Despite a widespread sense that the mayoral race would come down to — and past — the wire, it didn’t take long Thursday night for a winner to emerge. It’s Paul Young, the Downtown Memphis Commission CEO in his first first electoral effort.
Young’s lead was convincing early on to his major competitors — two of whom, Sheriff Floyd Bonner and former Mayor Willie Herenton, made early concession statements, Bonner at 9:15 and Herenton at 9:45. Former County Commissioner Van Turner was certain to follow in short order.
When it was his own time to speak, not long before the local TV channels’ 10 o’clock news, Young addressed his supporters at his Minglewood Hall election-night party, saying, “Our community needs leadership. And it’s time for the next generation to take us into a new way. We acknowledge the challenges that we see, but I’m optimistic. I believe in our city. I believe and I believe in every one of you. We want a future that we’ve never seen. And that’s what we’re going to do together.”
Young reminisced about conversations he had with his father, the late Bishop William Young, when he made his announcement for mayor a year ago. “And he was asking me if was I going to run, and I was like, I don’t know. Because I know the weight of the job. I know what it means to be in that seat. And I just don’t know if we’re ready for that. And Bishop Young in all of his wisdom, said, I hear you.”
Young’s victory was no doubt clinched already in the early-voting that ended last Saturday. The election-day voting total, in the neighborhood of 20,000, was dismal — in large part due to an all-day drizzle.
It quickly became apparent that, given the inevitable distribution of votes over a 17-candidate spread, election-day voting would not be enough to provide an extra boost to any candidate hoping to rise above his early-vote showing.
Irrelevant, finally, were advance indications that a perceived tilt toward older voters during early voting might help the likes of Bonner and Herenton and blunt the momentum of Young and his youth movement.
Instead, Young demonstrated that his appeal was fairly universal, more so than any other candidate. It was Bonner’s quick read of the early numbers that convinced him to concede as early as he did, though that was a decision that buffaloed more than one set of TV analysts.
Final totals for the top tier in the Mayor’s race were 24.408 for Young, 19,895 for Bonner, 18,990 for Herenton and 18,778 for Turner. A large second tier of candidates finished well out of the running. Businessman J.W Gibson netted 2,175, and Michelle McKissack had 1,437. Seven other candidates would trail even more distantly.
courtesy of Perry Strategies
In city council races there were few surprises
District 1: Incumbent Rhonda Logan was an easy winner, with 6,122 votes as against opponent Kymberley Kelley’s 1,961.
District 2: As expected, former Councilman Scott McCormick is destined for a runoff with opponent Jerry Green, who serves as policy advisor to County Mayor Lee Harris. McCormick’s vote total was5,492; Green’s, 3,755.
District 3: Activist Pearl Walker, with 2,645 votes, finds herself in a runoff with James Kirkwood, a former ranking MPD officer, who had 2,307 votes.
District 4: Incumbent Jana Swearengen-Washington, with 7,866 votes, easily dispatched former interim councilwoman Teri Dockery, with 2,906.
District 5: The outcome here was a bit surprising, in that former councilman Philip Spinosa and activist Meggan Wurzburg Kiel were thought to be running neck-and-neck. Spinosa wins by 8,860 votes to her 6,936.
District 6: Incumbent Edmond Ford Jr won easily, with 10,138 votes over several challengers.
District 7: Incumbent Michalyn Easter-Thomas, perhaps impeded by allegations that her employment by Memphis River Parks Partnership, a city-affiliated group, was a conflict of interest, led her race with 3,936 votes But she did not command a majority and will be in a runoff with her closest contender, Jimmy Hassan, who had 1,471 votes.
The at-large races in Super Districts 8 and 9 did not allow for a runoff.
District 8-1 was won by the unopposed incumbent, JB Smiley, with 33,607 votes
Districty 8-2 saw Janika White, with 26,304, outdistance three other contenders.
District 8-3 saw Yolanda Cooper-Sutton with 9,407 votes over her nearest competitor Brian Harris, who had 7,601 votes, and Jerred Price who had 6,944.
District 9-1 saw incumbent Chase Carlisle with 29,091 votes, turn away challenger Benji Smith, who had 13,155.
In District 9-2, incumbent Ford Canale, with 26 719 votes, defeated Brandon Washingtonl, with 16, 127.
Incumbent Jeff Warren, unopposed, had 36,538 vote3s in District 9-3.
Citing a new poll conducted last week by the Change Research firm, the People for Justice and Fairness (PJF), an activist group supporting Van Turner for mayor contends that “when Memphians learn about Van Turner, he surges to the top of the mayoral race.”
What that translates into is that Turner led, with a final figure of 23 percent, in a final tabulation of multi-stage polling. In that version, percentages for other leading candidates were: Floyd Bonner, 21; Paul Young, 21; Willie Herenton, 14.
Turner rose to the top once the poll results (a) included the category of “leaning” and (b) included a brief bio of the top candidates (the three aforementioned).
Some observers would call that a “push poll.” As defined in a previous article in this space about another candidate’s self-released poll: “Anyone familiar with political polling would be inclined to associate that procedure with what is called a ‘push poll’ — one which builds a desired outcome into the very form of the questioning. The idea is simple: The better the ‘biography,’ the better the poll numbers. And the skimpier or less positive the bio, the lower would be the numbers.”
Anecdotal evidence would also suggest that Turner’s campaign has made serious advances since gaining several recent prestige endorsements — from Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Congressman Steve Cohen, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, and state Representative Justin J. Pearson. (Pearson has also made substantial financial contributions to Turner through a Political Action Committee.)
As indicated, the initial stage of the questionnaire totaled answers from respondents who had already made their final picks, and Paul Young led, with the previously mentioned 21 percent.
