How many women have been elected to Nashville's Metro Council?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — While results are not official until certified by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office, a record number of women will lead the Metro Council when it reconvenes this fall.

This year’s election and runoff saw a whopping 22 women elected to the 40-member body, including the all-female slate of At Large Council members. In addition, the council will be led by a woman in Angie Henderson, the former District 34 Councilwoman. Henderson bested incumbent Vice Mayor Jim Shulman in the August election.

According to one of those at large CMs, Delishia Porterfield, this year’s election comes just four years after reaching gender parity.

“In 2019 we had gender parity for the first time in Metro’s history,” she said on Twitter/X. “Once CM Steve Glover resigned, we had 20 women and 19 men – the first time we had a majority of women on council.”

While the de facto majority of women has ruled since Glover’s resignation, this year’s election marks the first time in Metro’s history there was an elected majority of women, with 22 of the 40 seats won by women.

The women leading the Metro Council this year are:

Vice Mayor Angie Henderson
At Large Council Members Zulfat Suara, Delishia Porterfield, Quin Evans-Segall, Burkley Allen and Olivia Hill
District 1 CM Joy Kimbrough
District 2 CM Kyonzte Toombs
District 3 CM Jennifer Gamble
District 7 CM Emily Benedict
District 9 CM Tonya Hancock
District 10 CM Jennifer Webb
District 12 CM Erin Evans
District 16 CM Ginny Welsch
District 17 CM Terry Vo
District 22 CM Sheri Weiner
District 24 CM Brenda Gadd
District 26 CM Courtney Johnston
District 29 CM Tasha Ellis
District 30 CM Sandra Sepulveda
District 32 CM Joy Styles
District 33 CM Antoinette Lee
District 34 CM Sandy Ewing

The road to having a majority-women council has been a long one. According to historical information from the Metro Council office, the first woman elected to the council was Frances Doyle in 1963. She served for two terms for District 17: 1963-1966 and 1966-1971. She was succeeded as the only woman on the Metro Council by Lois Jordan for the 1971-1975 term in District 17. Jordan was also the first Black woman elected to the Council, and was the only Black woman to serve on the council until 1983 when Thelma Harper was elected in District 2.

From there, the council saw minimal women’s representation on the council until the late 20th century.

Only one woman served on the Council until 1979, when District 26 Councilwoman Betty Nixon was in her second term and she was joined by Jo Ann North, who was elected to an At Large seat. A third and fourth woman were added in 1983 with Harper in District 2 and Gwen McFarland in District 4.

For the 1987 term, Metro Council had four women: North, District 2 Councilwoman Thelma Harper, District 29 Councilwoman Pay Frye and District 30 Councilwoman Sherry Jones.

A fifth woman was added in the 1995 term through the District seats. Regina Patton served in District 1, Eileen Beehan in District 6, Norma Hand in District 22, Michelle Arriola in District 26 and Janis Sontany in District 27. Hand was elected in 1999 to replace former District 9 Councilman Jimmy Holt upon his election to General Sessions Judge, according to the Metro office.

The next term saw the female representation more than double, as 11 women were elected. The women on the Council were:

Carolyn Baldwin Tucker – At Large
Brenda Gilmore – District 1
Eileen Beehan – District 6
Bettye R. Balthrop – District 10
Amanda McClendon – District 16
Ginger Hausser – District 18
Norma Hand – District 22
Michelle Arriola – District 26
Janis Sontany – District 27
Saletta Holloway – District 29
Lynn Williams – District 34

Female representation took a slight dip in 2003 to only nine women, but then returned to double digits in 2011. However, the 2007-2011 term saw the election of the first woman to the Vice Mayor’s seat in Diane Neighbors. The Vice Mayor presides over the Metro Council but is not a voting member unless there is a tie.

⏩ Read today’s top stories on wkrn.com

2011 saw 11 women elected to Council, as well as the return of Neighbors as Vice Mayor; then there was another jump in women’s representation in 2015 when 16 women were elected. They were: