Tag: Jason Martin

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Politics Politics Feature

Mayor Floyd Bonner?

Floyd Bonner electioneering this year (Photo: Jackson Baker)

There is, it would seem, a different Name of the Week in generalized speculation about the 2023 Memphis mayor’s race. Confessedly, there have certainly been different figures to talk about in successive weeks of this column.

Previously mentioned as likely mayoral candidates next year have been: NAACP head Van Turner, who is finishing up his second and final term of the County Commission this week; Paul Young, the president/CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission; Karen Camper, caucus leader of the state House of Representatives Democrats; and Joe Brown, the onetime Criminal Court judge and former TV celebrity judge.

Brown’s intentions, though he has certainly promoted a possible race, may be more fanciful than real. The others are, one way or another, making tangible plans to run. Turner has basically already announced, Young is reportedly lining up some serious financing for a campaign, and Camper is expected to make an announcement any week now.

Other names that are getting some mention are those of the Rev. Keith Norman of First Baptist Church-Broad, a chief lobbyist for Baptist Memorial Hospital and a former Democratic Party chair; Beverly Robertson, president/CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber; Patrice Robinson, City Council member and former Council chair; and Worth Morgan, City Council member and defeated Republican candidate for county mayor this year.

This week’s most mentioned mayoral prospect? Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, who in two successive county elections has led all other candidates for office and has a decent-sized campaign account left over to start a mayoral campaign with.

Bonner’s popularity with the voters as a Democratic candidate has been such that Shelby County Republicans did not even bother to nominate an opponent for him this year and themselves endorsed him.

His interest in running for the nonpartisan office of mayor is a very real thing, and he has definitely had preliminary discussions about mounting a campaign next year. Bonner’s status on the eve of the Memphis city election has been likened by more than one observer to that of AC Wharton in the first decade of this century, when Wharton was considered an inevitable candidate for, successively, Shelby County mayor and Memphis mayor, both of which offices he would win.

Jason Martin (Photo: Jackson Baker)

• Jason Martin, the Nashville critical-care physician who emerged as the winner of the Democrats’ three-way gubernatorial primary, was the speaker at last week’s Germantown Democratic Club meeting.

Addressing an audience of 70-odd attendees at the Coletta’s restaurant in East Shelby County, Martin deplored GOP Governor Bill Lee’s policies on several counts, including Lee’s restrictive posture toward abortion rights, his refusal to countenance Medicaid expansion and the annual federal outlays of $1 billion that would come with it, his striking away of gun regulations, and his moves toward privatizing public education.

Said Martin: “The other side is so radical on these issues that most people are like, ‘That’s not me.’ And that’s why we’re getting traction.”

• As first reported last week on memphisflyer.com, outgoing District Attorney General Amy Weirich will be taking a position as assistant DA with the office of Mark Davidson, district attorney for the adjoining 25th Judicial District, which serves the counties of Tipton, Fayette, Lauderdale, McNairy, and Hardeman.

A press release from Davidson’s office on Monday confirmed that Weirich will be sworn in as special counsel to his office on September 1st, a day after the swearing-in of Steve Mulroy, who defeated Weirich in the August 4th county election, to replace her as Shelby DA.

• The ever-worsening situation of Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert, under fire for mishandling license-plate distribution and her office affairs in general, almost got even bleaker Monday when the Shelby County Commission, in its final meeting as currently composed, failed by one vote to appoint a special counsel to begin ouster proceedings.

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Can Dems Compete in Poplar Corridor in November?

(Graphic courtesy of Memphis consultant Cole Perry)

Whatever it might mean for the November election results, the August voting in Shelby County showed an interesting pattern vis-a-vis the race for the Democratic nomination for governor.

As noted by Erik Schelzig of the Tennessee Journal and as demonstrated in the graphic above (image courtesy of Memphis consultant Cole Perry) the Democrats’ second-place finisher statewide, City Councilman JB Smiley of Memphis, dominated primary voting in Shelby County, perhaps as expected, winning 61.99 percent of the county’s vote as a native son, with 48,650 votes. Second place in Shelby County went to Dr. Jason Martin of Nashville, who garnered 22.72 percent of the vote, with 18,005 votes. Martin finished first in the state as a whole and, consequently, is the party’s nominee in November to oppose GOP Governor Bill Lee.

What will be noticed from the graphic is the lengthy pink salient penetrating the county map from the east. This is where Martin netted from 40 to 60 percent of the primary vote and was the source of his strength in Shelby County. That portion of the county happens to be synonymous with what Schelzig and others call the “finger of love,” a section of the county peeled away from what used to be the 9th District and assigned by Republican redistricters to the 8th Congressional District.

