Just before turning in his qualifying petition Friday, Jan. 21, to get on the May county primary ballot, Shelby County mayoral challenger Ken Moody made an adjustment to the ballot.

With a few flicks on an ink pen, he scratched out the middle initial “S.” in his name at the top of the petition.

So he will appear on the May Democratic primary ballot as Kenneth Moody.

Moody is the first of the three contenders to file.

Political Roundup: Sugarmon opens for Juvenile Court Judge as races heat up

Incumbent Democratic Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris still has a petition out as does Memphis City Council member Worth Morgan, who is running in the companion Republican mayoral primary.

The deadline in noon Feb. 17 to file the petitions with the signatures of at least 25 Shelby County voters who either live in the county or in the County Commission district in which the candidate is running.

Early voting is April 13-28 with a May 3 election day.

The primary winners advance to the Aug. 4 county general election.

WATCH: Conversation about violent crime about to heat up

Moody said he hopes the race stays at a two-way Democratic primary contest.

“I’m hoping that’s what it is because it means it’s a one-on-one with the incumbent and myself and then the general,” he said after filing.

Moody, an assistant to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, talked about “stark differences” among him, Harris and Morgan.

Political roundup: Morgan talks differences with Harris; 3 Democratic DA contenders pledge changes

“I bring forward the plan, experience and a platform that neither of them bring,” Moody said.

He opened his bid by criticizing Harris for not doing enough about crime as county mayor — a point Morgan has also made.

Harris has said the elected Shelby County sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in county government.

“The sheriff is the law enforcer,” Moody said Friday. “But it is incumbent on the county mayor’s office to have a part in the crime plan. That’s meeting with the sheriff with the police chiefs and those mayors, putting youth programs in place, building up our communities.”

Miska Clay Bibbs, Willie Brooks target new jobs

Harris’s platform so far has been less about his first-term record and more about what he wants to do with a second term.

He has focused on changing the long-held priorities of Shelby County government to focus on issues with a national reach such as health care access and paying a living wage.

Harris hopes the county government raising its pay to that standard will encourage private businesses in the county to do the same.

There is also the county’s recent agreement with federal officials to house federal prisoners at the county corrections center.

Pay raises for corrections workers part of crime fight, Lee Harris says

In the process, the transfer of those federal prisoners closes a privately run prison. The money paid by the federal government per prisoner to county government is helping finance a pay boost that brings the pay of corrections officers to parity with deputy jailers at the county jail who work for the sheriff’s office.

“The $15 an hour is great. I think those are conversations we have to have with employers to maybe go above $15 an hour,” Moody said. “Funding MATA (Memphis Area Transit Authority), I think, is awesome. But what are the results? We should be able to get results from giving that money.”

Moody said he also plans to talk about job training and transportation initiatives for Shelby Countians to get a share of the 6,000 jobs the Ford battery and assembly plant in Haywood County is expected to bring to the region.

Ken Moody opens county mayoral campaign

As Moody was filing at the Shelby County Election Commission’s Downtown office, Eric Winston, senior pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, was filing his completed petition to run for the District 11 Shelby County Commission seat starting with the Democratic primary.

Other contenders in the Democratic primary include Shelby County Schools board member Miska Clay-Bibbs and Candice Jones.

The seat is held by Democrat Eddie Jones, who is serving his second term and by county term limits cannot seek a third consecutive term.

Jones is one of six commissioners on the 13-member body not seeking re-election this year.

New voting system in limbo as May county primaries near

He has instead pulled a petition to run in the Democratic primary for Probate Court Clerk.

Incumbent Democrat Bill Morrison has filed his qualifying petition to seek a second term.

Other contenders with petitions out in the Democratic primary are William Chism Jr. and William Stovall, who have each run several times for other clerk positions in past elections.

Field of contenders grows for May county primaries

Maerne Bernard, the retired operations chief of the Criminal Court Clerk’s office, has filed to challenge incumbent Criminal Court Clerk Heidi Kuhn in the May Democratic primary.

And Stephen Cross of Millington has pulled a petition in the Republican primary for Assessor.

Democratic incumbent Melvin Burgess Jr. is seeking a second term.

As expected, former Shelby County Commissioner Steve Basar has pulled a petition to run in the Republican primary for Trustee in a challenge of Democratic incumbent Regina Newman.