'Moms for Liberty' affiliated elected official suffers lopsided defeat in mayoral race

Gabrielle Hanson

A city alderman in Franklin, Tenn who once opposed a Pride event by falsely accusing a drag queen of biting into a 'live bleeding heart' lost the race for the city's mayoral position Tuesday night. 

And by a brutally lopsided margin.

In perhaps the most bizarre race that this picturesque Middle Tennessee community has ever experienced, Franklin voters resoundingly rejected a candidate for mayor who openly embraced white supremacists and Christian nationalism. 

 Incumbent Mayor Ken Moore easily defeated Gabrielle Hanson, a local real estate developer and first-term city alderman who faced one controversy after another. White supremacists showed up at a candidates forum in a show of support for Hanson, who refused to distance herself from the men despite broad condemnation from fellow aldermen. 

 Final election results how Moore garnered 12,822 votes (79.4%), compared to Hanson's 3,322 votes (20.6%). 

Since getting elected, Hanson used her position to oppose Franklin's LGBTQ + community on numerous occasions including accusing a drag queen of biting into a live heart.

 Hanson was voted onto the Franklin City Council two years ago with the backing of the Williamson County chapter of Moms for Liberty. Since then, she’s led a charge backed by Moms for Liberty, harassing the local LGBTQ+ community in often bizarre rants while battling multiple charges of moral hypocrisy.

 In April, Hanson tried to shut down the Franklin Pride celebration by sharing photos of a Nashville drag queen, who once performed at the event, biting into “a live bleeding heart,” part of a Halloween-styled act not performed at Pride (nor was the heart “live” or “bleeding”). 

 “This is something that could have happened in our park!” Hanson declared.

Aside from this, Hanson was embroiled in several other controversies which obviously caused her to lose voter support. 

The Franklin alderman became the focus of a series of NewsChannel 5 investigations that began when she lifted social media images to falsely portray support for her campaign, including posting a photo of a diverse group of women who told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that they did not know her and did not support her campaign. 

 In addition, she angered families associated with Nashville's Covenant School shooting, passing on a bogus conspiracy theory. While she claimed to warned a Franklin police officer in advance of a premonition about an active shooting, 

NewsChannel 5 Investigates obtained the officer's bodycam video to prove it never happened. NewsChannel 5 also revealed that Hanson had been arrested for promoting prostitution in Dallas in the mid-90s. 

And, despite her opposition to Franklin's Pride festival, we uncovered a photo showing her Speedo-wearing husband at a 2008 Pride parade in Chicago. As the campaign continued, NewsChannel 5 uncovered apparent links between Hanson's campaign and a harassment campaign waged by her white supremacist supporters. 

 Critics also raised concerns about links between Hanson's campaign and Christian nationalists who want to use politics to impose their faith on others.

And when it came to her white nationalist supporters, Hanson refused to distance herself from them.

The mayoral candidate insisted she didn't see white supremacy in Brad Lewis — the man with the Proud Boys tattoo on his face — or Sean Kauffman, the Hitler-saluting neo-Nazi who's made a habit of protesting local drag shows. NewsChannel 5 Investigates caught up with Kauffmann and Lewis at that candidates' forum.

 "He thought we were part of the Proud Boys, isn't that something?" Kauffmann told Lewis. 

 We noted to Lewis, "Well, you were part of the Proud Boys." 

 "I was before they turned f***ing qu***," he responded. 

 Kauffmann chimed in, "Bunch of fa****s."