Description
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell responded to Marsha Blackburn's viral fortune cookie ad by filming his own spot at the same Nashville diner, Elliston Place Soda Shop, where he's shown eating a burger and fries before being handed a fortune cookie reading "Fear divides. Nashville unites," ending with a smile and his "Freddie for Nashville" campaign slogan, released to coincide with his July 13 reelection campaign kickoff. The ad was a direct counter to Blackburn's widely criticized spot in which she crushed fortune cookies while vowing to "stop Communist China," and it drew an immediate response from Blackburn, who posted her own mock fortune cookie slip online reading "Freddie O'Connell puts illegal aliens over Tennesseans," a reference to her ongoing criticism of O'Connell over last year's ICE raids in Nashville and Metro funding sent to immigrant-rights nonprofit TIRRC. The exchange highlights ongoing friction between Nashville's Metro government and Tennessee's Republican state leadership, even as O'Connell and outgoing Governor Bill Lee have generally maintained a cooperative public relationship.
This is part of Jim Heath's Campaign Ads '26 project, building a permanent public archive of 2026 campaign ads, the money behind them, and the attacks voters may never see in their own state.