syracuse (Nonpartisan) | 10.7 | 37,035 | |
 | Russ Pulley (Nonpartisan) | 10.6 | 36,507 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 2,516 | ||
| Total votes: 345,456 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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General election
General election for Nashville Metro Council At large (5 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Nashville Metro Council At large on August 3, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Zulfat Suara (Nonpartisan) | 10.7 | 40,575 |
| ✔ | | Delishia Porterfield (Nonpartisan) | 9.1 | 34,481 |
| ✔ | | Burkley Allen (Nonpartisan) | 8.0 | 30,314 |
| ✔ | | Olivia Hill (Nonpartisan) | 6.8 | 25,802 |
| ✔ | | Howard Jones (Nonpartisan) | 6.7 | 25,327 |
| ✔ | | Quin Evans-Segall (Nonpartisan) | 5.9 | 22,644 |
| ✔ | | Russ Pulley (Nonpartisan) | 5.9 | 22,386 |
| ✔ | | Chris Cheng (Nonpartisan) | 5.8 | 22,000 |
| ✔ | | Jeff Syracuse (Nonpartisan) | 5.4 | 20,643 |
| Marcia Masulla (Nonpartisan) | 5.3 | 20,275 | ||
| Yolanda Hockett (Nonpartisan) | 5.2 | 19,799 | ||
 | Arnold Hayes (Nonpartisan) | 4.3 | 16,288 | |
| Chris Crofton (Nonpartisan) | 3.4 | 12,936 | ||
| Ronnie Greer Sr. (Nonpartisan) | 3.0 | 11,349 | ||
| Tony Chapman (Nonpartisan) | 2.7 | 10,290 | ||
 | Stephen Downs (Nonpartisan) | 2.6 | 9,998 | |
| Deloris Vandivort (Nonpartisan) | 2.4 | 9,005 | ||
| Gilbert Ramirez (Nonpartisan) | 2.1 | 7,924 | ||
| Indrani Ray (Nonpartisan) | 1.6 | 6,257 | ||
| Jonathan Williamson (Nonpartisan) | 1.5 | 5,797 | ||
| Brian Hellwig (Nonpartisan) | 1.3 | 5,115 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 1,447 | ||
| Total votes: 380,652 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Deborah Hickey (Nonpartisan)
- Tim Horne (Nonpartisan)
- Charles Townsend Sr. (Nonpartisan)
Note: Because Zulfat Suara received more than 10% of the vote in the general election, she won the election and did not need to advance to the general runoff. Four seats were elected in the general runoff election.[2]
Endorsements
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2019
See also: City elections in Nashville, Tennessee (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Nashville Metro Council District 7
Emily Benedict defeated Clint Camp in the general runoff election for Nashville Metro Council District 7 on September 12, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Emily Benedict (Nonpartisan) | 68.4 | 2,014 | |
| Clint Camp (Nonpartisan) | 31.0 | 912 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 20 | ||
| Total votes: 2,946 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Nashville Metro Council District 7
The following candidates ran in the general election for Nashville Metro Council District 7 on August 1, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Emily Benedict (Nonpartisan) | 40.3 | 1,365 | |
| ✔ | Clint Camp (Nonpartisan) | 12.0 | 408 | |
| Cole Rogers (Nonpartisan) | 11.9 | 404 | ||
| Daniel Fitzpatrick (Nonpartisan) | 10.8 | 367 | ||
| Stephanie Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 8.7 | 296 | ||
| Randy Reed (Nonpartisan) | 8.1 | 276 | ||
| Stephen Downs (Nonpartisan) | 6.0 | 205 | |
| Jacob Green (Nonpartisan) | 1.7 | 57 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 12 | ||
| Total votes: 3,390 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Stephen Downs completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Downs' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I started this life in a little house on Fatherland Street in East Nashville Historic Edgefield district. I am the sixth child of seven children by Jesse and Theresa Downs. I attended Holy Name Church, and School and was given my name by Father Jim Zralek and my first-grade teacher was sister Mary Samuel. (lol, I feel tears coming on).
