General Sessions Court clerk

It was a great night for Joe B. Who’d a’ thunk it?

Former Vice President Joe Biden

That sentiment applies not only to the results of the Democrats’ presidential primaries on Super Tuesday, in which former Vice President Joe Biden exceeded all expectations and took the lead away from Bernie Sanders. It also describes the out-of-nowhere victory of former city councilman Joe Brown in the Democratic Party primary for General Sessions Court clerk.

In both the national and the local case, the winner’s vote totals were out of all proportion to the campaigning done by the candidate. Biden famously won Massachusetts without spending a nickel there or having an office or any kind of gr

former Councilman Joe Brown

ound game. Joe Brown was conspicuously less visible than his major competitors in a highly populated race in which there were several other name candidates.

Meanwhile, former Probate Court clerk Paul Boyd won the four-way Republican primary for General Sessions clerk and will oppose Brown in a general election showdown in August.In his case, as in Brown’s, name identification played a large part in the outcome.

In the case of Biden, who handily won Tennessee (and Shelby County in the process), the astonishing revival of his previously moribund campaign in last weekend’s South Carolina primary, coupled with a wave of major endorsements from former primary opponents, propelled the ex-Veep into the enviable position that, only days ago, Sanders had been expected to achieve.

The final Shelby County totals:

In the Democratic presidential primary:

Michael Bennet 623
Joseph R. Biden 50,273
Michael R. Bloomberg 18,183
Cory Booker 311
Pete Buttigieg 1,747
Julián Castro 50
John K. Delaney 100
Tulsi Gabbard 229
Amy Klobuchar 1,123
Deval Patrick 54
Bernie Sanders 20,482
Tom Steyer 280
Elizabeth Warren 8,461
Marianne Williamson 28
Andrew Yang 127
Uncommitted 108

In the Democratic primary for General Sessions Court Clerk:

Gortria Banks 7,581
Rheunte E. Benson 1,239
Joe Brown 20,602
Tanya L. Cooper 6,139
A. Dailey-Evans 2,623
Deirdre V. Fisher 2,116
R. S. Ford Sr 3,852
Del Gill 940
Eddie Jones 10,627
Wanda Logan-Faulkner 8,568
Thomas Long 11,457
Reginald Milton 13,127
Tavia Tate 1,466
Write-In 45

In the Republican primary for clerk:

Paul C. Boyd 9,514
Michael Finney 2,949
George Summers 1,924
Lisa W. Wimberly 4,841
Write-In 80 MTK

John Ford (l); Reginald Milton (r)

The 2019 Memphis city election may have come to a finish with the conclusion of last Thursday’s runoff elections for two city council positions in District 1 and District 7, won by Rhonda Logan and Michalyn Easter-Thomas, respectively.

But 2020, which will be chock-full of elections, is just two flips of the calendar away, and one of the races sure to drawn much attention will be that for the position of General Sessions Court clerk, which will be vacated by current longtime clerk Ed Stanton Jr. (father of former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton III).

Three of the known contenders for the clerkship are like Stanton, Democrats, and well known JB

Eddie Jones

to followers of local politics. The first name in the hat was that of Shelby County Commissioner Eddie Jones, who filed two weeks ago. At about the same time Commiss9oner Reginald Milton began informing people of his interest in the race .
The two Commisdsioners were just joined on the ballot by former longtime state Senator John Ford, who filed for the race on Monday. Yes, that John Ford, the controversial member of the local Ford political clan who ran afoul of the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz sting in 2005, was convicted of bribery, and served a term in state prison.

Ford formerly served a term as General Sessions Clerk, simultaneous with holding his Senate seat. Having long since regained his citizenship rights, Ford aims to re-establish himself as a public official. Despite his notoriety, he was regarded as someone with an in-depth knowledge of the ins and outs of state government, and as a go-to legislator for mental health and various other public issues.

Milton, a community organizer and chairman of the commission’s community grants committee, which he brought into being, was a veteran of several political races before his 2014 election to the commission and his 2018 reelection. He greeted the news of Ford’s filing by saying, “I’ve never run an easy race. I’m used to it.”

Confiding that he would make a formal announcement next week, Milton said, “I appreciate those willing to offer themselves for public office, and I look forward to sharing with the public why I feel I would be best suited for this position.

UPDATE: Other candidates for General Sessions Clerrk who have filed or requested petitions though Thursday, November 19, are:

Democrats Deirdre V. Fisher, Gortria Anderson Banks, Rheunte E. Benson, and Thomas E. Long; and Republican Paul Boyd.