GOP and Democratic officials in Nashville unite over renaming airport for Dolly Parton

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In Nashville, Tennessee, the Republican-dominated state government and Democrat-controlled city government are engaged in an ugly battle for control of the city’s airport.

But there’s one thing the two sides can agree on: Nashville International Airport should be renamed to honor Tennessee’s favorite daughter, Dolly Parton.

Lydia Popovich, a Parton superfan who started a place a statue of her on the Capitol grounds.

Parton asked lawmakers to withdraw the bill but expressed a hope that it might happen “somewhere down the road several years from now or perhaps after I’m gone if you still feel I deserve it.”

After Parton’s death two weeks ago, the airport naming idea seemingly caught fire, with Popovich’s petition reaching more than 175,000 signatures — not that the officials competing to run the airport needed the push.

At a meeting Friday of the state-controlled Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, a motion directing the airport CEO to begin the renaming process was unanimously approved by board members praising Parton to the heavens. Airport officials said the change could take a year or more and involves working with Parton’s estate to determine how they might split profits from merchandise sales, among other things.

There are two Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authorities: one run by the state and the other controlled by the city, a bifurcated regulatory system that was created in 2023 amid a partisan dispute between the GOP-run state and the Democratic-run city. Who actually controls the airport has been in dispute ever since, with competing boards taking the reins only to be deposed as courts rule and are overturned.

Despite the acrimony, Nashville’s Democratic Mayor Freddie O’Connell and the competing, city-controlled Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority are also in support of the name change, according to O’Connell spokesman Alex Apple.

“The FAA’s going to get two votes from two boards, both in favor,” Apple said.

The situation is ironic, and it’s hard to imagine that Parton would approve.

Stuart McWhorter, a member of the state-controlled board and deputy to Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee, briefly mentioned the dispute at the Friday meeting. He suggested that in the spirit of Parton “we can get beyond the litigation and get back to working together.”

Popovich, who attended the Friday meeting and spoke in favor of the proposal, was in tears after the unanimous vote in favor.

“It’s been a really beautiful experience, especially as you’re grieving someone that was such a great loss,” she told The Associated Press. “She’s the best of Tennessee. She’s the best of the humans on the planet. She was this magical person that provided light and guidance to all of us.

“Unfortunately she’s left us, but now we get to celebrate her and get to tell the world how much Tennessee loved her.”