Unsurprisingly, there were no surprises in the 2011 Memphis city election— unless you count the apparent irrelevance of Mayor A C Wharton’s maiden effort at a Ford-style coattails ballot. Otherwise, the mayor — who breezed to an easy 2-to-1 victory over his closest opponent, former city councilman Edmund Ford Sr, and eight other opponents — had no worries.
Neither did any of the other incumbents who had opposition — including councilwoman Janis Fullilove in Super-District 8, Position 2, who was opposed by the much touted minister/activist Roslyn Nichols, a Wharton endorsee. Fullilove won over Nichols and two other opponents by a comfortable 57.83 percent margin.
Another Wharton endorsee, University of Memphis law professor Lee Harris, ran neck-to-neck in District 7 with Kemba Ford, the daughter of former state Senator John Ford, who is currently languishing in a federal prison in Mississippi but was surely following the election returns with some degree of vicarious pride for his daughter, a sometime actress and political neophyte.
Ford and Harris, who had an abundance of other establishment support besides that of the mayor, will now vie in a runoff. The rest of a large field of aspirants — including Michael Steven Moore, son of the district’s former councilwoman, Barbara Swearengen Ware — trailed far behind the two leading contenders.in a race that became wide open earlier this year when Ware retired upon accepting a sentence for official misconduct. District 7’s was the only open Council seat on the ballot.
The other Wharton endorsees were all incumbents who won but were expected to anyhow.
But if the mayor could boast no clear-cut results for his endorsements, neither could organized labor, which also tried its hand at influencing outcomes — notably on mayoral candidate Ford’s behalf, due to Wharton’s support for cuts in employee pay and benefits at budget time, and in the race of IBEW business agent Paul Shaffer against incumbent Kemp Conrad in Super Distict 9, Position 1.
Conrad, another 2-to-1 winner, had called for privatizing city sanitation services during the spring’s budget battles and, as a result, was bitterly opposed by the city employees’ unions.
If the senior Edmund Ford had little luck on election day, his son, councilman Ed Ford Jr., was more fortunate, easily winning reelection with a near two-thirds majority over several opponents in District 6.
In other results:
Incumbent Bill Morrison defeated Kendridck Sneed in Council Distrrict 1 by a 2-1 ratio.
Incumbent Bill Boyd defeated Sylvia Cox 3 to 1 in District 1, thereby avenging her victory over him in a 2007 race for the erstwhile Memphis Charter Commission.
Incumbent Wanda Halbert won reelection in District 4 over three opponents with 65 percent of the total vote.
Incumbent councilman Joe Brown won 77 percent over two opponents in Dis trict 8, Position 1.
Incumbent Shea Flinn defeated contender James A. Sdoia by 4-to=1 in District 9, Position 2.
City Court Clerk Thomas Long defeated two opponents with the same 65 percent share of the total vote as several other incumbent winners.
Winning their races without opposition were Council members Harold Collins in District 3; Jim Strickland in District 5; Myron Lowery in Super District 8, Position 3; and Reid Hedgepeth in Super District 9, Position 3. Other unopposed winners were City Court Judges Earnestine Dorse, Division 1; Tarik Sugarmon, Division 2; and Jayne Chandler, Division 3.
The easy run for all the incumbents may have owned something to the name-recognition factor, always a telling advantage in a low-turnout election like that of 2011. Election totals indicated that the percentage of registered voters taking part in 2011 was in the mid-teens — reportedly 18 percent — a possible record low for a regularly scheduled city election.
Surprise visitors to Wharton’s victory celebration Thursday night offeriung their congratulations, were Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell and Governor Bill Haslam — a fact underscoring the heightened degree of cooperation that has existed among the three officials, particularly with respect to industrial recruitment issues.