The numbers shifted when results from those respondents undecided but leaning toward specific candidates were added. Results were: Young, 22 percent; Bonner, 17 percent; Herenton, 16 percent; and Turner, 12 percent.
After the further addition of the bios, Turner ended up ahead, with the previously indicated lead of 23 percent.
The bios added for this third stage of polling were as follows below. (Readers can judge for themselves whether the bios, which seem to be posed fairy neutrally would tend to tilt the voting to a particular candidate.):
“Van Turner, esteemed attorney, Memphis NAACP president, and former Shelby County Commissioner, has a rich background in leadership and civil rights advocacy. He knows that to increase public safety we must fight crime at its roots with improved housing, bolstered education jobs, reliable infrastructure, and economic opportunity. Turner has the proven track record we need to keep Memphis safe.
“Paul Young, President and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, seeks the mayoral office with a vision of improving public safety, bolstering the economy, and revitalizing neighborhoods. Young will use his business background to stimulate job creation, foster local entrepreneurship, and invest in youth. His mayoral agenda also emphasizes tackling blight and enhancing Memphis’s vibrant culture. Young aims to make Memphis a better place to live for all.
“Floyd Bonner, Shelby County Sheriff, will make fighting crime his #1 priority as Mayor of Memphis. Bonner plans to aggressively recruit more police officers, expand data and community policing, and hold accountable the people who threaten our community. Committed to making safety the backbone of prosperity, Bonner is ready to tackle the challenges facing Memphis.
“Now that you’ve read some more, if the general election for the Mayor were held today and the candidates were the following, who would you vote for?“
Factoring into the selection of those to be polled — according to the press release from PFJ, along with Stand for Children, and Movement for Justice — were aspects of “age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, region, and [preference in] the 2020 presidential vote.” The following rundown applies to that last aspect, the respondents’ presidential vote in 2020:
69% Joe Biden, the Democrat 22% Donald Trump, the Republican 1% Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian 0% Not registered/Too young/Ineligible 8% Did not vote
It should be noted that, of all the mayoral candidates, Turner, a former chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party, has identified himself most strongly with the Democratic Party and its goals.
The press release states, “With strong union backing and an undeniable momentum growing day by day, this people-powered campaign is poised to shape the future of Memphis to one that is bright for all.”
September 7, 2023: Memphis, TN - Paul Young portrait at his campaign headquarters.
Photo by Andrea Morales for MLK50
While Paul Young, 43, has never held elected office, he’s been one of the most influential men in Memphis for a while.
As president of the Downtown Memphis Commission for the last two and a half years, he’s led the quasi-governmental commission’s efforts to restart Downtown’s growth after the pandemic hit the neighborhood hard. Before then, he led the City of Memphis’ Division of Housing and Community Development, which was responsible for developing the new Memphis Sports and Events Center and the still-on-hold dining, hospitality, and entertainment project next door. He’s also been a lobbyist for Shelby County and an administrator for the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning & Development.
But when discussing public safety with the Memphis Flyer and MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, the lifelong Memphian spoke far more about his personal experience than lessons from his time in public service.
By the time he was 21, he had lost “four or five” friends to gun violence, he said. And as the son of two pastors, he witnessed his parents constantly dealing with the grief violent crime brings.
“I know people that have been killed and have been the killers,” he said. “I’ve had friends that have been murdered by other friends — high school classmates and kids I grew up playing basketball with in the neighborhood.”
The following Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity. This interview was conducted Sept. 8, 2023.
Let’s start with policing. The killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers obviously damaged the community’s trust in the police. What steps would you take to rebuild that trust?
Rebuilding trust is the number one goal for the Memphis Police Department over the next couple of years. I think that the ordinances that were passed at City Council were a step in the right direction. But I believe that it’s important that we do everything we can to restore that faith.
I think that having a presence in the communities, not just when it’s time to enforce the law — walking through neighborhoods and communities and showing up to community meetings as a sign of support — those are things that I think can be done at little cost. It’s hard to hate people that you know. It’s hard to hate somebody that you look in the eyes on a regular basis. Having individuals on the police force that understand these communities and building those relationships is the way that we change the tenor. If I make that a priority, the Memphis Police Department will follow the model that I set forth.
How would you describe Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis’ performance as police chief?
I think she’s done a good job. Obviously, the incident with Tyre Nichols and the SCORPION unit and what appears to be a lack of oversight is something that she has to own. And I think she has owned the mistakes and tried to do the things necessary to right the course, and that’s what leadership is about.
The challenge before C.J. now is making sure that she can maintain trust and respect with the officers that work under her leadership and also show transparency and openness to engage with the public in what can be sometimes hostile environments. The visceral hate that we’re seeing in our community between residents and officers is something that only goes away when you build relationships, and the chief has to be the tip of the spear when it comes to making that happen.
The MPD currently has about 1,900 officers but says it needs 2,500. Do you agree 2,500 is the right number?
I agree. I don’t know that many people would disagree. As president of Downtown Memphis Commission, when I work with MPD on staffing issues for Downtown, I know there are tremendous staffing pressures that they’re under, particularly with overnight shifts.
How would you look to help MPD add officers?
We have to start introducing people to law enforcement younger. Just like we have training programs in high schools for the trades, we could introduce them to public safety careers. I think we obviously should continue to recruit from other cities. And I want our officers to be the highest paid officers in the region. I want them to feel like the big dog: When you work from Memphis, you’re on the premier force. You’re going to have the most resources, you’re going to have the best equipment, and you’re going to have all the support that you need. There was a time that that was the case; when you worked for MPD, you were the big dog in the law enforcement community.
We also have to find the efficiencies that are going to make sure that we are being most efficient with the ones that we already have. When someone is arrested, it takes them three hours to process the arrest. This is just paperwork. This is just process improvement. These are things that we can be working on to get that officer back on the street. Those are the types of things that I want to analyze, so they can put more time into being present on the streets. Having a physical presence brings calm to our community.
