Tag: Jerri Green

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Politics Politics Feature

Showdown!

JB Smiley (Photo: City of Memphis)

It is no accident that many savants in the legal/political universe regard the 1962 Baker v. Carr decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to be second to none among landmark judicial decisions.

This decision was brought on by a suit from Charles Baker, chairman of what was then the Shelby County Court, precursor of the present Shelby County Commission. On behalf of Shelby County, rapidly urbanizing at the time, as was the nation as a whole, Baker sought relief from un-democratic districting guidelines imposed by the state of Tennessee that unduly favored the state’s rural population.

The court held in essence that the Fourteenth Amendment required that the principle of one person-one vote be applied in the determination of legislative district lines.

While the decision had immediate and lasting repercussions on determining matters of voter eligibility, both in Tennessee and elsewhere in the nation, it has by no means eliminated gerrymandering based on partisan politics (e.g. witness the Republican legislative supermajority’s strip-mining away of Democratic Party rights in Nashville’s Fifth Congressional District), nor has it much diminished the edgy relationship between urban and rural interests in policy-making.

The latter issue has flared up again in the quarrel over whether Memphis voters should be allowed to vote their preference on several gun-control measures embedded in a referendum proposed by the city council but now endangered by the action of the county Election Commission in removing it from the November ballot.

In so acting, the Election Commission — dominated 3-2 by GOP members according to state mandate — has clearly responded to overt threats from the state’s Republican leadership to withhold from the city some $78 million in state revenues, if the referendum should go through as scheduled.

This was some of the “stiff resistance” promised by House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who articulated things this way: “Local governments who want to be progressive and evade state laws will lose shared sales tax funding.” The speaker likened the city’s referendum plans to “subversive attempts to adopt sanctuary cities [and] allow boys in girls’ sports.” 

Some Memphians were expressing concern that the state’s retribution could also be visited on various large local projects dependent on previously pledged state subsidies, like those involving the zoo, FedExForum, and Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.

It is worth recalling the actual import of the endangered referendum, authorized earlier by the council’s unanimous vote. In the words of its chief sponsor Councilman Jeff Warren, “Memphis voters will be asked whether they approve amending the city’s charter to require a handgun permit, restrict the storage of guns in vehicles in many cases, ban assault weapons sales after January 1, 2025, and enact extreme risk protection orders, sometimes called Red Flag Laws.”

All the referendum would do is solicit voter opinion, it would seem. Sexton chooses to see it otherwise, as a direct challenge to state authority.

Whichever interpretation is correct, the ongoing confrontation between city and state over a host of policy matters, of which gun safety is only one, is rising to fever pitch, as evidenced the rhetoric employed last week by Council Chair JB Smiley and various supportive council members, who announced their intent to sue the Election Commission to reinstate the ballot measure.

“Memphis has been shot and is bleeding out,” said Councilwoman Jerri Green. “We won’t back down, and we damn sure won’t be bullied,” proclaimed Smiley.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young meanwhile seemed to be trying to position himself at the nonexistent calm center, saying he understood the council’s “frustration” but expressing the view that the referendum ultimately would be “futile.” 

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Politics Politics Feature

Purgatory

When Judge Jayne Chandler (r) swore in Councilman Jeff Warren in early January, host and witness for the special ceremony was the iconic late former school board member Sara Lewis. It was her final official act. (Photo: Courtesy Jeff Warren)

The forced reaction of Mayor Paul Young in his interim appointment of Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis, coupled with the city council’s action this past Tuesday to defer action on reappointing Public Works Director Robert Knecht, suggests an emergent balkanization of power in the affairs of the newly installed city government.

Council chair JB Smiley has made it clear that he intends to position the council — and himself — as a counterbalance to mayoral authority. Smiley, who had taken the lead in the first deferral of action on Davis three weeks ago, reinforced his assertiveness last Tuesday in dressing down Knecht for “attitude” and alleged insularity and leading the council to postpone a vote on Knecht’s reappointment for two more weeks.

