Columbia mayor weighs run as Democrat in 5th Congressional District

Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder confirmed this week he is “strongly considering” entering the 5th Congressional District race as a Democrat, potentially setting up a 2026 race with Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles.

If he enters the contest, Molder would join Metro Council member Mike Cortese, who has announced his candidacy and filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, adjunct professor Joyce Neal and healthcare executive Jim Torino in a Democratic primary. Political activist Maryam Abolfazli, who lost to Ogles in 2024, has made overtures about running again.

“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. For these reasons, I can confirm I am strongly considering this race – not because of encouragement from outsiders, but because of encouragement from those who live inside the district.”

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Molder’s statement references Ogles’ call for a U.S. Department of Education investigation of Belmont University and cut in the school’s federal funding for allegedly renaming a diversity, equity and inclusion program as “Hope, Unity and Belonging” to keep it intact, despite a federal law and executive order requiring DEI programs to be eliminated.

Ogles also urged a Homeland Security investigation of Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell for his criticism of a federal sweep of a South Nashville neighborhood that led to the deportation of nearly 200 people.

Molder won the Columbia mayoral election in 2018 and captured re-election in 2022. He grew up in Columbia in Middle Tennessee and graduated from the University of Tennessee and University of Memphis law school before returning home and practicing law.

Molder, whose wife, Elizabeth, is a public school teacher, formed the Columbia Mayor’s Youth Council in 2019 as part of an effort to improve conditions for young people in the city.

The Tennessee legislature redrew the state’s congressional districts three years ago, splitting Davidson County among the 5th, 6th and 7th districts and removing the 5th District as a safe district for Democratic candidates. The move caused longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper to step away from Congress.

Cortese is the most visible candidate to enter the race. In an announcement at the Tennessee Democratic Party’s annual Three Star Dinner, he criticized Republicans and Democrats alike, saying members of both parties have cozied up to special interests instead of representing the working class.

“I’m running to fight for the people who make this country work and just want the damn thing to work for them too,” he said at the event. “The people who make things, fix things, grow things, and keep this whole damn thing running – we’re taking that opportunity back.”