Currently, nearly 40 percent of the city of Memphis’ budget goes to police. Should residents expect that, under your administration, that share would go up, down, or stay the same?
It will probably be about the same. You would see incremental increases as a result of increasing the number of staff, but I don’t see it going up significantly or going down significantly.
In order to truly make our community safe, we have to find ways to make additional investments in public safety that’s not necessarily MPD — investments in our parks and our community centers and mental health programs, things that will actually prevent the crime in the first place. We have to build up this additional support for public safety. At the same time we support this police system that we’ve been using for years.
October 6, 2022: Memphis, TN – Paul Young, President/CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, during the mayoral forum hosted at The Pocket in Downtown Memphis, alongside fellow candidates Judge Joe Brown and Van Turner. Photo by Ariel Cobbert for MLK50
MPD is currently under a civil rights investigation by the Department of Justice. How do you plan to ensure MPD treats all of Memphis’ citizens fairly?
I welcome the investigation that’s underway. It will help us identify national best practices for ensuring that everyone is being treated with dignity and respect. Leadership is making sure that I set the tone as mayor with my willingness to comply and willingness to engage. We want that to resonate with the chief of MPD and everyone that falls under her purview.
The investigation will also give us declarative actions that we can take to ensure that we’re doing exactly what we want.
Other than police, name three measures you would take to increase public safety.
First and foremost is data sharing. We need data sharing among MPD, juvenile court, truancy court, and the school system. We should study the trajectory of criminals — of people that have gone down the wrong path — and what were some of the early indicators. My guess — I haven’t done the research — is you’re going to see suspensions from school and truancy. We should take that data, identify who’s headed down the wrong path, and deeply engage them in programs that can change their lives like My Brother’s Keeper.
Second is activating our community centers. When we look at young people, many are surprised that they’re running around busting windows. I’m not surprised because they want to have fun. There’s a thrill to busting windows. We have to have an alternative to it. We should engage our youth from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., when they’re the most mischievous.
And then investments in mental health programs. We have traumatized people that are out here traumatizing others. Our young people are experiencing trauma that is unnatural. Some people are losing uncles, brothers, and cousins; they’re going to come back and retaliate unless someone works with them to change their outlook on the world. My mom started the Emotional Fitness Centers of Tennessee; I could see investing in programs like that.
What public safety solutions have you seen work in other cities that you would seek to implement here?
Pittsburgh re-trained their officers on how to engage on police stops. They talk about the weather and make small talk to disarm. They do that to reduce the likelihood of a negative encounter.
In Omaha, they put together a coalition of people from different agencies focused on holistic public safety. They’re using data to identify the young people that need other interventions. And they have a host of programs that are able to engage those young people when they’ve been identified.
Some cities have tried to respond to mental health crises with first responders who aren’t police officers. Is that a solution you’re interested in exploring for Memphis?
I’ve talked to people that have done it. The challenge you find is that when you have individuals responding to an intense scene or somebody’s having a mental health episode, with the proliferation of guns in our community, you still need a trained officer. Can we send mental health workers out with officers? Yes. Sending them out alone? No, I don’t think that’s wise.
Would you be willing to redirect any funds from policing to address mental health?
No, I’d find more money.
How do you plan to engage young people, to help them avoid gangs and criminal activity?
They have midnight basketball in St. Louis, and they’re working to activate their community centers for more hours. I want to invest in programs that are going to bring stronger children to the classroom — wearing them out playing basketball and other sports. I think that it’s really important that we invest in our community centers, our parks, and our churches.
Memphis always ranks poorly in its number of roadway deaths. How would you help make our streets safer without relying solely on increased MPD enforcement?
We need drivers to be informed that the public right of way isn’t just for cars. It’s for people. People walk, they bike, and they drive cars. We need public service announcements that remind people that they have to share the roads. We also should be exploring design solutions. There are ways that you can design intersections and roads such that they tighten at certain points that get people to slow down.
MEMPHIS, TN – August 12, 2023: Memphis mayoral candidate Paul Young poses for a portrait during the 2023 Memphis People’s Convention at the Memphis Sports and Events Center.
Photo by Brandon Dill for MLK50
As mayor, what is a measure you would take to help get guns off the street?
Gun buyback programs — making sure people are turning those things in. And making sure we address illegal guns. When people commit crimes with those types of weapons, we should make sure there’s a higher penalty.
Do harsher penalties — for guns and in general — work to reduce crime?
I don’t know if they’re a strong deterrent, but I think they’re just. If you are committing certain crimes in our community, then the penalty has to match the level of the brutality that you’re unleashing. Whether criminals are deterred or not, harsher penalties are the right thing to do. I don’t think that there will be like an overwhelming amount of people that will be deterred, but the question is what is the right amount of time for the chaos being wreaked.
As mayor, what is a measure you would take to reduce car break-ins and theft?
Those are young people. I had an opportunity to sit on a town hall panel with NLE Choppa a few months ago, and there was a young person who said he liked stealing cars. I asked why. He said, ‘I’m bored and I need some money.’ Those are things we should be solving for! We have to find ways to engage youth, have them earn money and have fun.
As specifically as possible, what are your thoughts about maintaining a curfew on young Memphians?
I support the curfew. I think the challenge comes with implementation. I don’t agree with profiling; I don’t think you identify youth by what clothes they’re wearing. But if they’re obviously 10 or an adolescent, I think we should take them into custody where their parents can come and pick them up.
Floyd Bonner is obviously the sheriff. And Willie Herenton has done this before. What experience do you have to help you make this community safer?