“Make sure you respond when we come calling on you,” was the thrust of Smiley’s message to Knecht. The contrast between Smiley’s firmness and Knecht’s docility was instructive.

And individual council members have their own axes to grind.

Councilman Jeff Warren, sponsor of the imminent council resolution that Young had to preempt and emulate in his interim appointment of Davis, has affirmed his position at the nexus of authority. Newcomer Jerri Green’s strong questioning of Davis underscored her determination to be a voice to reckon with.

Another new council member, previously seen as an unknown quantity, is Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, who has made a point of her intention to base her votes on her own independent researches. Yet another first-termed, Pearl Eva Walker, has to be regarded as a potential exponent of an abundant number of activist causes, including a reexamination of Memphis’ issues with TVA.

And so forth and so on. As the old saw goes: All have won, and all must have prizes. Young, who has yet to get his legs fully down, will be hard put to maintain the strong-mayor authority the city charter entitles him to — especially given a belated air of pushback against the relatively free hand enjoyed by former mayor Jim Strickland.

Not to be ignored, either, is the likely enhancement of self-interested power groups in the community. A key moment in the (temporary) resolution of the Davis matter was a come-to-Jesus meeting between Mayor Young and members of the Memphis Police Association on the Monday before the last council session.

The gathered police folk made it clear that they wanted more attention to their concerns that they had been used to in law-enforcement matters.

The bottom line is that rosy rhetoric does not apply to Davis’ case. Nor to her boss’. One noted pundit has hailed the interim appointment as a salvific opportunity for all the sides to get together in constructive kumbaya. The fact is, to employ the right existential terminology, Davis is in a form of purgatory and has, at best, an opportunity to expurgate herself. Meanwhile, she has to bear the ill-defined stigmata of public doubt. And so, sadly, must the mayor, as he still struggles to launch his mayoralty.

Some are already suggesting that Chief Davis might make her best contribution to the city’s welfare — and to her boss’ and to her own — by arranging for a graceful, voluntary withdrawal.

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Politics Politics Feature

Ladies First

C.J. Davis (Photo: memphispolice.org)

The victories in last week’s city council runoff elections of three women over their male opponents further dramatizes an ever-increasing trend toward female dominance in the elective positions of both city and county governments.

To recap the results:

In District 2 (East Memphis), Jerri Green defeated Scott McCormick by a total of 1,752 votes to McCormick’s 1,696. In District 3 (Whitehaven), Pearl Walker won out over Rev. James Kirkwood with 781 votes to Kirkwood’s 767. And, in District 7, incumbent
Michalyn Easter-Thomas defeated Jimmy Hassan by 966 votes to 504.

Besides reflecting the trend, the razor-thin victory margins of Green and Walker suggest a slight — but potentially crucial — prevalence of progressivism over conservatism in the council’s showdown votes to come.

Green is a Democrat who has been serving as chief policy advisor to Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, while McCormick had significant support among Republican activists; Walker, a community organizer, is an avowed progressive whose opponent was a former ranking MPD officer.

Arguably, the wins of Green and Walker somewhat offset the earlier general election victory of conservative former Councilman Philip Spinosa over progressive Meggan Wurzburg Kiel in District 5 (Midtown/East Memphis). That race had figured as a bona fide ideological showdown of sorts.

Whatever the ultimate political bent of the newly elected council, it will have a female majority of seven women and six men. That will put it in alignment of sorts with the Shelby County Commission, which has the same ratio, with a woman, Miska Clay Bibbs, serving currently as chair. And there is no doubting that the other women on the commission, activists all, are making their influence felt as well.

• Perhaps the most important official position held by a woman at the moment is that of police director, and one of the most frequently vented questions during the recent mayoral contest concerned whether C.J. Davis, who holds the job, could expect to be reappointed by the new mayor.

During the campaign, the mayoral contenders reflected a variety of opinions on the matter, most of them leaning to noncommittal statements of one kind or another.

