Chaz Molder
Twitter

Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder announced Wednesday that he will not seek a third term, just a day after telling the Tennessee Lookout that he is considering a 2026 run in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.

Molder, a Columbia native, earned his first term as mayor in 2018 with 65 percent of the city’s vote and returned to the office handedly with just under 60 percent in 2022. Molder made the announcement that he would not run again in a video shared to his social media accounts Wednesday.

“Serving as the mayor of Columbia has been a dream come true for me. Each and every day I wake up with a sense of pride that I’m able to serve as the mayor of my hometown,” he said. “Today I wanted to let you know that I will not be seeking a third term for the office of Columbia Mayor. This was not an easy decision but I feel it’s the right decision and it’s the right time to make this announcement rather than wait for later.”

On Tuesday, Molder told the Tennessee Lookout that he is “strongly considering” a run as a Democrat against current U.S. District 5 Rep. Andy Ogles, who previously served as Maury County mayor during Molder’s term.

“We deserve a congressman who wants to go to Washington to make local headlines for the right reasons, instead of attempting to make national headlines for the wrong reasons,” Molder said in a statement to the Lookout. “Our current congressman’s latest antics of attacking Belmont University are disturbing, and are becoming too familiar to all of us in the 5th Congressional District.”

While Columbia’s mayoral races are nonpartisan, Molder’s previous political donations have all been to Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton, former U.S. District 5 Rep. Jim Cooper, and former Tennessee State House Minority Leader Rep. Craig Fitzhugh.

Maury County, which Columbia is located in, has been a struggle for Ogles’ previous Democratic challengers. In both 2022 and 2024, Ogles garnered nearly 70 percent of county’s the vote against his Democratic opponents, state Sen. Heidi Campbell and Maryam Abolfazli, respectively.

In Wednesday’s video, Molder did not announce any formal plans for a 5th Congressional District run but alluded to a political future beyond his mayoral seat.

“You may have heard that I’m considering a few options. More on that later,” he said.

If he chooses to run, Molder will join an already crowded Democratic field including Nashville Metro Councilmember Mike Cortese, Nashville State Community College professor Joyce Neal and business leader Jim Torino.

Molder graduated from the University of Tennessee and later the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. Molder is an attorney at Mounger & Molder in Columbia.