As president of Downtown Memphis Commission, we lead the Blue Suede Brigade, which is not a police force but they serve a security function and work with MPD. As incidents have taken place in Downtown Memphis, I’m in the War Room with the Memphis Police Department. We’re working and strategizing every day on how we can keep Downtown safer.
The issues we’re dealing with around public safety are not strictly about law enforcement. It’s about all the things. It’s about the environment that young people grow up in — the fact that everything around them looks hopeless and you have houses that are crumbling. They don’t have options; this is something I deeply know and appreciate because of the work that I’ve done in communities and neighborhoods throughout the city. That’s experience the other candidates don’t have.
What personal experiences do you have with crime?
I’ve been robbed by people I know and have had guns pulled on me in my car. I’ve had, obviously, car break-ins and busted windows but that’s frivolous.
By the time I was 21, I had about four or five friends that had been shot and killed.
You become numb to it. My boy Ced got killed by another one of my friends when we were 20. One of my real close friends got shot and killed by a dude in an apartment with all my friends in the room — the dude just stood up and shot him because he took some liquor from him or something. One of my buddies just got killed last summer. It doesn’t stop.
MEMPHIS, TN - July 26, 2023: Ten of the nineteen candidates currently running for Memphis Mayor attended the Memphis Mayoral Forum hosted by the City of Memphis Office of Youth Services, Memphis Youth City Council, and Memphis Ambassadors Program at Christian Brothers University. (Photo: Brad Vest for MLK50)
As we approach one of the most momentous mayoral elections in Memphis’ history, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism and the Memphis Flyer have partnered on a unique experiment. With public safety on the minds of the voters, we polled our readers to find out what questions they would ask the mayoral candidates, if they had a chance.
We received more than 130 responses, which our editorial teams boiled down into a set of common questions. Then, we chose the four leading candidates, based on a combination of polling and fundraising data.
Below are some highlights from Floyd Bonner, Willie Herenton, Van Turner, and Paul Young’s responses to your questions.
If you would like to see the candidates’ complete answers, the expanded interviews, edited for length and clarity, can be found on both memphisflyer.com and MLK50.com.
The killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers damaged the community’s trust in police. What steps would you take to rebuild that trust?
BONNER: It’s about being out in the community, talking with the public, getting them to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can work collectively to keep it from happening again.
Floyd Bonner (Photo: Andrea Morales for MLK50)
HERENTON: I’m going to bring back Blue CRUSH. … You’ve got to have specialized police units, but they’ve got to be well-trained. They’ve got to be appropriately selected. And you gotta have accountability. … What happened in the Tyre Nichols situation? They had a group of officers that didn’t have extensive tenure as police officers, and they lacked supervision. I would have an organizational structure with a chain of command providing appropriate oversight.
Willie Herenton (Photo: Andrea Morales for MLK50)
TURNER: We will have to make sure that the training and the leadership is appropriately in place to ensure this does not occur again. We need to get back to some of the community policing that we used to have when I was growing up in Whitehaven. … We had a relationship where, if we saw something, we said something, and we were not afraid to contact the authorities or law enforcement.
Van Turner (Photo: Brandon Dill for MLK50)
YOUNG: I think that the ordinances that were passed at City Council were a step in the right direction.
Paul Young (Photo: Brandon Dill for MLK50)
How would you describe Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis’ performance as police chief?
YOUNG: I think she’s done a good job. Obviously the incident with Tyre Nichols and the SCORPION unit and what appears to be a lack of oversight is something that she has to own. I think she has owned the mistakes and tried to do the things necessary to right the course, and that’s what leadership is about. … The visceral hate that we’re seeing in our community between residents and officers is something that only goes away when you build relationships, and the chief has to be the tip of the spear when it comes to making that happen.
BONNER: I’ve been asked many times, would I let her go if I was elected? I don’t think that’s fair. All city directors will be evaluated in my administration, and decisions will be made accordingly.
HERENTON: In all probability, she would not have been my choice. … From what I’ve read in the press and from what I’ve heard, there were some troubling issues in her past that I probably would have had to carefully weigh. If I could have identified an individual that had the competency level that I could trust with that leadership role, I would have selected from within.
TURNER: I thought she was good as far as being transparent on the release of the Tyre Nichols tape, and the reprimand and termination of those five officers. I think perhaps there’s some room for growth and accountability as it relates to the use of this tactical squad being used for just a mere traffic stop and not for something that it was organized to do: to take down maybe a drug operation, to go after the heavily armed bad guys that were going to have AR-15 rifles and shoot back. … To deploy a team like the team that was deployed in the death of Tyre Nichols was a failure of leadership. She should be held accountable for this even occurring.
MPD has about 1,900 officers, but says it needs 2,500. Do you agree 2,500 is the right number? If not, why not? If so, how would you look to help?
HERENTON: It’s going to be very difficult reaching that 2,500 goal because I will implement the highest standards. I think they’ve lowered the standards, which is troubling to me.
TURNER: I think 2,500 first responders is the right answer. I don’t know if they necessarily all have to be rank-and-file police officers. … We need a full complement of first responders, but I would suggest that perhaps 200 to 250 of those first responders should be comprised of specialty units and of specialty officers who can emphasize de-escalation, address mental health issues, address nonviolent, nonthreatening traffic stops, and address some of the domestic [violence] issues that we see. We really have to look at a comprehensive strategy to resolve crime more effectively in the community.
YOUNG: I agree. I don’t know that many people would disagree. … Just like we have training programs in high schools for the trades, we could introduce them to public safety careers. I think we obviously should continue to recruit from other cities. I want our officers to be the highest paid officers in the region. I want them to feel like the big dog: When you work in Memphis, you’re on the premier force. You’re going to have the most resources, you’re going to have the best equipment, and you’re going to have all the support that you need.
