After The Mayoralty
Fulton was barred by the Metro Charter from running for a fourth consecutive term, and was succeeded by another member of Congress, Bill Boner. He was not far removed from public service, as his wife Sandra served in McWherter's Cabinet as Commissioner of Tourism. Fulton devoted his time to his family's real estate business and his governmental-relations consulting firm, and occasionally appeared in Nashville media as an expert political commentator.
However, when mayor Phil Bredesen did not run for reelection as mayor in 1999 (it is still unclear whether a term limits provision amended into the Nashville Metro Charter after Fulton's time as mayor limiting city council members to two consecutive four-year terms applies to mayors, superseding the former three-term limit; Bredesen chose not to contest this point), Fulton was again encouraged to run. From the outset of the 1999 race, it was apparent that there were actually three serious candidates: Fulton; Vice Mayor Jay West, son of 1950s Nashville mayor Ben West and brother of popular state representative Ben West, Jr.; and former State House Majority Leader and Vanderbilt University employee Bill Purcell. Purcell received almost a majority of the votes, narrowly missing outright victory; Fulton finished a very distant second, just ahead of West. Since the Metro Charter requires mayors and city councilmen to win a majority, ordinarily a runoff would have occurred. However, Fulton announced shortly after the election that he felt that Purcell had won sufficiently and that he would not be contesting the runoff. By law, the runoff had to occur nonetheless; it was also necessary for some city council races, but Fulton's announcement meant that there was very little remaining interest, and hence a very low turnout, for the runoff when it did occur three weeks later. Purcell naturally won easily, which was apparently the outcome foreseen by Fulton and his supporters whether they had continued to contest the race or not.
Fulton returned to his real estate and consulting interests, which he still pursues as of 2005.
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