The victor, Mayor-elect Paul Young, held to a position that he would commit himself neither to hires nor fires of major personnel.

Be that the case or not, Davis, who addressed a luncheon of the Rotary Club of Memphis last week, sounded confident in laying out an agenda for the new year — one that among other things, envisions a significant increase in the MPD’s hands-on corps of sergeants — that she would actually be the person to execute it.

Asked after her remarks about the likelihood of her continuing in office, Davis went the neither-confirm-nor-deny route but made a point of saying that she had enjoyed good relations with Young in their frequent contacts over the years.

• Davis’ speech to the Rotarians followed one to the same group last month by Greater Memphis Chamber president/CEO Ted Townsend, who made a point of downplaying the effect of recent crime outbreaks on the city’s economic development picture.

On a recent recruitment tour, looking for new business, Townsend said, “I didn’t get one question about crime. Not one. I was bracing for it. I prepared for it. I expected it.”

He acknowledged that one national headquarters company located here may have been influenced by “the C-word” and “were thinking about leaving, or wanting to go to Dallas. We fought hard. We set the value proposition, we said work with us, things will be improved. We have not given up on it. You don’t give up on it. … We should fight for Memphis and never give up.”

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Politics Politics Feature

In Their Own Words

Scott McCormick and Jerri Green (Photos: Courtesy Scott McCormick/Jerri Green)

In the emailed responses below, the District 2 council candidates outline their plans and priorities.

Scott McCormick: As a district representative on the Memphis City Council, my main priority is to advocate for the district I am elected to represent, District 2.

Germantown Parkway is a bit like the Wild West. Just last week two banks were robbed. Car break-ins occur in the various parking lots along the parkway and some businesses have been forced to close due to criminal activity. People want to feel safe. Wives, mothers, and daughters all want to get their gas without looking over their shoulders. I want to sit down with the police director and discuss how law enforcement resources are allocated to District 2.

“Out-of-town landlords’’ neglect their properties when vacant. Weeds are allowed to take over yards and visible disrepair is noticeable with many of these houses. One example is a house I pass almost every day. The windows are boarded up and the garage door is barely hanging [by] its rails. It is an eyesore and a nuisance. Another example was a new[s] story about a Cordova woman who moved in only to find the house was infested with rats. The landlord ignored her until the news station became involved. The council needs to address this issue, as it not only affects District 2 but all the districts. These real estate companies, which own 400-plus homes, need to be held accountable to maintain their properties.

Cordova is a part of the city that contracts its garbage service through a private company. The service is unreliable. I personally experience missed trash or recycle pick-up at least once a month. Yard waste will sit on the curb for months at a time before being picked up. Yard waste is supposed to be picked up every other week. This is another issue that is a nuisance for the citizens of District 2.

Jerri Green: I have been out knocking on doors and talking to my neighbors in District 2. From the grandmother concerned about the skyrocketing MLGW bills and frequent power outages to the funeral director concerned about the gun deaths he sees each week to the parent wondering about opportunities for their children in a city that is in a crime crisis, each voter is looking for leadership to take action.

The theme running through it all, District 2 is ready for change. And they want someone who not only has a record of success, but has proven they are tough enough to lean in on these hard issues and make a real difference. On the city council, I plan to focus on innovative strategies to tackle crime, improve infrastructure, and support youth.

As senior policy advisor for Mayor Lee Harris, I have started the nation’s first free gun lock by mail program by a local government to keep guns out of the wrong hands. I’ve supported our law enforcement officers with increased benefits and in-precinct youth counselors. I also started a jobs site for ex-offenders because if you’re too busy working, you’re too busy to go back to a life of crime. These are solutions with proven results.

All my plans start with data. I will use data to make sure MLGW has a robust tree trimming program that targets the areas most susceptible to power outages. I will also make sure proposed improvements align with the costs being charged to customers. It is time to hold the leadership accountable.

