Fallout from legislative and congressional redistricting continues.
The extension of congressional District 8 into a sizeable hunk of eastern Shelby County has prompted a good deal of speculation about possible competition from local Republicans for incumbent 8th District congressman Stephen Fincher of Frog Jump in Crockett County. Memphis city councilman Kemp Conrad acknowledged to the Flyer that he’s had encouragement to run and is considering a bid.
Others whose names have figured in speculation include former 8th District candidate and ex-Shelby County Commissioner George Flinn; former U.S. Attorney David Kustoff, who ran for Congress in the7th District in 2002; state Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris; and state Senator Brian Kelsey.
And, as noted earlier in this space, as a result of the final redrawing of legislative maps, Senate Democratic leader Jim Kyle of Memphis finds himself in state Senate District 30, along with incumbent Democrat Beverly Marrero. Kyle points out that much of District 30 — notably in Frayser and Raleigh and elsewhere north of Summer — coincides with his former District 28, while Marrero notes, similarly, that significant portions of her former House District 89 lie within the newly configured Senate district.
While the two Democrats muse on their forthcoming showdown, G.A. Hardaway, whose House District 92 has been merged into fellow African-American Democrat Barbara Cooper’s District 86, is getting mention as a possible candidate in Senate District 30, which has a 60 percent African-American constituency. For the moment, though, Hardaway says he’s focused on pressing forward as a party to litigation against the overall redistricting plan.
