Franklin Alderman Matt Brown Kicks Off Reelection Campaign

Franklin Ward 2 Alderman Matt Brown kicked off his reelection campaign on Saturday ahead of this October’s municipal election.

The event drew around 100 people to the Franklin Recreation Complex including Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson, County Commissioner Brian Clifford, Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, Rep. Lee Reeves, former Rep. Sam Whitson, Franklin Special District Board Chair Robert Blair and Circuit Judges Joseph Woodruff and David Veile among other community and government leaders.

Fellow Franklin Alderman Brandy Blanton introduced Brown, who she called a “master” at finding common ground with both residents and among aldermen. Brown told the crowd that serving as an alderman was "one of the greatest honors and joys" of his life.

"I mean that sincerely," Brown said. "It's a duty, and I take the job seriously, and I worked hard in this job, but I love this job.

He touted accomplishments including the preservation of open space, expanding trails and sidewalks, upgrading infrastructure including traffic light signals and efforts to “create more missing middle housing.”

“I see comments all the time that Franklin is changing, and Franklin's not the same, Franklin anymore, but I think that's people who see Franklin for its buildings and its roads, they see it as a place, but Franklin has never been a place to me, Franklin has always been the people,” Brown said. “It's always been about the values and how we love each other and how we support each other and the nonprofits that we support – that's Franklin.”

Ward 1 Alderman Bev Burger, Ward 4 Alderman Jason Baggett and Vice Mayor Jason Potts (Ward 3) were also in attendance, all of whom confirmed with the Williamson Scene that they are each running for reelection.

Petitions for the four ward seats can be pulled beginning Monday, May 19. It’s unclear at this time if Brown or the others will have opponents in the race, although some, including Jeff Moseley, who welcomed attendees on Saturday, hinted at the potential of a contested race. Moseley represents the Williamson County Government as part of the law firm Buerger, Moseley and Carson.

“We suspect that there are folks that are coming for the sitting alderman because they want to turn this into a partisan party race instead of a community race for what's best for Franklin,” Moseley said. “So it's folks like us, and this great turnout, who are going to have to get our neighbors and our family and our friends to the polls so that we can win and keep Matt Brown in office.”