Just in Time for St. Patrick’s Day: Nashville Pub Owner Michael O’Leary Challenges Rep. Andy Ogles in Tennessee’s 5th District Race

Between St. Patrick’s Day this month and the phenomenal success of two Northern Ireland-centric tv series on Netflix (both of which TriStar Daily highly recommends), Derry Girls and How to Get to Heaven From Belfast, all things Irish are pretty hot!

Plus hilarious Irish comedian Dave Nihil will be at Zanies in Nashville on March 26.

So it may come as no surprise that a former Irishman is now throwing his derby into middle Tennessee politics.

Michael O’Leary, a former public official in California who owns The Lost Paddy pub on Spence Lane, has picked up a petition to qualify for the Republican primary in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. O’Leary, a native of Ireland, was mayor of Culver City in Los Angeles prior to moving to Nashville and opening The Lost Paddy. 

He joins retired Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher in seeking to defeat incumbent U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in the August GOP primary.

O’Leary told the Nashville Banner he is targeting Ogles “for his extreme and polarizing activity.” Specifically, the candidate cited Ogles’ “complete lack of empathy after the Covenant shooting, his requests for ICE agents to descend on his district, his calls for federal action against our institutions of higher learning and his complete disregard for the separation of powers in his call for action against local judges based on decisions he didn’t like.” 

Democratic contender Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder has just been given the full support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Despite the fact that he is facing a fellow democrat in the race, Metro Councilmember Mike Cortese.

Can he Riverdance a path to victory? Unless he finds a pot of gold to fund his campaign it is still a long shot, despite the help of the luck of the Irish. But between astronauts and Irishmen, this political cycle in Tennessee is already shaping up more interesting than most.

It appears that O’Leary has only voted in one out of the last four statewide Republican primary elections. For a candidate to qualify as a “bona fide” Republican, they must’ve voted in three of the last four statewide Republican primaries. Thus, it is unlikely that he will actually make it into the August GOP Primary ballot. 

Steve Gill has Editor and Publisher of TriStar Daily.