BONNER: It’s going to take two to three years to get to where the staffing levels need to be right now. We can’t wait that long. … How would I go about doing our desk-to-duty plan? It’s taking some officers out of precincts, out of the public information office, and getting those officers back out on the streets. We have officers doing tasks that civilians could be doing — for instance, fixing the SkyCop cameras.
Currently, nearly 40 percent of the city of Memphis’ budget goes to police. Should residents expect that, under your administration, that share would go up, down, or stay the same?
TURNER: My budget would likely be the same if you look at the whole spectrum of public safety. But I would like to increase the budget as it relates to prevention and investments in disinvested communities, disinvested youth, disinvested community centers. I think that’s where we really have to pour a robust allocation of our investments into because what we’re doing now is not working.
BONNER: Right now, even with the budget the way it is, our police need more cars. … So there’s some things in the police department that we need to fix. … I can’t say that the budget would increase, but it’s certainly nice to stay where it’s at.
YOUNG: You would see incremental increases as a result of increasing the number of staff, but I don’t see it going up significantly or going down significantly. In order to truly make our community safe, we have to find ways to make additional investments in public safety that’s not necessarily MPD.
MPD is currently under a civil rights investigation by the Department of Justice. How do you plan to ensure that the Memphis Police Department treats all citizens fairly?
HERENTON: It is clear to me that we need to fix the culture of MPD. I’m committed to doing that. I know exactly how to get the culture straightened out and to make sure that we have transparency. We’ll have accountability, and we’ll have constitutional policing.
TURNER: We go to each community — and I mean each and every community — and we listen. … We focus on training and we make sure that our most senior officers are being utilized more than what they’re being utilized now. There were no senior officers [there] the night of the murder of Tyre Nichols, that was a misstep and a problem. … Third, we have to focus on recruiting the right individuals with the correct temperament, the right mind to serve and protect.
What public safety solutions have you seen work in other cities that you would seek to implement here?
YOUNG: Pittsburgh re-trained their officers on how to engage on police stops. They talk about the weather and make small talk to disarm. They do that to reduce the likelihood of a negative encounter. In Omaha, they put together a coalition of people from different agencies focused on holistic public safety. They’re using data to identify the young people that need other interventions, and they have a host of programs that are able to engage those young people when they’ve been identified.
Some cities have tried to respond to mental health crises with first responders who aren’t police officers. Is that a solution you’re interested in exploring for Memphis?
HERENTON: A lot of individuals out here have all kinds of mental disabilities that the policemen, if they’re not well trained, don’t know how to recognize. You have to broaden the training because they are running into some mental health issues that need to be addressed.
TURNER: I think that there’s a role for individuals who have that type of expertise to be used by law enforcement and by fire. Oftentimes, EMTs are first on the scene and there are issues that they have to address which concern mental illness. And they’re not equipped to do so. … We need a unit that will do it, that will travel with fire and police and make sure that mental health issues don’t result in death.
YOUNG: I’ve talked to people that have done it. The challenge you find is that when you have individuals responding to an intense scene or somebody’s having a mental health episode, with the proliferation of guns in our community, you still need a trained officer. Can we send mental health workers out with officers? Yes. Sending them out alone? No, I don’t think that’s wise.
How do you plan to engage with young people, to help them avoid gangs and criminal activity?
BONNER: It’s all about intervention and prevention. At the sheriff’s office, we have a Crime Prevention Unit that offers over 40 different programs for our youth. … We can’t sit in the office and let parents or kids come to us. We’ve got to get out in the neighborhoods to find out what we can do to help these kids be successful.
TURNER: A kid that joins a gang is looking for love, looking for acceptance, looking for protection, looking for a community. They find that in the gang because it’s not at home, it’s not at church, it’s not on the football team. You really have to disrupt that pattern of the gangs preying on these vulnerable youth because once they get ahold of them, it’s hard for them to let go, and it’s hard for that young person to get out of it. So we have to step in before the gangs get to them and provide that positive community for them. That’s why [I like] the Boys & Girls Club; it’s a positive community.
Memphis always ranks poorly in the number of roadway deaths. How would you help make our streets safer without relying solely on increased MPD enforcement?
YOUNG: We need drivers to be informed that the public right of way isn’t just for cars. It’s for people. People walk, they bike, and they drive cars. We need public service announcements that remind people that they have to share the roads. We also should be exploring design solutions.
BONNER: You increase traffic enforcement, attention to red lights, and things like that. We’re gonna have to take a long hard look at traffic patterns.
HERENTON: I’ve never seen the level of reckless driving, inappropriate driving behavior, as I’m seeing on the expressway and streets. I’m so happy to see the increased level of Highway Patrol in our city. I will support that 100 percent — to increase the presence of highway patrolmen. They do it right.
As mayor, what is a measure you would take to reduce car break-ins and theft?
TURNER: Part of addressing the issues is to not only require a permit to have a gun on your person, but require permits to have guns in your cars. Many times, they’re looking for guns and other valuables. … The uptick occurred when we allowed guns in cars without a permit, and every law enforcement person in the state was against what the assembly was doing. … You disrupt how they make money off of what they’re doing. You use good detective work, good policing to break up the chop shops.
BONNER: My wife and I’ve raised two sons in this community. We were responsible for their actions and where they were, but these young people that are out there that are breaking in cars, we’ve got to get down to the root problem of that. That could be a food issue; it could be a homeless issue. We’ve got to find out what those issues are, and then change the trajectory of those kids.
YOUNG: I had an opportunity to sit on a town hall panel with NLE Choppa a few months ago, and there was a young person who said he liked stealing cars. I asked why. He said, “I’m bored and I need some money.” Those are things we should be solving for! We have to find ways to engage youth, have them earn money, and have fun.