Growing up in East Nashville I always had that feeling as a kid that "This is my Town" my birthday coincided with our great State of Tennessee birthday, although I know now that this is "your" town, and I am sincerely dedicated when I am elected, to make my term in office only about you and when I exercise my due diligence I will present data to you, and then it will be about how you instruct me to vote on those issues that affect you each day.
I will reiterate and state in my own words to you, one thing about me that is very important, and that is that I will never vote on a single issue that affects you, your family, your business, or your organization without sitting with you first and knowing the precise impact that decision will have on you, your family, your business or your organization, that is my promise to you.
- I am running for council at large because I see a disconnect that is creating gridlock and outright overreach on issues that develop between our legislative body of Tennessee (overwhelmingly republican) and our metropolitan council (overwhelmingly democrat) Many in our current council do not seem to get that a scenario has been created whereby our citizens and non citizens in this great city cannot get anything done for our constituent base because of standoffish behavior, gridlock, and incumbent' wanting to circumvent term limits by making careers at city hall thereby stagnating efforts to properly inform its base on real issues of concern and to continue doing business as usual without meaningful input from constituents. I am your agent .
- Downs said he saw a gridlock in council and was stunned by the council's rejection of the 2024 Republican National Convention. Downs said, "I don't care who you are, or where you came from nor what party you identify as, you can't bite your nose off to spite your face, we lost 100,s of millions of dollars earmarked for our economy here, we must stop the tit for tat and work together." His priorities include working closely with the legislature to "strike a balance" with a common goal of "taking care of all citizens and non-citizens." He aspires to "put partisan politics aside", address Metro Nashville's lack of affordable housing, focused care for longtime Nashville residents who have been our "post pioneers" in terms of building our city,
- I had a great time and want to express this sincere promise to you. "If you elect me, I will never vote on a single issue that would adversely affect you, your family, your business, or your organization, without sitting with you first and knowing the precise impact that decision will have on you, your family, your business or your organization." I am 63 years old and come from a time where your word is your bond.
Mainly to beef up our health initiatives to make certain we are not caught off guard in terms of having items we need during emergencies, so we do need to plan better as to our amount of inventory needed to offset long-term emergencies.
Crime is going up although it is recognized here that our city is growing at such a fast rate it is hard to get settled back into feeling safe until we can get our first responder's fully staffed and for our residents and government officials can see more eye to eye and be willing to work more together with a common them to make our city safer for our families, our schools, our communities and our visitors. My crime data is generally pulled from several resources.
Our downtown is not environmentally healthy, nor is the social environment at times. A healthy downtown would look like a place that is well monitored for security purposes, one that is socially acceptable to the public, has economically sound parking rates and that is not polluted at the rate ours is here in this city. The changes I would make are beefing up patrols and undercover officers, spend more funds to make it more aesthetically pleasing, provide free parking after certain hours, bring in more social events and make an effort to be more inclusive of all nationalities that are currently in our city so that they can be recognized.
It is imperative that we engage our constituents to keep them well informed and I believe that it is irresponsible to not involve the very folks that elect you to represent them. If I am elected, I will hold a biweekly meeting with every constituent that wants to be involved in the processes of government and at the same time encourage those that do not respond. We can all do more together as one!!
I am an advocate of transparency so yes, we need to enact better legislation to not guard data away from the public, the public has a right to know what is going on and we need more accountability in terms of equality and communication to the public in general.
It is imperative that we look at moving our police department employees into the communities in which they serve. For instance, I want to see a police department that can engage on a daily basis the very people that live in the precinct of which they serve. I would like to start a pilot program whereby officers where a shirt that identifies them as police officers with official identification worn on that shirt. I want them to be in practical clothing that will allow them to engage in sports like basketball, and other sports that will build a bond between the department and the residents living in that precinct. My vision is that the more people see them and look at them as one of the guys or girls it will establish better trust for everyone and could indeed lower crime over a period of time. In essence i want to have the department viewed as family and not a us and them mentality.