I would also be the first woman — and mother — to hold this seat. That means I will not just bring change, but also common sense and compassion to my work, especially as it relates to the next generation. You can count on me to always show up for my children and yours.

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Politics Politics Feature

Same Plot, New Faces

Prospective council candidate Jerri Green (Photo: Community Legal Center)

As of last week, the City Council — after lengthy deliberations that ran way past the May 22nd date for pulling candidate petitions — finally mustered enough votes to declare district lines for the forthcoming city election.

And, basically, it’s a case of Meet the New Lines, Same as the Old Lines.

Which is to say, the council districts for the October 5th election conform to the same map that was redrawn for a special election in District 4 last November. Then-incumbent Councilwoman Jamita Swearengen had resigned the District 4 seat after winning election as Shelby County Circuit Court Clerk. She was succeeded by her sister, Jana Swearengen-Washington, who won the special election.

Shot down during the council’s regular meeting last week was a proposed new map that had garnered significant support and would have made major alterations, especially on the city’s eastern perimeter, where District 5, an area largely white in population that bridges Midtown and East Memphis, would have been reshaped to become even more accommodating to whites, including conservatives, while adjoining District 2 would have become Cordova-based and majority-Black.

The new plan was put forth by Darrick Harris, a community member of the council’s ad hoc reapportionment committee. A late-breaking shift of previously undecided council members against it left the old map in place when Councilman Chase Carlisle subsequently moved for “same night minutes,” a parliamentary device which sped up the process of formalizing the vote.

Some supporters of the defeated new map were outraged by the outcome. One of them was Lexie Carter, chair of the Shelby County Democratic Party. Carter had anticipated the creation of a specifically Cordova district in the manner of last year’s County Commission reapportionment. She indicated that she intended to file a protest at the council’s meeting next week, when, reportedly, the body will consider a final tweaking of boundaries.

Carter also defended her action and that of the local Democratic executive committee in recently withdrawing from what had been the party’s long-running litigation against several proprietors of sample ballots at election time, especially those who used the word “Democratic” or party images on their products.

“Let’s face it, that has always been part of the process,” she said of the balloters, who traditionally have charged fees of candidates wishing positions on their sample ballots, which were widely distributed, especially in the inner city.

• Meanwhile, the list of claimants to the District 2 seat continues to grow. Former Councilman Scott McCormick has drawn a petition for it, and Jerri Green, senior policy advisor to County Mayor Lee Harris, has confirmed her interest in the seat. Green, a Democrat, gave Republican state Representative Mark White a close run in 2020 for the District 83 state House seat.

Davin Clemons, a former Memphis policeman and the co-founder of Tri-State Black Pride, will apparently once again be an opponent of incumbent Councilman Edmund Ford Sr., having drawn a petition for Ford’s District 6 seat. Clemons ran against Ford in 2019 with the endorsement of Harris and said this week he hopes to have the county mayor’s support again this year.

As was the case four years ago, that race will likely reflect to some degree the ever-simmering antagonism between Mayor Harris and County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., the councilman’s son.

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Politics Politics Feature

Campaign ’22: Legal Fireworks on Tap?

jackson baker Discussing their intentions to run for judge next year at a “Drinks with Democrats” event were (l to r) Erim Sarinoglu, Lisa Stanley, and Sanjeev Memula.

Among the races on next year’s local ballot expected to generate some heat is that for district attorney general, the position held by Republican incumbent Amy Weirich since 2011 via appointment and successfully defended by Weirich in the 2012 and 2014 election seasons.

 Other candidates may yet file for the position, but at this point the race is shaping up as one between Weirich and announced Democratic challenger Linda Nettles Harris, a veteran of both prosecutorial and legal-defense ranks.

At a generously attended fundraiser on South Front Street last week, Harris offered a preview of her campaign, promising to work “the road less traveled” and to heed “the voices of people who have felt that they have been neglected by the criminal justice system … people who have felt marginalized, who have felt ostracized, who have been left out.”