HERENTON: There’s some brands of cars that are [more] susceptible to car thieves than others. In fact, I think I read that our current mayor was joining with some other mayors who’re talking about suing automakers who make cars so easy to be stolen.
As mayor, what is a measure you would take to help get guns off the street?
BONNER: Aggressive policing, first of all. We’ve got to hold people accountable. But also, we’ve got to change the mindset whereby we don’t have conflict resolution anymore in the schools or anywhere. I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen with the churches and pastors, community organizations that are willing to step up now and really get the message out as to how serious this is in our city. Because a lot of time our youth don’t understand the consequences of pulling the trigger on a weapon. So when you talk about trying to get those guns out of their hands, we’ve got to find a way to talk to them and get them to understand that violence is never the answer to anything, but also holding them, again, responsible and accountable for their actions.
HERENTON: I think that the legislative body in Tennessee is going to have to exercise more accountability and responsibility as we look at gun violence and gun control. So I’m for a lot of the reform measures, but within the powers of the executive branch, which the mayor is in. We just have to operate within the confines of the Constitution and state legislature.
TURNER: Obviously, talking to the Tennessee General Assembly won’t work. When the states have failed us in the past, we’ve turned to the federal government. As a civil rights attorney, that’s what I’ll do. I will support litigation to make sure that we at least put all the issues on the table. … I will seek an injunction in federal court, and I know what would likely happen. But the important thing is that we will create a record. We will have experts who will have testimony. We’ll get all those folks on the stand who’ve been ill-affected by gun violence. And then we’ll take that record to the U.S. Congress and we’ll ask for the United States Congress and for the president to give us relief. We’ve had a ban on assault weapons before. It can happen again. We should not give up on this issue.
YOUNG: Gun buyback programs — making sure people are turning those things in. And making sure we address illegal guns. When people commit crimes with those types of weapons, we should make sure there’s a higher penalty.
Van Turner speaks at his
weekend HQ opening. (Photo: Jackson Baker)
We have reached a point in the mayoral contest that, if not yet the stretch drive itself, is about to get there.
The candidates with money are beginning to spend it on TV ads (Floyd Bonner, Paul Young, Van Turner, and J.W. Gibson all had fresh spots running last week) and yard signs (certain well-traveled thruways — think South Parkway and Walnut Grove, as two examples — are sprouting them like mushrooms). And, be advised, slickly printed mail-outs, in which the aspirants view themselves with pride and unlucky opponents with alarm, will soon be filling up your mailbox.
They’ve already gotten busy doing what, in athletic contexts, is called trash-talking. They’ve all done their calculations and have determined who among their adversaries can safely be ignored and who needs to be cut down to size.
Examples: Two weeks ago, when businessman Gibson opened his campaign headquarters, he not only boasted his own native-son credentials but was the beneficiary of a question voiced out loud by a key supporter, Reverend LaSimba Gray: “Mr. Gibson, you didn’t have to move to Memphis to run for mayor, did you?”
Gibson himself may or may not have been in on that one, but he certainly beamed to hear it said. The jibe was clearly aimed at two Gibson opponents, Bonner and Turner, both recently residents of the outer county, who had to weather a short-lived mandate from the Election Commission which, before being struck down in court, required of mayoral candidates a long-term presence within the city limits.
And on more than one occasion of late, candidate Michelle McKissack has called attention to the matter of what she — and various others — consider an undue number of inmate deaths in the county jail on Sheriff Bonner’s watch. The issue seems likely to keep on bedeviling Bonner, who, coincidentally or not, is widely considered a frontrunner in the race.
Candidate Turner, who until recently headed the local NAACP and is a former Democratic Party chair, has been making the most of his ideological convictions, and, at his weekend headquarters opening, publicly lamented what he saw as the apostasy of fellow Democrats Paul Young, the Downtown Memphis Commission CEO, and Bonner, both high-odds contenders with plenty of late-campaign cash.
“How you vote and what you’ve done in the past makes a difference,” said Turner. “We have one candidate who voted Republican at a time when we needed everybody in this country to support Hillary [Clinton]. Because we did not support Hillary we have a renegade Supreme Court. … I appreciate what Mr. Young has done in the city, but he was wrong on that. You have to be committed to this call and not work the other side and compromise.”
Turner’s reference was to Young’s past decision to vote in three Republican primaries, including the 2016 GOP presidential primary.
And Turner continued: “Another candidate, Mr. Floyd Bonner, has been supported by the Republican Party.” He likely was referencing the 2022 county election when Bonner, the Democratic nominee, was unopposed by the GOP and endorsed by key local Republicans.
The upshot, according to Turner: “We cannot allow this opportunity to take Memphis forward to take us back. We need progressives working for this city and working to make the city better.” “… And working to help me win,” was the unspoken quiet part.
Reverend Earle Fisher with mayoral candidates Van Turner and Paul Young at the People’s Convention (Photo: Facebook | People’s Convention)
As the recent nonstop turbulent weather subsided somewhat, last weekend saw the culmination of candidate endorsements by the People’s Convention, a citizens movement of some years’ standing, with roots in the inner city and among progressives. That turned out to be a mano a mano between NAACP president Van Turner, the early favorite of Democrats and progressives, and Paul Young, the Downtown Memphis Commission CEO who has undeniable momentum (and cash reserves) feeding his goal of across-the-board support.
Despite a stem-winding address to the 300 or so attendees by Turner in which the candidate recounted his many services in his NAACP work, as a county commissioner, as a Democrat, and as a prime mover in the removal of Confederate memorabilia Downtown, the win went to Young, the election season’s most unstinting mayoral aspirant, who focused his remarks on his past services as a workhorse in city and county government, which, he said, had garnered support for such community additives as the Memphis Sports and Events Center at Liberty Park itself, where the People’s Convention was being held this year under the direction of the Reverend Earle Fisher.