Nashville is a major growth city and we must be careful in keeping our historical value intact and at the same time grow smart, gentrification happens in various ways, for instance there is a community here called the (Nations) and floods hit that area and devastated it. The gentrification that followed was in this instance a good outcome, where there was once an area dominated by lumber, cars and warehouses has now become a vibrant area that has attracted arts, music and many young professionals that are thriving in sustainable growth. I do not like the idea of displacing people; I would look for solutions in smart growth to include folks that may have been displaced had we not took action to help them..
I would like to engage the community on a regular basis to get the feel of what people want most in their city and what is most important to them in terms of creating their utopia city. I believe that by becoming closer to the community with a family type atmosphere we all can do more.
We have a good approach to safety it is just a matter of fully implementing budgets that will allow public safety to be at its best and not hindered by funding, we need to find more money and manpower for our first responders, even their presence alone can reduce crime and further our cause for a safer city. We need to enact real gun laws that take assault weapons out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.
Absolutely, I would make it mandatory for our city to have an environmental check, diagnosis and a prescription that will cure our defects in that area.
We need a bold policy as to our infrastructure because growth in our city has far outpaced our ability to provide the proper infrastructure to sustain our city in terms of technology, roads, public transportation, and environmental health.
I would hope to fully fund them and get the number of officers we actually need to do the job rather than using a band aid approach by overworking our current officers and putting them in danger serving unreasonable amounts of hours. We can do better. I want to see more community policing in neighborhoods and a dedicated walking patrol team for the north, south, west and east sectors of our city that can engage in real life events with the residents and youth in a genuine effort to build bridges and partnerships that are sustainable where we all can stay connected and work together.
Covid has ended and I don't want to speculate what I would have done. It is fair to say that this was something new for us and we handled it the best way we could. I did not like the mask wearing because it became too extreme.
Education
Safety
Transportation
Solid Waste
Environment
Mental and Physical Health of all residents
Smart Growth
Historical Preservation
Arts and Music
The council at large seat provides an avenue for deep diving into legislation that can impact our city. It allows time for the elected official to build relationships with both, our State government and Federal government to pass laws that are vital to our city and its wellbeing. If an elected official has good negotiation skills and knows how to close a deal with give and take mentality, then you can unpack issues and move forward in a meaningful way rater than the tit for tat that is currently going on.
I look up to my mom and dad they taught me to always follow God and do what is right in life and to love everyone and to not hate anyone. I want to follow the examples that our God has set out before us to obey. If I could pick something profound that touches me deeply it would be the sermon on the mount (beatitudes). I would like to walk with our God each day and have his grace to only say and do things that are pleasing to him.
The Imitation of Christ
It is my belief that the core responsibility for the elected official here is transparency and communication. It is vital to communicate effectively with your constituents and it is even more vital to vote the way they tell you too. It is my belief that my opinions do not matter on any given subject if they are overrode by the majority of residents, so you have to be loyal with your constituents and only do what they request you to do when the voting machine opens, and the issues are at hand.
I would like to leave the legacy that I had a 100% on my report card and that means that I never voted against the will of the people no matter what my feelings were on any given subject matter.
I can vaguely remember my mother and others crying when John Kennedy got assassinated. I am from a catholic family, and it was very confusing to me.
Shoneys from age 15 to seventeen
The Bible, it is our way to salvation and everlasting life.
Jesus Christ has risen today
It would be helpful for a candidate to be knowledgeable in reading, writing, proficiency in computer skills, the art to negotiate and compromise, be a people person, a person that will stand their ground protecting the public at large, a good public speaker.
The Huey Report
Council District 10
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Note: Community Questions were submitted by the public and chosen for inclusion by a volunteer advisory board. The chosen questions were modified by staff to adhere to Ballotpedia’s neutrality standards. To learn more about Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Expansion Project, click here.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Stephen Downs did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
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Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 6, 2023
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Nashville election results: Zulfat Suara wins At-large Council seat, runoff set for remaining seats," August 3, 2023
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