Tag: Torrey Harris

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Politics Politics Feature

Moving the Goalposts

Current boundaries of the 9th Congressional District (Photo: Wikipedia)

Among the several factors that may change the political map, in Tennessee as elsewhere, are the numbers from the 2020 census. As a result of them, the dimensions of numerous governmental districts are due to change — with effects highly noticeable in Shelby County and West Tennessee.

Both the 9th Congressional District, which includes most of Memphis and is currently represented by Democrat Steve Cohen, and the 8th Congressional District, which contains a key sliver of East Memphis and is represented by Republican David Kustoff, will have to expand their boundaries to approximate the average district population in Tennessee, which the Census Bureau found to be 767,871.

Inasmuch as the 2020 population of the 9th District was certified as 690,749, and that of the 8th District as 716,347, both West Tennessee districts will need to stretch their limits. The 9th District actually lost 14,376 people from its 2010 population of 705,125, a diminishment of 2 percent. The 8th, by contrast, grew by 11,227 people from 705,120, a gain of 1.6 percent. But, since both districts fell below the stage growth average of 8.49 percent, their boundaries will expand.

New configurations will occur elsewhere in the state, as well — particularly in Middle Tennessee, where several districts that experienced population booms in the last decade will have to shrink. The state’s population as a whole is now reckoned at 6.91 million, representing an increase of something like 564,000 people in a decade. But Tennessee’s growth pattern still lagged behind the national average, so Tennessee will continue with its current lineup of nine congressional seats with no additional seats added.

Again, both the 8th and 9th Districts in Tennessee will have to grow geographically to catch up with the state average of population per district. That will undoubtedly cause some tension and horse-trading as state lawmakers, who must make the determination of new district lines for congressional and state offices, set to the task, which has a deadline of April 7, 2022. (In the case of local government districts, for commission, council, and school districts, the deadline is January 1, 2022.)

The situation recalls a previous significant change in the boundaries of Districts 8 and 9 that occurred in 2011 after the 2010 census. That reapportionment process was the first overseen by a Republican legislative majority, and it resulted in the surrender of a prize hunk of donor-rich East Memphis turf from Cohen’s 9th District to the 8th. Cohen was compensated by territory to the north of Shelby County in Millington.

Given the fact of continued GOP dominance of the General Assembly, the valuable East Memphis salient is liable to stay in Kustoff’s 8th District. The 9th will have to expand somewhere else in the 8th District, which surrounds it — a fact that creates a whack-a-mole situation for Kustoff, who’ll have to compensate, possibly from the adjoining 7th District.

Meanwhile, several legislative districts in Shelby County are seriously under-strength in relation to average statewide population figures. These include state Senate districts 29, 30, and 33 — now held by Democrats Raumesh Akbari, Sara Kyle, and Katrina Robinson, respectively — and state House Districts 86, 90, 91, and 93 — represented currently by Democrats Barbara Cooper, Torrey Harris, London Lamar, and G.A. Hardaway, respectively.

Significant changes are likely to occur also in legislative reapportionment, possibly in the loss of a seat or two in Shelby County.

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Politics Politics Feature

Beyond the Party Line

Servers at Saturday’s “Elephants in the Park” homeless feed. (Naser Fazlullah front and center, with shades on) (Photo: Kristina Garner)

Political parties, as is surely no secret, are constantly looking for converts, and, to that end, normally have what is designated as an “outreach” officer or branch.

The Shelby County Republican Party, which in recent years has lost a shade of its former demographic edge, has one of the best and most effective outreach officials in Naser Fazlullah, a native of Bangladesh and a small business owner who, in the 20 years or so of his American experience, has employed his natural enthusiasm and work ethic to forge ties and friendships across all sorts of boundaries, political and otherwise.