Referring to herself as a “statistical-driven person,” Harris said, “FBI statistics show that crime has gone up and prisons have been built, but crime has steadily increased.”

Harris laid special emphasis on a pledge to maintain “integrity” in the office if elected. “And what does integrity look like? Honestly, it looks like disclosing evidence when it is helpful to people and when it is not. It looks like following the guidelines of the American Bar Association that teaches you how to be ethical prosecutors.”

That would appear to be an indirect allusion to a recommendation by the state Board of Professional Responsibility that Weirich be censured for appearing to withhold potentially exculpatory evidence while prosecuting a murder case. The charges against Weirich were later dismissed.

• The DA’s race will be on the ballot along with a lengthy list of state judicial races that, like it, will be subject to eight-year terms for the winner. Some measure of just how extensive the list of contested races might be was indicated by the turnout last week at a happy-hour affair for Democrats at the Mellow Mushroom pizzeria on Park. Several attendees at the event professed interest in races for General Sessions positions without specifying particular seats.

Jackson Baker
Linda Harris

• Jerri Green, who ran a tight race last year as a Democrat for the District 97 state House race won by Republican Mark White, has been hired by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris as a policy adviser. 

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News News Blog

Community Legal Center Names Jerri Green as Interim Executive Director

CREDIT: Community Legal Center

The Community Legal Center is going to see a change at the top in the next few months.

Community Legal Center

The nonprofit organization announced yesterday that Jerri Green will take up the mantle of Interim Executive Director upon the retirement of the current director, Anne Mathes, in March. The CLC, founded in 1994, provides legal services to those at risk or with limited financial means. Some of its programs include a focus on civil law, immigration court, elder abuse, or divorce. Mathes had been at the helm since August 2015, following a 30 year legal career.

“We are confident Jerri will provide strong leadership and continuity during this time of transition as the CLC searches for a permanent Executive Director,” the organization’s Board of Directors wrote on Twitter. “Anne, who played a critical role in the growth and success of the organization, will be greatly missed by all.”

Green joined the CLC in 2016 and has served the organization in the role of director of community engagement, in which she partners with local entities to advance the CLC’s mission through events, fundraisers, and media outlets. Last November, Green also ran as a Democratic candidate for state House District 83, eventually losing out to Republican incumbent Mark White.

“Since joining the CLC in 2016 … she has played a key role in the CLC’s growth through her strong commitment to nonprofit work and deep connections to the Memphis community.

“The Board is excited about the passion, energy, and vision that Jerri brings to this position as we plan for 2021 and beyond. Jerri is likewise looking forward to serving in this critical leadership role.”

During the organization’s search for a new executive director, the CLC is also planning to hire an associate executive director to help guide the organization, with more information on the position coming soon.

Our commitment to high standards of advocacy and excellent legal care for our clients remains our guiding principle during this time of transition. As ever, the CLC is here to resolve legal problems, impact our community, and change lives for the better.
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Politics Politics Feature

Wish Lists

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

As expected, the Biden-Harris ticket was an easy winner in Democratic-dominated Shelby County last week; also unsurprising was the overwhelming support enjoyed by the Trump-Pence Republican ticket in Tennessee at large.

To the extent that there was any kind of suspense factor, it was in a pair of local races. Even as Democrats nationally made serious inroads on previously Republican suburban areas, the contests for House District 83 and House District 96, both on the suburban fringe, were unusually tight. Republican state Representative Mark White was able to hold off a stout challenge by Democrat Jerri Green, by a margin of 17,682 to 15,063, and the GOP’s John Gillespie had an even closer margin over Democratic candidate Gabby Salinas, 14,697 to 14,212.

Jackson Baker

House Speaker Cameron Sexton

Gillespie, who won the open seat vacated by former Representative Jim Coley, was one of two new members of the Shelby County delegation. The other was Democrat Torrey Harris, who easily won over longtime incumbent John DeBerry, forced to run this year as an independent, in House District 90.