Another way of describing the salient is that it is the Poplar Avenue Corridor, site of a good deal of upscale business and residential areas.

So what can be deduced from the map? Several things; one in particular: At least to a modest degree, the Poplar Corridor is potentially competitive in November between Martin and Lee. The rest of the county should go to Martin, though turnout for Martin as the Democratic nominee in November may lag behind what Memphian Smiley was able to attract in August.

And not to be neglected is that the 12,604 votes won in Shelby by third-place finisher Carnita Atwater, also a Memphian, most probably took enough votes away from Smiley to prevent his becoming the party nominee. He lost to Martin statewide by only 1,472 votes.

Ultimately, in any case, the odds of a Martin victory in November remain remote in that statewide voting remains overwhelmingly Republican.

Still, Democrats would be well advised to give that finger a shake.

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Politics Politics Feature

Political Time Warp

Jason Martin, Carnita Atwater, and JB Smiley (Photo: Jackson Baker)

We’re all entitled to a brain freeze once in a while. Who among us has not suffered one in an embarrassing public moment? But Carnita Atwater, a Memphian and a declared candidate for governor of Tennessee, went for gold with one on the night of Tuesday, July 12th.

The first comment Atwater made from the stage of the Little Theater in the Alma C. Hanson Student Center at LeMoyne-Owen College was in response to a lead-off question that moderator Jasmine Boyd addressed to all three candidates for the Democratic nomination — the others being Nashville physician Jason Martin and Memphis Councilman JB Smiley.

Atwater, an activist for the New Chicago neighborhood and a former nurse, would say the following:

“Thank you for that question. As the next incoming governor, I will have a plan that affords all Tennesseeans to have a seat at the table of prosperity. I will go and do questionnaires across the 95 counties to identify and assess the needs of each county. Most counties are different. Most counties have different needs. So I want to dictate to the community. I want to meet their needs. So that’s why I’ll do a questionnaire, do the accessibility, and then draw up my plan.”

Quote unquote.

Martin was next, delivering a well-considered statement stressing, among other things, the need to shore up public education, vo-tech and otherwise; to renew the matter, so far rejected by the Republican legislative supermajority, of accepting federal funds for Medicaid expansion; and to bring broadband to all corners of the state.

In his turn, Smiley — who is equal parts demonstrative and reserved and who would consistently feature some aspect of himself to answer to all questions — noted that he lived only three blocks away from the site of the forum in an underserved community and made a pitch for instituting a living wage and for workforce development programs because “the jobs are coming, the global city is here.”

At this point, Atwater had a question of her own, addressing it to Boyd: “I want to make sure I understand the rules. Do we have 90 seconds to respond? Because I noticed that others are getting one minute and 30 seconds. So I want to make sure we follow the rules.”

Very politely and without missing a beat, Boyd explained: “Yes, ma’am, one minute and 30 seconds is the equivalent of 90 seconds.”

And the forum went on from there, Atwater’s first questionnaire having gotten an answer of sorts. (More on the forum and the Democratic gubernatorial primary will be featured online at memphisflyer.com.)

• In addition to the state, federal, county, and judicial races covered in the July 14th issue of the Flyer (in this space and in that week’s cover story), several other races on the August 4th ballot, listed below, deserve attention. Only contested races are included for the categories indicated. Incumbent’s names are italicized.

Memphis Term Limits Referendum — One of the most widely anticipated measures on the August 4th ballot is a referendum for Memphis voters that would alter the current limit of two terms for mayor and City Council members, extending that limit to three terms. Interest in the referendum has been enhanced by a declaration from current Mayor Jim Strickland that he would seek a third term in 2023 if it should pass.

City of Memphis Special Election — Municipal Court Judge, Division 1: Kenya Hooks, Carolyn S. Watkins.

Shelby County School Board races — District 1: Chris Caldwell, Michelle McKissack, Rachael Goodwin Spriggs; District 6: Charles Everett, Timothy Green Jr., Kenny Lee, David Page, Tiffani Perry, Keith Williams; District 9: Joyce Dorse-Coleman, Rebecca Jane Edwards.

Arlington Municipal Election — Alderman, Position 4: Oscar L. Brooks, Jordan D. Hinders; Alderman, Position 5: Harry McKee, Steven Smith. School Board, Position 3: Jonathan Dunn, Hugh Lamar; School Board, Position 5: Dale A. Viox, Cathy Wilson.