Round One of the Shelby County election process is over now, and the results ran fairly close to advance expectations.
There was minimal suspense at the top of the ticket, on either the Democratic or the Republican side. Incumbent Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris handily disposed of his Democratic primary opponent Kenneth Moody, 33,753 to 14,369 (and, in a classy move, praised Moody in his remarks to a jubilant crowd at his campaign headquarters at Poplar and Highland). City Councilman Worth Morgan collected 14,259 votes against no opposition to become the Republican nominee for Mayor.
Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated outcome was in the Democratic contest for District Attorney General. University of Memphis law professor and former County Commissioner Steve Mulroy, who shared the Poplar and Highland campaign space with Harris, fell just short of an absolute majority, disposing of two hard-running opponents, polling 22,123 votes to 15,876 for Janika White and 10,055 for Linda Harris. As Harris had done, Mulroy had kind words for his defeated opposition.
G.O.P. incumbent D.A. Amy Weirich was unopposed in the Republican primary and finished with 14,526 votes. She wasted no time in responding to Mulroy’s win. After praising his two Democratic opponents (and all but offering them jobs in her office) she accused Mulroy of running “one of the most dishonest and vile campaigns we have witnessed in Shelby County history.” Her Democratic adversary, she said, among other things, has “lied about my record and my office but most important he has lied to the people of Shelby County about his radical intentions if elected D.A., which include defunding the police and freeing violent criminals from jail.”
Mulroy responded with a statement of his own: “A false charge in print from a D.A. known for making them in court. I don’t want to defund law enforcement or free all violent criminals. This is an attempt to distract the voters from the fact that violent crime has risen steadily to record numbers under her watch, while multiple courts have overturned convictions due to prosecutorial misconduct.”
Clearly, the D.A.’s race in August will have some of the bare-knuckle aspects of the current Grizzlies-Warriors NBA playoff series.
The big winner of Tuesday night, of course, was Sheriff Floyd Bonner, with 45,172 votes. Bonner, unopposed, had the Democratic nomination to himself and had a de facto endorsement of the Republican Party, as well.
County Commission Races:
In District 1, Republican incumbent Amber Mills was renominated without opposition, garnering 1,530 votes. Donna McDonald-Martin polled 2,052 on the Democratic side, reinforcing the anomaly that had showed up in early voting, when more Democratic voters than Republican ones had gone to the polls in this traditionally Republican outer-county district.
In District 2, Collierville and its environs, things returned to form, with Republican David Bradford getting 2,052 and no Democrats qualifying to oppose him.
Similar results occurred in District 3, Bartlett, with GOP incumbent Mick Wright garnering 1,948 votes and no Democrats on the ballot.
In District 4, East Memphis/Germantown, there was a Democrat on the ballot, with Britney Chauncey polling 2,079 votes for the right to oppose Republican incumbent Brandon Morrison, who nosed out her primary challenger, Jordan Carpenter, 2,724 votes to 2,585, in a GOP grudge match, in which Carpenter had the support of four sitting Republican Commissioners.
In District 5 (Cordova), a three-way Democratic primary contest was won by Shante Avant who, with 1,887 votes, outran Reginald French, with 1,053, and Quran Folsom, with 665. Republican Todd Payne was unopposed and got 898 votes.
District 6 (Frayser/Raleigh) saw Charlie Caswell in an easy win over his Democratic primary opponent Alexander Boulton, with 2,135 votes to 967. No Republicans qualified to run.
District 7 saw the return of controversial former Commissioner Henri Brooks to the limelight, with 1,607 votes to get the Democratic nomination. School Board member Althea E. Greene was second with 1,531 votes, Cartavius Black had 638, Kathy Temple 517, Orrden Williams 51. No Republicans qualified.
Democratic incumbent Mickell Lowery was unopposed in District 8. There was no Republican candidate.
In District 9, Democratic incumbent Edmund Ford Jr., with 6,156 votes, easily defeated opponents Sean Harris and Sam Echols, who had 600 and 554 votes respectively. No Republicans ran.
District 10 was another all-Democrat affair, with Britney Thornton, who had 2,198 votes, defeating Kathy Kirk, with 1,314, and Teri Dockery, with 1,005.
In District 11, again no Republicans. In the Democratic primary, School Board member Miska Clay Bibbs outpointed the Rev. Eric Winston, 1,285 to 1,267, with Candice Jones getting 836 votes.
In District 12, Democrat Erika Sugarmon, who always seems to be in a nail-biter, edged out the Rev. Reginald Boyce, 2,268 votes to 2,000. James Q. Bacchus had 920, and David P. Walker 197. No Republicans.
Incumbent Democrat Michael Whaley, with 2,717 votes, had the Democratic primary to himself. In August, he’ll have a Republican opponent in Ed Apple, who had 1,378 votes.
Other Countywide Races:
In the Assessor’s race, Democratic incumbent Melvin Burgess beat challenger Rod Blount, 39,273 to 7,676. Republican Steve Cross had 13,961 votes.
Trustee Regina Newman was unopposed in the Democratic primary, polling 43,481 votes. Her Republican challenger in August, Steve Basar, also unopposed, had 13,594 votes.
In the race for Circuit Court Clerk, City Council chair Jamita Swearengen defeated incumbent Democrat Temiika Gipson in that primary, 26,850 votes to 19,285. Republican Soheila Kail was unopposed in her primary, with 13,322 votes.
In the race for Criminal Court Clerk, incumbent Democrat Heidi Kuhn’s 20,091 votes beat opponents Carla Stotts, with 13,347 and Maerne Bernard, with 11,293. Republican Paul Houston had 13,790 votes in his primary.
Four Democrats vied for the nomination for Juvenile Court Clerk, with Janeen Fullilove-Gordon coming out on top with 22,356 votes. Reginald Milton had 10,299 votes, Stephanie Gatewood had 10,174, and Marcus Mitchell had 4,236. Republican Rob White was unopposed in his primary, with 13,838 votes.
In the race for Probate Court Clerk, outgoing County Commissioner Eddie Jones won the Democratic primary, with 21,032 votes, William Chism Jr. had 13,282, and incumbent Bill Morrison had 11,380. Republican DeWayne Jackson had 13,393 votes in his primary.
In the race for County Clerk, incumbent Democrat Wanda Halbert won handily, with 38,818 votes to 5,434 for William Stovall, 5,370 for Arriell Q. Gipson, and 2,168 for Mondell Williams. Jeff Jacobs had 13,848 as a solitary Republican candidate.
The Democratic primary for Register had outgoing County Commissioner Willie Brooks prevailing with 20,468 votes. Wanda Logan Faulkner had 13,119, and incumbent Shelandra Ford finished third with 12,929. Unopposed as a Republican was Brian Edmiston, with 13,901.