Both Gillespie and Harris were on hand on Monday and Tuesday for the Shelby County legislative delegation’s annual legislative retreat, this year conducted virtually as a Zoom meeting.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, a first-day speaker, said he wants CLERB, the city’s independent civilian review board, to have subpoena powers of its own so that it need not go through the city council in probing accusations of police misconduct. The mayor also wants Memphis to have equity with Nashville in state funding received for mental health services. “We have many more mental health patients than Nashville, but Nashville gets more,” he said Monday.

The annual retreat, at which spokespersons for major local interests state their wish lists for the coming legislative session in Nashville, is normally held in January, just before the session begins, but got a bit of a jump-start this year.

Among the other desiderata on Monday, the first day of the two-day virtual session:

Patrice J. Robinson, chair of the Memphis City Council, asked the legislators to pass a bill banning payday lenders. She also wanted to see the decriminalization of medical marijuana and a continuation of the COVID-era expedient of allowing sales-to-go of alcoholic beverages from storefronts.

Robinson endorsed as well a bill that state Senator Brian Kelsey (R-District 31) said he would introduce increasing the local portion of the state sales tax — this as a means of recouping some of the financial loss to cities from the pending elimination of the state Hall income tax on dividends and investments.

Memphis Police Department director Michael Rallings focused on the gun problem, maintaining that increased prevalence of firearms was the main reason for a rise in certain categories of crime. “Thank goodness permitless carry was not passed,” Rallings said, musing on the last legislative session. Rallings also noted for the lawmakers that he considers Memphis to be “490 to 700 officers down” from an optimum roster number.

The headliner on day two, Tuesday, was state Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, Republican of Crossville, who promised the legislators that the General Assembly’s calendar would be flexed with the uncertainties of COVID-19 in mind so that, as one example, they would have a little “extra time for filing their bills.”

Asked about his attitude toward marijuana legislation, Sexton said he would feel more comfortable with efforts to legalize medical marijuana if the federal government removed its status as a Schedule 1 drug. Sexton said he was in favor of local jurisdictions making decisions about such issues as school openings and guns on school property. He also said, apropos the dormant Memphis megasite, “We’ve gone too far to pull back.”

During his appearance before the legislators, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris noted his concern about skeptical statements made by Governor Bill Lee and state Attorney General Herbert Slatery regarding the results of the presidential election won by President-elect Joe Biden. That was one of the few times during the two-day session that partisanship as such became a subject of discussion.

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Cover Feature News

It’s On!

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

For Democrats, especially, the memories of four years ago are still very much alive — not just the nerve-crunching countdown of election night but the hopeful dawning of January 21st, just after Donald Trump‘s inauguration, when, on an unseasonably warm day, multi-gendered masses of Memphians gathered for the Women’s March Downtown — not a protest of the new regime so much as an affirmation that a reckoning would come, that the historical moment could be reversed.

It was the first act, enacted simultaneously in virtually every other American city, of what would come to be known as the Resistance, not just by those involved in it but by Trump, the intended target and unexpected winner of the presidency, who, clearly, could boast his own crowds, with a wholly different set of hopes and fears.

Jackson Baker

Roadside stand, 2020-style

The unprecedented rush of early voters to the polls this year, which began, locally, on Wednesday, October 14th, undoubtedly derives from both sources. Records will almost surely be broken by the end of early voting on Friday of next week, October 29th. A big vote is also likely for Election Day itself — Tuesday, November 3rd — and the real unknown quantity, undoubtedly huge and perhaps decisive, is expected to come in a flood of mail-in ballots, a volume made possible in Tennessee only through the tireless legal efforts of local activists.

As was the case under the wholly different circumstances of 2016, the Democratic candidate — in this case former Vice President Joe Biden — is favored by the polls. Nationwide, that is. Here in Tennessee, where the Republican Party still dominates the electorate, it’s considered to be in the bag for Republican Trump.

