In a formally nonpartisan mayoral race that has so far not summoned up much overt political ideology, one candidate has opted to make a direct appeal to a partisan segment of the electorate.
Van Turner, head of the local NAACP and a former chairman of the Shelby County Commission, made a bare-bones tweet on Wednesday: “It is a nonpartisan election, but I will never run from being a Progressive or a Democrat. I might be a little to the left, but I’m on the right side of the issues.”
Turner’s political predilections have never been a secret, but his timing is significant.
The candidate’s tweet was dispatched at a point in the mayor’s race that is picking up steam and sees a multitude of candidates hoping to get a lion’s share of the turnout from specific voter groups.
As last year’s Shelby County general election indicated, the local electorate is heavily Democratic, and Democrats essentially swept all contested positions last August.
Democrats are even more clearly a majority of the city vote, though the percentage of those voters who would specifically call themselves “progressive” is more limited — probably ranging only slightly upward of 10 percent. But in an election in which multiple candidates are making appeals to a variety of demographic groups, the voting of specific blocs is likely to be highly fragmented.
Turner has done well in such polling as been done so far, sharing the lead with Sheriff Floyd Bonner and former Mayor Willie Herenton. Other candidates hope to do well with those voters who lean Democratic, including fundraising leader Paul Young, the CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, School Board member Michelle McKissack, and businessman J.W. Gibson.
By making a direct pitch to the city’s Democrats and to the highly activist sub-group of declared progressives, whom he can target with fundraising appeals, Turner clearly hopes to edge ahead by setting himself apart from candidates whose focus is to a more generalized constituency.