A case in point was an event he conceived and brought to fruition on Saturday at Morris Park on the edge of Downtown. Called “Elephants in the Park,” it had cadres of the local Republican party working side by side with off-duty judges, members of law enforcement, and community activists like Stevie Moore, founder of Freedom From Unnecessary Negatives (FFUN), a renowned anti-violence group — all toiling at food tables handing out meal boxes (fish, spaghetti, fries, coleslaw) to a population of hungry Memphians recruited from three local homeless agencies, an estimated 300 people before the day was over. The food came from both Fazlullah’s own Whitehaven restaurant and from other donors.

Politics, as such, figured not at all. The idea was to make people-to-people connections, for the sake not merely of the beneficiaries but of the servers who worked for the day on their behalf — like John Niven, a veteran GOP activist who commented, “I’ve never done anything that made me feel as good as this did. The homeless basically don’t vote, and those who do probably vote Democratic, but so what?”

• The most common political name right now? That’s an easy one. It’s “Harris.” There’s Lee Harris (county mayor); Sheleah Harris (school board); Michael Harris (Shelby County Democratic Party’s chairman); and Linda Harris (candidate for district attorney general).

And, of course, there’s Kamala Harris (vice president of the United States).

The one who was on display Monday morning at The Hub in East Memphis (to a group of politically astute ladies calling themselves “Voices of Reason”) was Torrey Harris, first-term state representative for House District 90.

State Rep. Harris discussed with a rapt audience the ins and outs of how Democrats struggle to make their influence felt in the supermajority Republican legislature. His auditors were especially interested in — and aggrieved by — the majority’s passage in the last session of a bill outlawing the teaching in the state’s public schools of “critical race theory,” which, as Harris noted, is (a) not taught in the public schools, and (b) is the GOP’s catchphrase for attempts to deal honestly with the nation’s racial history.

Running as a Democrat last year, Harris had defeated former state Representative John DeBerry, whose long-term sympathy with Republican positions caused the denial of his right to run under the Democratic party label.

The defeated DeBerry, who ended up running as an independent, was rewarded by GOP Governor Bill Lee with a well-paid job as gubernatorial advisor, and one of the ex-Democrat’s main functions, Harris explained, is — wait for it — that of liaison with the House’s Democratic members.

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Defrocked Democrat John Deberry Stars at GOP Event

CREDIT: Connie McCarter

Connie McCarter

DeBerry with Republican well-wishers

It isn’t often in an election year that a prominent declared Democrat becomes the star at an official Republican event, but that’s what happened this week when John DeBerry headed the card at a Republican rally at local GOP headquarters.

It should be remembered, of course, that DeBerry, who has represented state House District 90 in the legislature for 26 years, was formally booted off the party ballot earlier this year by the state Democratic executive committee. His offense? Years of alleged over-coziness with Republicans, especially in support of their positions on social issues such as abortion.

There is no great surprise, therefore, that DeBerry’s cause would have been taken up by Republicans. He is running for reelection as an independent, but is regarded as something of a lion by the GOP.

Hence his getting top billing at a candidate event of the East Shelby Republican Club Tuesday night. Others appearing included Patricia Possel, the party’s nominee in House District 96 and Rob White, running in District 86.

In his remarks, DeBerry clung to the identity of independent, explaining the background of his status this way: “I’m running as an independent not because the folks in my district didn’t qualify me to run. They did. Not because they hadn’t voted for me 13 times. They had. Not because they didn’t know what I was saying before. They’ve known that since 1995. But because … a group of people, many of whom have never set foot in District 90 in their lives, sat in a zoom meeting in the middle of a pandemic, [and] with 48 hours notice … removed a 26-year-incumbent from the ballot.”

He enlarged upon that point while engaging in some media-bashing: “It’s not whether or not you are Democrat or Republican, or whether you like the president or you like the challenger, but what the media has been able to do is take our eyes off the prize, what is important, the principles that are important, that made this nation in the first place — the principles that made us great, that gave us a great economy, that gave us freedom.”