COMPLETE RETURNS, RACE BY RACE
(winners in bold)
Memphis Mayor – 178 of 178 Precincts
LEO AWGOWHAT 140, 0 %
JAMES R BARBEE 310, 0 %
CARLOS F BOYLAND 169, 0 %
EDMUND H FORD SR 20745, 28 %
JAMES HARVEY SR 2039, 2 %
ROBERT HODGES 748, 1 %
DEWAYNE DEA JONES 79, 0 %
MARTY MERRIWEATHER 439, 0 %
KENNETH B ROBINSON 769, 1 %
AC WHARTON JR 48443, 65 %
WRITE-IN 159, 0 %
City Council District 1 – 24 of 24 Precincts
BILL MORRISON 4905, 64 %
KENDRICK D SNEED 2637, 34 %
WRITE-IN 23, 0 %
City Council District 2 – 25 of 25 Precincts
BILL BOYD 7170, 74 %
SYLVIA COX 2391M 24 %
WRITE-IN 36, 0 %
City Council District 3 – 22 of 22 Precincts
HAROLD COLLINS 6720, 98 %
WRITE-IN 86, 1 %
City Council District 4 – 25 of 25 Precincts
WANDA HALBERT 6018, 64 %
LOUIS MO,RGANFIELD 688 7 %
MICHELLE E SMITH 1876, 20 %
GEORGE WALKER 672, 7 %
WRITE-IN 31, 0 %
City Council District 5 – 33 of 33 Precincts
JIM STRICKLAND 10187 ,99 %
WRITE-IN 91, 0 %
City Council District 6 – 26 of 26 Precincts
CLARA FORD 1658, 12 %
EDMUND FORD JR 8606, 63 %
RHODA MAYS STIGALL 1123, 8 %
SHARON A WEBB 2070 15 %
WRITE-IN 24, 0 %
City Council District 7 – 29 of 29 Precincts
SCOTT BANBURY 358, 4 %
RAYMOND A BURSI 284, 3 %
EVELYN FIELDS 197, 2 %
KEMBA FORD (tie) 1979, 24 %
ERSKINE B GILLESPIE 493, 5 %
LEE HARRIS (tie) 1983, 24 %
JESS, JEFF 367 ,4 %
MICHAEL STEVEN MOORE 562, 6 %
JULIE RAY 211, 2 %
ARTIE SMITH 101, 1 %
COBY V SMITH 957, 11 %
LEANDREA RENE TAYLOR 137, 1 %
DAVID W VINCIARELLI 351, 4 %
DARRELL WRIGHT 215, 2 %
WRITE-IN 31, 0 %
City Council Super District 8 Pos 1 – 93 of 93 Precincts
JOE BROWN 27305, 77 %
MARK COLEMAN 43,28 12 %
TAMMY WARREN 3717, 10 %
WRITE-IN 107M, 0 %
City Council Super District 8 Pos 2 – 93 of 93 Precincts
MARIO DENNIS 2818, 7 %
JANIS FULLILOVE 21455, 57 %
ROSALYN R NICHOLS 9882, 26 %
ISAAC WRIGHT 2956, 7 %
WRITE-IN 59, 0 %
City Council Super District 8 Pos 3 – 93 of 93 Precincts
MYRON LOWERY 31553, 98 %
WRITE-IN 436, 1 %
City Council Super District 9 Pos 1 -88 of 88 Precincts
KEMP CONRAD 19919M, 63 %
PAUL SHAFFER 11313, 36 %
WRITE-IN 87, 0 %
City Council Super District 9 Pos 2 – 88 of 88 Precincts
GEORGE S FLINN III 24210, 80 %
JAMES A SDOIA 5668 ,18 %
WRITE-IN 92, 0 %
City Council Super District 9 Pos 3 88 -of 88 Precincts
REID HEDGEPETH 23447, 98 %
WRITE-IN 306, 1 %
City Court Judge Division 1 – 178 of 178 Precincts
EARNESTINE H DORSE 5252,6 98 %
WRITE-IN 620, 1 %
City Court Judge Division 2 0 178 of 178 Precincts
TARIK B SUGARMON 52895, 99 %
WRITE-IN 281, 0 %
City Court Judge Division – 178 of 178 Precincts
JAYNE CHANDLER 52055, 99 %
WRITE-IN 255, 0 %
City Court Clerk – 178 of 178 Precincts
BETTY BOYETTE 13385, 21 %
ANTONIO HARRIS 8016, 12 %
THOMAS LONG 40430, 65 %
WRITE-IN 153, 0 %
- JB
- Avidly following the results at A C’s election-night party were (l to r) Jeff Sanford, Clark Harris, Bobby Lanier, and Sidney Chism
