Local GOP, Democratic chairmen differ on needs in Nashville
The chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party says he didn’t see a “blue wave” of Democratic victory in the Nov. 3 election results locally.
The election saw Republicans maintain their state House seats on the edge of the county’s suburbs as the county was carried by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Marquita Bradshaw.
Chris Tutor, in calling for more Republican representation in the Shelby County delegation to the Legislature, was doubling down on the statewide GOP mantra of electing more Republicans locally to give the majority Democratic city more say in a red— or Republican — state government.
“If you really want to make that better — if you want to prioritize that and ensure that Memphis has a bigger voice, you don’t vote Democrat in a local race because they have no power in Nashville,” Tutor said on the WKNO Channel 10 program “Behind The Headlines.”
Tennessee state House Speaker Cameron Sexton, House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison and Republican U.S. Senate nominee and Sen.-elect Bill Hagerty made the same call specifically to Shelby County voters during the general election campaign.
Republicans have super majorities in the state House and the state Senate as well as holding the governor’s mansion and both U.S. Senate seats.
“They are a tiny minority,” Tutor said of Democrats in the Tennessee Legislature. “There’s going to be six Democratic state senators. Instead, you vote to increase the Republican delegation. You vote to return strong state representatives like Mark White back to Nashville who has a lot of influence and power and you shore that up.”
White, the chairman of the House education committee, overcame a strong challenge by Democratic contender Jerri Green Tuesday to win another two-year term. And Republican John Gillespie beat Democrat Gabby Salinas by a narrow margin for the open state House seat that Republican Jim Coley is leaving.
Meanwhile, another suburban state House seat stayed Democrat with incumbent Dwayne Thompson winning a third term easily over Republican challenger Patti Possel.
In 10 years of Republican majorities in the state Senate and state House, the Legislature has at times passed legislation specifically to block local government actions taken in Memphis and at other times has passed legislation that applies specifically to Memphis.
Tutor’s push drew a strong pushback from Shelby County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Harris on the same program and in a later Radio Roundtable segment of the discussion.
“The reality is that Republicans have fundamental differences and fight for things that don’t directly benefit Shelby County in a way that I think is very explicit,” Harris said on the radio segment.
“When it comes to what we want to do in this state, things are not being done to target the specific issues in Shelby County like they could be,” he said. “We don’t need an all-Republican leadership team deciding what needs to happen in Shelby County. We need Democrats because we see things different. Democrats on the ground are representing the communities where we struggle the most. Republicans just aren’t.”
“The reality is that Republicans have fundamental differences and fight for things that don’t directly benefit Shelby County in a way that I think is very explicit,” said Shelby County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Harris. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Local Republicans also have a history of not fielding any candidates in their primaries for majority Democratic state House and state Senate seats in the Shelby County delegation to the Tennessee Legislature.
Democratic state Sen. Sara Kyle of Memphis won re-election without any Republican opposition. That was also the case for seven of the nine Democratic state representatives in Memphis districts.
The two exceptions were Democratic state Rep. Barbara Cooper, who easily defeated Republican challenger Rob White, and the District 90 race won by Democrat Torrey Harris over incumbent John DeBerry, who ran as an independent.
Democrats fielded candidates in 13 of the 14 state House races within Shelby County. The only exception was in District 99, where Republican incumbent Tom Leatherwood ran unopposed in the general election.
In 2018, Democrats made a point of fielding candidates in every race for the Tennessee Legislature in the county as well as all 13 Shelby County commission seats and every countywide position on the ballot.
“Behind the Headlines” is hosted by Eric Barnes of The Daily Memphian. It airs on WKNO Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m. It can also be seen on the Behind the Headlines Podcast.
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Behind The Headlines 2020 Elections Chris Tutor Michael HarrisBill Dries on demand
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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