Elaborating further, he underscored his anti-abortion position: “The media has been able to make us stupid, to the extent that we’re not looking at what’s really important. What’s important. What’s important is whether or not we protect life, whether an unborn child has the constitutional right to be born to take his or her first breath as a human being. I’ve always wondered how a human male and a human female can get together and have something that is not human.”

And, without specifying anybody in particular, DeBerry warned of candidates who held social and political ideas antithetical to his own. “What do these people stand for?” he asked. “What do they stand for? Are they murdering babies? Are they destroying the institution of marriage? Are they allowing those who refuse to obey the law to have more protection of the law than everybody else? Are they removing our First and Second Amendment rights?”

Clearly, DeBerry, a businessman (marketing, advertising, and public relations) and minister, is hopeful of compensating for his lack of a party label on November 3rd by putting together votes from independents and Republicans, in addition to those Democrats who remain loyal to him. He is opposed by Democratic nominee Torrey Harris, who is counting on the support of the party faithful.

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Politics Politics Feature

Candidates for Senate and State House are Running Hard

On the surface of things, Nashville physician Manny Sethi, GOP primary candidate for the U.S. Senate seat that incumbent Republican Lamar Alexander is vacating this year, would seem to have a long row to hoe.

Sethi, an orthopedic trauma surgeon and the son of Indian immigrants, is matched in his party’s primary against a candidate, former ambassador and state cabinet officer Bill Hagerty, who not only carries the endorsement of President Donald Trump, he was hand-picked by Trump to run for the office before he’d even announced.

Nevertheless, Sethi (a self-professed conservative, like all Republican hopefuls these days) is running hard and, in what had become a pandemic-quietened political environment, has resumed making himself visible to voters. He has begun running television ads, and last week he was on a tear — making house calls, as it were — from the state’s far eastern corner to Shelby County.

He arrived at 7:30 Saturday night at his newly opened headquarters in Cordova, to be greeted by a sizable crowd, many of whose members were wearing face masks. For those who weren’t, Sethi had a generous number of his own masks to pass out — red ones bearing his name and the office he sought.

He did not wear one himself, however — though, when speaking to the crowd, he kept an approximate version of the recommended six-foot distance. All thoughts of distancing vanished, however, as he worked his way through the crowd, pressing the flesh.

Among those traveling with Sethi was Chris Devaney, who was Governor Bill Lee’s campaign manager during his successful 2018 campaign and had served Lee subsequently as a cabinet officer. Devaney resigned that post to become campaign chairman for Sethi.

Sethi has the support of other well-known Republicans, including former congressman and gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp of Chattanooga and Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul, a former presidential candidate.

Paul’s endorsement statement struck a note that, implicitly perhaps, sums up Sethi’s campaign approach: “Tennessee deserves a true conservative who supports President Trump, is pro-liberty, and will fight out-of-control federal spending. I believe Dr. Manny is the right choice. Like me, he’s a physician, not another politician. We need more outsiders in Washington, and I’m proud to endorse him. …”

Meanwhile, the race for District 90 of the state House of Representatives is heating up. This is the position held for 26 years as Democrat by incumbent John DeBerry. DeBerry, whose close ties to Republican legislators and support for GOP policies had alienated numerous of his fellow Democrats over the years, was formally dumped from party ranks by a majority vote of the state Democratic committee back in April.

DeBerry’s exclusion occurred late enough to prevent his filing for re-election as a Republican (though he progressed no desire to change his party affiliation in any case), and the favorite in the race seemed to be Torrey Harris, a human resources officer with Shelby County government and the recipient of a good deal of support from the county’s Democratic establishment. 

Harris is not alone in the Democratic primary race, however. His two opponents there — Anya Parker and Catrina Smith — are both running hard, aided by mailers, billboards, yard signs, and other campaign paraphernalia. Parker is a salon owner, author, and executive director of Women of Brown. Smith teaches at Southwest Community College and boasts in her advertising an endorsement from TV judge Greg Mathis.

