By Ashley Benkarski
NASHVILLE, TN — Jeff Preptit, the son of Haitian immigrants and a Nashville Public Defender and Nonprofit Civil Rights Attorney, is running to represent District 25 on Nashville’s City Council in the upcoming election. He’s been endorsed by Bob Freeman, Caleb Hemmer and Collective PAC.
Preptit said he’s always felt called to some form of political involvement, driven by one goal: That the work he does makes his community—and the world— a better place.
A Milligan College graduate with a degree in political science, Preptit served on a number of student organizations and, after graduation, worked as an open-source analyst with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
Though Preptit is a Tennessee native, he’s expanded his experience beyond the state’s borders, having lived in Charlotte, North Carolina to attend law school. It was during this time in Charlotte that Keith Lamont Scott became another name chanted in the Black Lives Matter movement, and, compelled to assist the community, Preptit helped to create the Charlotte Community Coalition and the Heal Charlotte Initiative. He said the groups focused on “increasing the level of transparency and trust between the community and the institutions that serve them,” which included the creation of a community policing model. Both groups are still in operation.
He returned to Tennessee to finish law school in Knoxville and became a student city attorney, an experience he noted as “eye-opening.” It was his first foray into a government position.
He’s been in Nashville since 2019, serving as a public defender and later as a Staff Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee(ACLU-TN). Speaking of his work as a public defender, Preptit said he saw that people truly needed an advocate, but they also needed those in power to provide resources to address the root cause of the community’s issues. If elected, he said he’d have the ability to do just that, with a focus on justice, equity, and community safety.
He noted the residents of his district need investment in walking lanes to prevent pedestrian deaths, access and resources to public schools, and updated stormwater infrastructure to mitigate flooding. He said he’d also advocate for fully staffing the fire department and for another fire house to be built in the district to keep up with growth. Currently, the only one stands on Harding Place.
“Here in Nashville, we’re at a critical juncture,” he said, adding the city needs representatives who are responsive, willing and able to stand against outside influences that seek to mold the city in their interests at the expense of its communities. Metro Council “truly touches everyday lives” but is under assault from the state government, he explained. Preptit said he was uniquely qualified to be “a zealous advocate for the people of the 25th District.”
“We do have some amazing leadership, but the goal is to always do better,” he said. “It’s possible to cultivate a better relationship between the state and Nashville, but it must be based on mutual respect for democracy and the voices of our community . . . We must listen, and cultivate a Nashville that feels like home for Nashvillians.”
You can find Jeff Preptit on Twitter and Instagram (@jlpreptit) and on FaceBook.
Preptit will run against two challengers for the Nashville Council District 25 seat. The last day to register to vote is July 5. Early voting begins July 14 and runs until July 29. Election Day is August 3. For voting information, visit https://www.nashville.gov/departments/elections/voters/find-2023-election-information.
