Voters in Memphis choose incumbent mayor for another term

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Incumbent Jim Strickland will get another four years to lead Memphis, Tennessee, after a big victory Thursday in the city’s race for mayor.

Strickland led by a wide margin late Thursday, with results still trickling in. Strickland’s two main opponents, Willie Herenton and Tami Sawyer, have conceded the race to Strickland.

Strickland, 55, was a City Council member before he was elected in 2015 as the first white mayor in nearly 25 years in this majority-black Mississippi River city.

Strickland likes to say, “Memphis has momentum.” During his tenure, he has helped lure economic development and defied the Tennessee legislature to help remove Confederate-era statues from city parks. He sought to add more police, repair roads, enact universal pre-K and balance budgets without raising taxes.

Strickland greatly outdistanced his opponents in fundraising, though he did not win the endorsement of the city’s fire and police unions. Herenton secured those.

The race came at an important time for Memphis, a majority-black city still grappling with economic and social inequities that existed when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated there in 1968. The downtown area has shown signs of rebirth in recent years, with businesses moving in and new hotels planned. But neighbourhoods just beyond still suffer from much of the same persistent woes King confronted a half century ago.

The 79-year-old Herenton is a former Golden Gloves boxer and educator who became the city’s first elected black mayor in 1991. Few people have more name reignition in Memphis than Herenton, who dominated local politics during his 18-year reign as mayor.

Herenton’s tenure ended amid accusations of corruption. He subsequently made a failed run for Congress in 2010.

Sawyer is a 37-year-old social activist and Shelby County commissioner who sought to become Memphis’ first female mayor. She also is African American. Sawyer has challenged a political establishment she says has contributed to economic inequality, rampant blight and racial division.