All the candidates bear watching — and none more so than the renascent DeBerry, whose ability to run for re-election was revived by a piece of legislation in the past session of the General Assembly. The measure allows an incumbent denied his party’s imprimatur (read: DeBerry) the opportunity to file as a candidate for the other party if 90 days or more away from a primary or as an independent if 90 days or more away from a general election.

DeBerry qualifies under the latter stipulation and has announced his candidacy for re-election as an independent. Given the name-recognition factor, his bid has to be reckoned as a serious one.

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Politics Politics Feature

Looking Ahead to 2020 Elections

The elections of 2020 are just around the corner. Chief interest right now, and likely to remain so for a while, is the race for president, of course. Just under 20 active candidates remain in the Democratic field, and some 12 of them — including newcomer Tom Steyer, he of the billlion-dollar war chest and two years’ worth of pro-impeachment commercials — were holding forth on a nationally televised debate stage in Ohio this week.

President Donald Trump, looking to his re-election, still reigns supreme among Republicans, though he has drawn a surprising number of challengers in his party, including, to date, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, former Congressman and Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, and former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh. It is a bit chancey to call these gents “primary challengers,” though, in that slavishly loyal GOP state organizations are canceling their scheduled 2020 presidential primaries about as fast as these challengers have announced themselves.

Torrey Harris

Statewide, Tennesseans will be eyeing the race to succeed Lamar Alexander, who is retiring from the U.S. Senate. Most attention so far has been focused on the Republican contest between former state economic development commissioner and ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty, who has what would appear to be an outright endorsement from Trump (who announced Hagerty’s Senate bid) and Manny Sethi, a Nashville physician and author of books on medicine. 

Lest one be skeptical of Sethi’s chances, it should be recalled that former Senator Bill Frist, also of Nashville, managed a similar leap from medicine into politics back in 1994. Ultimately, transplant surgeon Frist would decide he’d had enough of Washington, but he had managed to become Senate Majority Leader before that final change of heart.

A Memphian, Marquita Bradshaw, is the latest declared Democratic candidate for the Senate seat. Bradshaw is a board member of the state Sierra Club and has worked for the American Federation of Government employees and the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center. She joins in the Democratic race James Mackler, the Nashville attorney and Iraq War vet who has been running ever since the close of the 2018 election season.

Mackler, it will be remembered, had declared for the Senate seat vacated last year by Republican Bob Corker but stepped aside to make room for former Governor Phil Bredesen, who lost decisively to the GOP’s Marsha Blackburn. (Incidentally, one signal that the president’s hold over his party could be weakening came last week from Blackburn, a Trump loyalist, who nevertheless made public her serious disagreement with the president’s decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria, leaving the Kurds, American allies, at the mercy of a Turkish invasion. Nashville, as it happens, is the location of the largest number of Kurdish émigrés anywhere in the nation.)

One legislative race in 2020 will be a reprise from 2018. Torrey Harris, a human resources administrator for the Trustee’s office,, will try again to knock off longtime state Representative John DeBerry in District 90. In his previous shot at DeBerry, Harris pulled 40 percent of the primary vote and hopes to improve on that showing this time around.

As before, Harris is pitching his appeal to mainstream Democrats irked at DeBerry’s well-established habit of voting with Republican House members on social legislation. The incumbent’s latest provocation to the regulars was his vote in the House for last session’s education voucher bill, which passed the House by the margin of a single vote.

The bill, a key part of Governor Bill Lee‘s legislative package, was rewritten several times in order to attract enough votes for passage — the last time so as to apply only to Shelby County and Davidson County (Nashville). Ultimately, the bill gained several votes from representatives who were promised that their localities would not be affected by it but was opposed by most legislators from the two counties where it applied.

Harris’ announcement statement said in part: “We need someone fighting for the hard-working people here — that means supporting the push for money for our already underfunded public schools instead of giving it away. … DeBerry could have been the vote that tied up this legislation.” Harris also promised to be “bold about human rights … LGBTQ equality, racial justice, and reproductive health justice.”