Memphis City Council member Worth Morgan says his exploratory campaign for Shelby County Mayor is now official – he is running in the May 2022 Republican primary to challenge Democratic Mayor Lee Harris.

With an email announcement Monday, Oct. 11, Morgan said, “while other communities around the country have thrived, Shelby County has settled for less than the status quo.

“You and I both know that we deserve better,” he added. “I love this community, but too many of its challenges are going unaddressed or are being met with half-hearted solutions.”

Morgan’s appointment of a campaign treasurer earlier this year launched his exploratory campaign.

Candidates in the May county primaries cannot begin pulling and filing qualifying petitions with the Shelby County Election Commission until Dec. 20.

Harris appointed his campaign treasurer for a 2022 re-election bid in 2019 – a year into his current four-year term of office. But he has not formally kicked off his re-election campaign to date.

Meanwhile, Ken Moody, a special assistant to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, announced last month that he is exploring a challenge of Harris in the Democratic primary.

Shelby County commissioner Van Turner had been looking at a bid for county mayor in the Democratic primary but only if Harris did not seek a second term.

Turner announced earlier this year that he is instead exploring a bid for Memphis mayor in 2023 under the assumption that Harris will run again for county mayor.