Franklin's 2027 city election

01The short version

Franklin's next city election is Tuesday, October 26, 2027. Every voter in the city, in all four wards, chooses the mayor and the four aldermen elected at large, Positions A to D. The four ward aldermen were re-elected in 2025 and are next on the ballot on October 23, 2029.

As of October 21, 2026, none of the five has said in public whether they will run again, and nobody has announced a run against them. No one has filed a new appointment of a campaign treasurer, the form that comes before raising money, for any of the five seats since the 2025 election. That is the usual pace. In 2023 the four at-large aldermen filed theirs between May and August of the election year, and Moore announced his re-election bid that May.

To run, a candidate needs a petition signed by 25 registered Franklin voters, filed with the Williamson County Election Commission by noon on Thursday, July 15, 2027. To vote, register by Monday, September 27. Early voting runs from October 6 to October 21.

The board took 288 votes at its 17 meetings from January 13 to October 13, 2026, and 44 of them drew at least one no. Greg Caesar voted no on 24 of those 44, more than any other member, and Brandy Blanton on five, the fewest. The mayor votes only to break a tie, and in 2026 there was none, so Ken Moore cast no votes.

02The five seats

An at-large candidate files for one position, A, B, C or D, and whoever gets the most votes for that position wins it. There is no runoff and no party label on the ballot. The terms are four years and begin on November 9, 2027.

Last race from the Williamson County Election Commission's certified results of October 24, 2023. The last column is what each has said in public that we could find, read on October 21, 2026; we add statements as they are made, with the source. Each name links to the member's page, with their 2026 votes.

03The dates

Tennessee's election law sets almost every deadline by counting from election day, and the dates below are worked out from it. The election commission publishes its own notice once the city calls the election, which in 2025 was late June. The same rules reproduce the commission's 2025 Franklin notice and its 2026 calendar to the day, but its 2027 notice is the one to go by when it appears.

Worked out by our own count from the Tennessee Code sections named, the city charter, and the election commission's 2025 Franklin notice and 2026 calendar, which the same rules reproduce. The commission's office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closes on state holidays, among them Memorial Day (May 31) and Independence Day, observed on July 5, ten days before qualifying.

05Running for a seat

A candidate for mayor or alderman must have lived in Tennessee for more than a year before the election and in Franklin for the six months before it: in the state by October 25, 2026 and in the city by April 26, 2027. The mayor must be at least 25. An at-large alderman can live anywhere in the city.

The petition is the election commission's own form, picked up in person at 405 Downs Boulevard (photocopies are not accepted), signed by the candidate and by at least 25 registered city voters, and returned by noon on July 15. Every Franklin voter can vote in all five races, so any registered voter in the city can sign for any of them. The commission's number is (615) 790-5711.

Before taking or spending any money, a candidate names a political treasurer with the commission, and the campaign's reports are filed there too. They are public, on the commission's campaign finance site, which lists the mayor's office and each at-large position. For elections in 2025 and 2026 a person could give a local candidate up to $1,900 an election and a political action committee up to $10,100, and a candidate could take no more than $153,500 from all PACs together. The state resets the limits every two years, so the figures for 2027 are due in January.

The incumbents' campaign accounts are quiet. Moore's took in $223 in the first half of 2026 and had $13,958 on hand at the end of June; by May 2023 his last campaign had raised more than $130,000. Blanton and Caesar reported nothing raised in those six months, and Barnhill $1.76. Petersen has filed no report since mid-2024, and between 2020 and her 2023 campaign she filed none either.

06Voting

Anyone registered who has lived in the city for 90 days can vote. So can a Tennessee voter who owns taxable property inside the city and lives outside it, no more than two people for any one property; such an owner registers at the commission and shows the deed by September 27.

Early voting runs from Wednesday, October 6 to Thursday, October 21, at sites and hours the commission sets in its notice. On election day any city voter can use any of its vote centers, open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In 2025 there were eight, from the Cool Springs Conference Center to Parish Presbyterian Church on Clovercroft Road, and the 2027 list will be different. Bring a photo ID issued by Tennessee or the federal government, even an expired one; a college ID or a library card does not count.

Voting by mail is open only to voters with a reason the law accepts, among them being 60 or older, being out of the county for all of early voting and election day, illness or disability, and studying at a college outside the county. The request must reach the commission by Saturday, October 16, and the ballot must arrive by mail by 7 p.m. on election day; it cannot be handed in.

08What could change before then

A bill to change the date died this spring. It began as a plan to make Tennessee's city elections partisan and passed the state House 67 to 26 in April in a narrower form, one requiring cities to hold their elections in August or November before 2030, then stalled in a Senate committee; the General Assembly adjourned on April 23 without a Senate vote. A new General Assembly convenes in January 2027, and any revival would start over as a new bill; none had been filed by October 21.

A law that takes effect on January 1, 2027 bars anyone holding an elected local office from holding a second elected office in the state at the same time. A county commissioner or school board member who wins a seat on the board would have to give one up, if the law reaches city offices; the act does not define local government, and we have found no ruling on it.

Pay is $24,000 a year for the mayor and $12,000 for an alderman, unchanged since 2013. Under the charter a raise takes effect with a new term only if the board adopts it at least three months before the election, which for 2027 means by July 26, 2027.

09What we will ask the candidates

When the field is set in July, we will send every candidate the same questions and print the answers beside each candidate's record, cut only for length. These are the questions we plan to ask. Tell us what is missing.

1. The board annexed Harlin's 311 acres by 5 to 3 in April. Would you have voted for it, and what would decide your vote on the next annexation?
2. Name one rezoning or development plan from the last two years you would have voted the other way on, and say why.
3. Which road or intersection project would you move to the top of the city's list, and how would you pay for it?
4. Over the next four years, would you raise, hold or cut the city's property tax rate, and what in the budget would change as a result?
5. When staff recommends against a developer's request to waive a city standard, when should the board grant it anyway?
6. What, if anything, should the city do about what it costs to buy or rent a home in Franklin?
7. Should Franklin's elections stay nonpartisan, and stay in October?
8. What is one decision by the current board you disagree with?

Send us a question