Fisher has in recent years revived the convention, which had first been held in 1991 and had been a force that year in the election of Willie Herenton as the city’s first Black mayor. Ironically, Fisher on last Saturday would chastise both Herenton, a mayoral candidate again, and Sheriff Floyd Bonner, another aspirant, for their no-shows this year at the People’s Convention.
Bonner had opted instead for a well-attended forum on women’s issues, being held simultaneously at the IBEW building on Madison under the auspices of the Democratic Women of Shelby County. Eight other mayoral contenders also participated in that event.
The mayoral-preference vote at the People’s Convention last Saturday was 224 for Young and 116 for Turner, and owed much to the disproportionate sizes of the supportive claque each brought with him.
Other Convention preferences were for Jerri Green in council District 2; Pearl Walker in District 3; Meggan Kiel in District 5; Michalyn Easter-Thomas in District 7; JB Smiley Jr. in Super District 8, Position 1; Janika White in Super District 8, Position 2; Jerred Price in Super District 8, Position 3; and Benji Smith in Super District 9, Position 1.
• Later last Saturday night (actually early Sunday morning), a massive and unruly crowd materialized in Downtown Memphis, resulting in shots being fired. Eight victims were injured, and an MPD officer was roughed up by out-of-control youths.
The event illuminated the issue of crime as a dominant motif in this year’s election. Mayoral candidates Bonner and Herenton especially have emphasized the importance of the issue and their determination to deal with it.
Fisher would also weigh in on the matter, condemning the violence but calling for long-term community-based alternatives to repressive-suppressive techniques for crime control. (Of note to Flyer readers: This week’s cover story by Chris McCoy also considers such alternatives.)
As a kind of footnote to things, the Shelby County Commission last Monday considered, but deferred for two weeks, action on proposals for restrictions on preemptive traffic stops and use of specialized units by the Sheriff’s Department.
Similar curbs were recently imposed on the MPD by the city council.
Floyd Bonner, here receiving Sheriff of the Year award last week from Tennessee Sheriffs’
Association, is one of several mayoral candidates hopeful of getting GOP votes in October. (Photo: Courtesy Floyd Bonner)
UPDATED: As is generally known, Memphis city elections are not subject to partisan voting. There are no primaries allowing our local Republicans and Democrats to nominate a candidate to carry the party banner.
Nor, in the case of citywide office (mayor or council super districts 8 and 9), does there exist machinery for a runoff election when no candidate for those offices commands a majority of the general election vote.
There are runoff circumstances for districts 1 through 7, each of them a single district contributing to the pastiche of city government, by electing, in effect, a council member to serve a smaller geographical area or neighborhood.
The aforementioned super districts encompass the entire city. Each of them, in theory, represents a half of the city’s population — the western half being predominantly Black, as of 1991, when the first super-district lines were drawn, the eastern half being largely white. (Though population has meanwhile shifted, those distinctions are still more or less accurate.)
Runoffs are prohibited in the super districts as well as in mayoral elections in the city at large because, in the Solomonic judgment of the late U.S. District Judge Jerome Turner, who devised this electoral system in response to citizen litigation, that’s how things should be divided in order to recognize demographic realities while at the same time discouraging efforts to exploit them.
Each citizen of Memphis gets to vote for four council members, one representing the single district of their residence, the other three representing the half of the city in which their race is predominant. Runoffs are permitted in the smaller single districts, where racial factors do not loom either divisive or decisive, while they are prohibited in the larger areas, where, in theory, voters of one race could rather easily league together to elect one of their own (as whites commonly did in the historic past).
Mayoral elections are winner-takes-all, and Willie Herenton’s victory in 1991 as the first elected Black mayor is regarded as having been a vindication of the system.
Got all that?
Yes, it’s a hodgepodge, but it’s what we’ve still got, even though Blacks, a minority then, are a majority now. And, in fact, race is irrelevant in the 2023 mayor’s race, there being no white candidate still participating with even a ghost of a chance of winning.
Political party is the major remaining “it” factor, and the failure of either party to call for primary voting in city elections has more or less nullified it as a direct determinant of the outcome.
But, with the withdrawal last week from the mayoral race of white Republican candidates Frank Colvett and George Flinn, speculation has become rampant as to who, among the nominal Democrats still in the race, might inherit the vote of the city’s Republicans.
Sheriff Floyd Bonner, whose law-and-order posture is expected to appeal to the city’s conservatives?
Downtown Memphis Commission CEO Paul Young, who has several prior Republican primary votes on his record in non-city elections?
Businessman J.W. Gibson, who once was a member of the local Republican steering committee?
Only NAACP president Van Turner and former Mayor Herenton, among serious candidates, are exempt from such speculation, both regarded as being dyed-in-the-wool Democrats.
In a close election, the disposition of the Republican vote, estimated to be 24 percent of the total, could be crucial.
Several polls of varying reliability have been circulated so far on the subject of the 2023 Memphis mayor’s race. The latest one surfaced last week in the form of an online video released by ex-Memphian Josh Thomas, now a Nashville consultant working on behalf of the mayoral race of Memphis City Councilman Frank Colvett Jr.
The results of that poll, available for examination on Colvett’s Facebook page, are somewhat startling and out of sync with several other surveys conducted earlier by avowedly neutral sources.
The new poll shows former Mayor Willie Herenton leading with 17 percent approval from those polled and Colvett, along with Downtown Memphis Commission CEO Paul Young, tied for second with 14 percent, with no other results indicated for any other candidates.
In previously circulated polls, Colvett had been buried in the single digits along with several other also-rans. To be sure, candidate Young, generally acknowledged these days to have a strong and possibly surging campaign, had also been in the lower digits in those early polls. And Herenton’s numbers are consistent with those reported for him elsewhere.
