My city of 650,000 citizens will vote for Mayor, City Council, and City Court Clerk on October 4. This is the first time since 1991 that the race for Mayor may be close. Nine of Thirteen Council districts will send new members to the council. The elections are non-partisan - the Republican Party has endorsed candidates and sent out a sample ballot, the Democrats have chosen not to. (though a splinter goup has, see below)
Mayoral candidatesHis Royal Excellency, The Honourable Willie Herenton (Black D) The incumbent, our royal emperor. He will get a strong majority of the black vote, his number in the white community stand around 0%. Oddly enough, he is a nominal Democrat at best, endorsed Lamar Alexander in '02, and was rumored to support President Bush in '04. He is circulting a ballot from the "Memphis Democratic Club", a racist black splinter group, that has photos of all of the blacks that they endorse - and the only two whites on their ballot (white Dems who don't have black opponents) aren't pictured.
Councilwoman Carol Chumney (White D) The insurgent, a white female City Council woman. Totally unqualified, but beloved by white people of all ideological backgrounds because of her pale skin color. Older white Republicans think she is a Republican because she is white and because she has made a career of complaining about absolutely everything that Mayor Herenton does - though she was a long-time liberal Democrat state legislator. Because of her dominance of the white vote, she will come closest to winning the election but will hit a "glass ceiling" as white voters will only be about 40% of the electorate.
Herman Morris, former MLGW President (Normal d)An African-American democrat who can unite our community. The only candidate running for Mayor who is actually qualified for the job. He's successfully run organizations with huge staffs and budgets. Former President of Memphis Light, Gas and Water. Supported by Establishment Republicans because he's the best leader for the future of our city, and many in the Gay community because of his multi-colored campaign logo
He is at a close third place in the polls, but is the only candidate to have gained serious support in the past few weeks. Endorsed by The Commercial Appeal.
fmr. County Commissioner John Willingham Endorsed by the Republican Party, against the wishes of Party leadership. May get 2-5% of the vote. The vast majority of Republicans (about 28-30% of the city) are splitting their votes between Morris and Chumney and are mad at Willingham for further dividing the anti-Herenton vote.
City CouncilThere are numerous serious contests for City Council. Currently, there are four white Republicans, two white Democrats, and seven black Democrats on the Council. Several white Dems, emboldened by the election of Steve Cohen to Congress and Carol Chumney's success in the Mayor's race, are running with fervor. (White Dems are already over-represented in elected offices proportionate to their numbers of voters) One black Republican has a shot of making a runoff in one of the council districts.
Memphis is divided up into seven single-member districts, and then two super-districts that each encompass half of the city. Super-District 8 is the western part of the city and is virtually all black, District 9 is predominantly white. Several of the races pit multiple Republicans against multiple Democrats and most of them are up-in-the-air as to who will prevail.