The U.S. Senate Race

Nowhere has the generational sea-change been more obvious than in races for the state’s major offices. In 2018, Republicans won decisive victories for governor and U.S. senator over name Democratic candidates after competitive Republican primaries in which the winners — Governor Bill Lee and Senator Marsha Blackburn — were actually decided.

The action was similar this year when GOP senatorial candidates Bill Hagerty and Manni Sethi vied in a bitterly fought Republican primary, with Hagerty, the hand-picked candidate of President Trump, emerging triumphant.

Hagerty, a former state industrial development commissioner and Ambassador to Japan, no doubt expected, like most other observers, that his Democratic challenger would be Nashville lawyer James Mackler, a former Iraq war pilot who had basically been running for two years. But Mackler would finish second in the year’s biggest upset, as unsung Memphis environmentalist Marquita Bradshaw pulled off a win in the Democratic primary. 

Jackson Baker

Republican Senate candidate Bill Hagerty with supporters in Millington

Starting the general election with approximately $22,000 in funding, compared to Hagerty’s $12 million, the plucky Bradshaw has advanced her receipts to the level of just under $1 million — still far short of Hagerty’s current $14 million.

The two Senate candidates had been scheduled for a statewide debate on the Nexstar television network, but mostly unexplained circumstances caused a cancellation. 

Other Senate candidates on the ballot as independents are: Aaron James, Yomi “Fapas” Faparusi Sr., Jeffrey Alan Grunau, Ronnie Henley, G. Dean Hill, Steven J. Hooper, Elizabeth McLeod, Kacey Morgan, and Eric William Stansberry.

Jackson Baker

Republican U.S. Representative David Kustoff at the podium

U.S. House Races

Incumbent Congressmen David Kustoff and Steve Cohen are also up for re-election. Eighth District Representative Kustoff, a Republican, is opposed by Democratic nominee Erika Stotts Pearson and by independents Jon Dillard and James Hart. Ninth District incumbent Cohen, a Democrat, is opposed by Republican nominee Charlotte Bergmann and by independents Dennis Clark and Bobby  Lyons. Both incumbents are expected to win handily.

Jackson Baker

at TV taping

Legislative Races

In Shelby County itself, there are several competitive legislative races, and, as is the case with the presidency, most of them involve comeback hopes on the part of Democrats, who over the last several decades have seen their ancestral control, in every place but the inner city, yield to a new breed of buttoned-down Republicans. The competitive races are those along the line where city and suburb meet in a zone of shifting populations.

Jackson Baker

Dems on display

State House District 96, which is focused on Cordova, a sprawling mix of blue- and white-collar ethnicities, reverted to the Democrats four years ago. Democratic State Representative Dwayne Thompson faces a challenge there from Republican regular Patricia Possel, well-known for her efforts in the de-annexation movement.

In House District 83, a somewhat more glam neighboring district to the immediate south, incorporating hunks of East Memphis and Germantown, a largely managerial class of voters will decide between incumbent GOP Representative Mark White, who heads the House education committee, and Jerri Green, a promising new Democratic face who hopes to punish White for his pro-voucher efforts in an area whose public schools are a major source of local pride.

Jackson Baker

House candidate Gabby Salinas

District 87, the third part of this triadic battle zone, lies to the north, stretching from parts of East Memphis through Bartlett to the Gray’s Creek/Eads area. The District 87 seat is open. Incumbent Republican state Representative Jim Coley, a teacher, is retiring. The contestants are the GOP’s John Gillespie, a Republican activist and grant coordinator at Trezevant Episcopal Home, and Gabby Salinas, a scientific researcher and former cancer patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital whose backstory of immigration from Bolivia and survival has gained her abundant publicity and inspirational cachet over the years. Salinas came very close to upsetting GOP mainstay Brian Kelsey in a state Senate race two years ago, and her message of Medicaid expansion and her ample finances give her good chances again.