On the street, Colvett’s reported numbers were greeted with a fair amount of skepticism. Can they be taken seriously? No ancillary information (number surveyed, breakdown of sample, etc.) was released with the poll, which, says Thomas in the video, was taken on July 6th and 7th. The poll was administered by Cygnal, a company described by Thomas as “the most accurate private pollster in the country.”
How private? The company says of itself: “Cygnal serves GOP campaigns, committees, caucuses, and center-right public affairs issue efforts with forward-thinking polling, analytics & targeting.” That would tie in with Colvett’s known prominence in local Republican circles. Indeed, it is generally acknowledged that his starter base is heavily Republican, and the questions have been: Can he hold that base, which is a distinct minority of the whole? And can he, as a political moderate, expand on it?
According to Thomas, those surveyed were asked, quite simply: “If the election were held today, who would you vote for?”
But a key acknowledgement by Thomas is that the question was asked after those surveyed were given “biographies” of the various candidates.
Anyone familiar with political polling would be inclined to associate that procedure with what is called a “push poll” — one which builds a desired outcome into the very form of the questioning. The idea is simple: The better the “biography,” the better the poll numbers. And the skimpier or less positive the bio, the lower would be the numbers.
If the poll is to be taken seriously, its meta-message is obvious. Just as former Mayor Herenton has an impressively locked-in base of support, there also is known to be a significant number of voters who, for fair reasons or foul, have a built-in resistance to the prospect of Herenton’s returning to power.
The Cygnal poll results imply rather directly that, if it’s Herenton you fear, Frank Colvett could be your man. Colvett himself, known to be fair-minded, and, as previously indicated, moderate, would never venture a sentiment like that directly.
Mayoral candidate
J.W. Gibson at last weekend’s Sidney Chism picnic (Photo: Jackson Baker)
Businessman J.W. Gibson is reportedly getting ready to retool his mayoral campaign with help from veteran political consultant Susan Adler Thorp. Polls indicate that Gibson’s campaign has never really gotten off the ground. Nor has his initial slogan suggesting that Memphis needs a “new tune.”
And the professional respect Gibson enjoys as a result of his long-term philanthropic and developmental activities has not been general enough to have earned him much name recognition with the public. Despite a distinguished and vaguely mayoral appearance, he has also struggled to stand out at the many collective forums and meet-and-greets he has been a presence at.
With just under four months left before election day, Gibson, who has abundant private resources, could still make an impact, but only if he finds a viable message and can popularize it. Almost uniquely in the crowded mayoral field, he has expressed openness to the idea of a possible property tax increase.
• Among observers who are closely following the mayoral race, there is a difference of opinion as to whether there are three main contenders so far — Sheriff Floyd Bonner, Downtown Memphis Commission CEO Paul Young, and NAACP president and former County Commissioner Van Turner — or four —those three, plus former longtime Mayor Willie Herenton.
Everyone acknowledges that Herenton, who has led at least one unofficial poll, has a dependable voting bloc, based on his long mayoral tenure and, especially, his precedent-establishing 1991 victory as the city’s first elected Black chief executive. Some wonder if his budget, expected to be minimal, will allow for a serious stretch run.
Bonner and Young won’t have such worries. Both have cash-on-hand holdings in the vicinity of half a million dollars. And Turner, whose purse at this point is roughly a third of that amount, has a long-established base of dependable supporters.
• As has long been expected, former City Councilman Berlin Boyd has pulled a petition to run for the open Super District 8, Position 3, seat held for the past two terms by Council Chairman Martavius Jones, who is term-limited.
Boyd’s name had also turned up on the petition list for Super District 8, Position 1 — something the once and possibly future councilman attributes to an error by one of his staff members. Boyd says he never had any intention of running against the 8-1 incumbent, JB Smiley, a friend, and he has done the paperwork to nullify that prospect. (He also denies a previously published report that he might take another crack at District 7, currently occupied by Michalyn Easter-Thomas, who in 2019 ousted then-incumbent Boyd in a runoff.)
Boyd has, however, considered the “back-up” idea of running for Super District 8, Position 2, a seat being eyed by several others, who take seriously a rumor that incumbent Cheyenne Johnson will not end up being a candidate for re-election. But, he says, “I’m 99 percent sure I’ll be running for Position 3.” Eight other people have so far pulled petitions for Position 3.
• The aforementioned Smiley is one of four current holders of super district seats who, as of early this week, did not yet have declared opposition. The other fortunate ones were Chase Carlisle in Super District 9, Position 1, Ford Canale in 9-2, and Jeff Warren in 9-3.
Host Sidney Chism, here with Police Director C.J. Davis, presided at his annual political picnic on Saturday. (Photos: Jackson Baker)
Saturday saw the latest installation of longtime political figure Sidney Chism’s annual picnic, a fixture on the election landscape for a generation. The event, held at park grounds off Horn Lake Road, draws candidates, observers, political junkies, and kids of all ages. It’s a can’t-miss.
Here are some of the scenes from this year’s picnic, captured before the rains came in early afternoon. Several late arrivals, including a majority of the candidates running for mayor, came, were seen, and hoped to conquer, but are not pictured.
Host Sidney Chism greets District 3 Council candidate Yolanda Cooper-Sutton from his cart.Mayoral candidate J.W. Gibson at Chism picnicMayoral candidate Paul Young greets employees of register’s office at Chism picnic.District 3 Council candidate Pearl Walker at Chism picnicDistrict 3 Council candidate Towanna Murphy at Chism picnicDistrict 3 Council candidate James Kirkwood at Chism picnicDA Steve Mulroy schmoozing at Chism picnicKevin Carter and David Upton at Chism picnic
