Voters in Memphis head to the polls to select mayor
Posted Oct 3, 2019 05:47:34 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Voters in Memphis, Tennessee, are deciding who will lead the city for the next four years as they cast ballots in a contentious mayor’s race.
Polls close at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the non-partisan race for mayor in this Mississippi River city.
The contest pits three leading contenders. Current Mayor Jim Strickland is trying to fend off a challenge from Willie Herenton and Tami Sawyer.
The race comes 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. Herenton dominated local politics during his 18-year reign, which 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 wants 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.
Strickland, the 55-year-old white incumbent, has helped lure economic development and defied the Tennessee legislature to help remove Confederate-era statues from city parks.
Winning over black voters is considered key. Turnout in a non-congressional, non-presidential election year is expected to be low.
Adrian Sainz, The Associated Press