Jackson Baker

State Rep. John DeBerry speaks to GOP group

State District 90 is where a fourth legislative race has attracted serious interest this year, and the main issue is party loyalty itself. For the last 26 years, minister/businessman John DeBerry has represented the highly diverse district, which connects Frayser and South Memphis with sections of Midtown and Chickasaw Gardens.

An African American (and uncle of the aforesaid Senate candidate Bradshaw), DeBerry has consistently opposed abortion and supported school vouchers, and his stand on those two issues was, along with his affiliation with the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), enough to provoke the state Democratic executive committee to remove him from the Democratic ballot this year.

On the strength of his name recognition and with somewhat more than tacit encouragement from the local Republican establishment, DeBerry is campaigning for re-election as an independent. He is opposed by Democratic nominee Torrey Harris, a member of the LGBTQ community who works in human resources and has the declared support of numerous progressive sources to go with the party label.

The other legislative races are either unopposed or pro forma cases. Incumbent Democrat Barbara Cooper is opposed by Republican Rob White in District 86, and Republican incumbent Kevin Vaughan has a Democratic opponent in Lynette Williams. Democrat Julie Byrd Ashworth challenges GOP incumbent Paul Rose in District 32.

Municipal Races

Various local municipalities have elections on November 3rd, as well:

In Bartlett, incumbent Alderwoman Paula Sedgwick in Position 6 is opposed by Kevin Quinn. Brad Ratliff, and Portia Tate are on the ballot for School Board, Position 1.

In Germantown, here are several Alderman races: Sherrie Hicks vs. Terri Johnson for Position 3; John Paul Miles, Roderick Motley, and Brian Ueleke for Position 4; and Jon McCreery and Brandon Musso for Position 5. There is one Germantown School Board race: Brian Curry and Scott Williams for Position 3.

In Lakeland, Jim Atkinson, Scott Carmichael, and Wesley Alan Wright are vying for the two open city commissioner positions.

In Millington, the position of Alderman for Position 7 is sought by Mike Caruthers and Tom Stephens; school board races are between Marlon Evans and Greg Ritter for Position 1, and Mark Coulter and Deanna Speight for Position 3.

In Collierville, Harold Curtis Booker, Thomas J. Swan, and John Worley are competing for Alderman Position 1. Position 3 is sought by William Boone, William Connor Lambert, Missy Marshall, Rick Rout, Scott Rozanski, and Robert Smith. Position 5 is contested by Gregory Frazier and John E. Stamps. For Collierville School Board, Position 3, the contestants are Madan Birla, Paul Childers, Rachelle Maier, and Kristina Kelly White.

REMINDER: The deadline to request a ballot by mail is Tuesday, October 27th, and the completed ballot must be received by Tuesday, November 3rd, by close of polls. However, voters who are at least 60 years old, people with underlying health conditions including conditions arguing for a susceptibility to COVID-19, and those caring for others susceptible to the illness can apply for an absentee ballot. 

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Political Trick-or-Treating

We know it’s the fashion in this age of Photoshop to doctor photographs, but this is ridiculous. Behold what happens to a harmless, even wholesome, snapshot (below, top) of Jerri Green, Democratic candidate for state House District 83, shown with Democratic state Rep. Dwayne Thompson of District 96 at last year’s Germantown Christmas Parade,

Those cut-ups at the House Republican Caucus got ahold of the picture and transformed it, for advertising purposes, into a shot (below) of Green as a Satanic eminence of some kind, posing gleefully in a scene of fiery destruction. The most remarkable question raised by the doctored photo is this: Who is the dude in the hat who shows up as a shadow across Green’s face? And how would the purported flames behind her create a shadow in front of her?

As for the allegations in the ad’s text, Green doesn’t remember calling anybody in legitimate law enforcement a “stormtrooper” but stands by her horror at the border camps where infants were separated from their would-be immigrant parents.

Green’s opponent in the November 3rd election is GOP state Rep. Mark White.