By Tony Jones
Headed for the Thursday, Oct.5 th showdown, the Memphis mayoral election is so close it
could give Vegas odds makers a migraine.
The usual professional political observers have commented that whichever candidate
carries the Whitehaven district will be the ultimate victor, but the final count will decide if they were right.
As of press time, the Shelby County Election Commission’s Early Voting Daily Report
that of the 57,951 ballots casts, the Second Baptist Church in east Memphis leads led at 7,387, fellow east Memphis location the White Station Church of Christ second at 5,888, and Whitehaven’s Abundant Grace poll third at 4,688.
“We are now ahead of 2015 and 2019 in terms of people who have voted at
this point,” Shelby County Election Administrator Linda Phillips told media.
The fact that 17 candidates qualified has given the race an historic context. “When I do
my elevator test or ask in the grocery store, a lot of people haven’t made up their minds
and voted yet,” Phillips said.
But one winner may be the dead in the water Shelby County Democratic Party. If
nothing else, the fact that all the candidates are African American has scuttled the city’s
bedrock influence of racism in the city’s elections and it’s been a relatively fair fight
based issues.
Another factor has been the constant round of media forums that seemed tiring
to some, thorough to others. Phillips commented. “I think a lot of people are having
trouble learning about 17 candidates. I know I did,” Phillips said.
Money has also not been able to deliver a knockout blow to push any candidate
ahead. As expected the best funded lead campaigns launched the usual last minute
blitz.
NAACP President Van Turner made news when internet sensation Rep. Justin
Pearson announced a new political action committee called Movement for Justice that
donated $100,000 to his campaign.
The news joined a long list of endorsements for Turner, but front runners Paul
Young and Sheriff Floyd Bonner have equally dynamic television ads in effective
rotation. Former Mayor W.W. Herenton has been the exception, but still is considered
one of the potential victors.
One thing which Turner’s commercial brings to the surface is that one clear
winner potential winner in Election 2023 has been Memphis electoral politics, and
especially the Shelby county democratic Party. Turner makes an emphatic statement
that he is a Democrat, which could bode well for the party’s chance to revive from its
moribund state following disbandment by the state party in 2016. Candidate Young had
been criticized for voting Republican in past elections, but he too claimed to a
Democrat.
Whomever voters select, a new city council will be chosen to join the new mayor
as well. With crime as the main topic, they will face strong concerns generating anger in
the city’s grassroots community questioning why Memphis, Light, Gas and Water can’t
seem to even bill people correctly, with citizens receiveing multiple bills with self-
described “ridiculous” charges that flip back and forth with each bil and the very real
downsizing of bus service in Memphis that people say is getting worse daily “You can
get there,” they say, “but good luck getting home.”
