Karl Foster Dean (born September 20, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 6th Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 2007 to 2015.

[1] A member of the Democratic Party,[2] he previously served as Nashville's Director of Law under Mayor Bill Purcell from 1999 to 2007.

[5][6][7] His campaign message for Mayor of Nashville focused on improving education, public safety and economic development saying "it's all connected."

In the first three months of the campaign, Dean raised $1.2 million and spent $200,000; he went on to win the Democratic nomination on August 2, 2018 and advanced to the general election.

[10] In March 2005, Karl Dean wrote that Mayor Bill Purcell could seek a third term, despite a 1994 referendum on "any elected office authorized or created by the [Metro] charter."

[20] Dean's tenure as mayor marked sales taxes revenue increased by over $100 million (36 percent), indicative of the growth of Nashville as a major city.

Other projects included the construction of Ascend Amphitheater and First Tennessee Park, public venues that bring in millions of dollars of revenue to the city and have been instrumental in the expansion of downtown Nashville.

[25] In conjunction with this, Dean opened two new precincts to more equally distribute areas of coverage and started Nashville's first DNA crime lab.

Dean's time as mayor was accompanied by increased construction of greenway and bike paths around the city of Nashville.

As a result of his efforts, curbside recycling was expanded around the Metro area and the city moved in a more green direction.

[28] In the first three months of the campaign, Dean raised $1.2 million and spent $200,000, making him the third most funded candidate for governor behind Republicans Randy Boyd & Bill Lee.