Shaundelle Brooks Wins Tennessee House District 60

Spirits were high as Shaundelle Brooks’ supporters watched CNN and celebrated the midterm’s Democratic wins during the candidate’s election party at Homegrown Taproom.

“Blue tsunami!” shouted one guest.

Around 9 p.m., the incumbent’s apparent win came as a bit of a surprise for guests in the middle of all the excitement because most websites covering election results hadn’t updated their percentages yet.

In the end, Brooks secured 64 percent of the votes, beating her Republican opponent Eva Romero handily.

Mayor Freddie O’Connell showed up to the event to congratulate Brooks on her win. 

Guests chanted Brooks’ name and clapped loudly. 

At 9:40 p.m., Brooks gave a speech, acknowledging that while her first term was challenging, she hopes to continue to serve her district and advocate for her constituents’ needs.

“This fight is so personal,” Brooks told supporters. “I’m not a politician. I’m still learning. But my heart is in the right place. I know this is what I need to be doing.”

Brooks’ win means a swing district narrowly held by Democrats for 15 years will remain blue. Brooks assumed office in 2024, and State Rep. Darren Jernigan, a Democrat, previously held the seat, winning by just 95 votes in 2012. 

Brooks is a gun control advocate who entered politics after the death of her son Akilah Dasilva in the 2018 Waffle House mass shooting. While in office, she introduced “Akilah’s Law,” which would have made it an offense to sell, deliver or transfer a firearm to a person with a known history as a “patient in a mental institution.” Her second-term priorities included strengthening violence prevention, expanding mental health crisis response and early intervention, and investing in youth opportunity and prevention programs. 

Romero is a real estate agent and co-founder of a dental clinic with her husband. She focused much of her campaign on limiting property taxes and said she would pursue a two percent cap on annual property tax increases and a freeze on property taxes for homeowners 65 and older. She also supports deploying license plate readers across Nashville and legislation to prevent local officials from blocking law enforcement access to “public safety data feeds and technology.”

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