When Shelby County Republican Party Chairman Cary Vaughn showed up Sunday, March 27, at a Germantown fundraiser for Shelby County Commission candidate Jordan Carpenter, he wasn’t wearing any of Carpenter’s campaign paraphernalia.

To underscore his neutrality in the only contested Republican primary on the May county primary ballot between Carpenter and incumbent Republican Brandon Morrison, Vaughn added: “I’ve been to two (fundraisers) of hers.”

Redistricting numbers: Creating Cordova’s district and splitting Germantown

Three of the other four Republican county commissioners, however, showed up at the event specifically to endorse Carpenter over Morrison, although they never mentioned Morrison.

“Right now, we need to encourage two Democrats to join us if we’re together in order to get anything passed,” Commissioner Mick Wright said. “We have had an interesting team the last four years.”

County Commission Scorecard: Crossing party lines and a new chairman

When Morrison has parted company with the four Republicans, it’s meant they need three votes to come up with a simple majority of seven.

“I need somebody who is going to make me stronger. I don’t need to question his values,” Commissioner Amber Mills said of Carpenter. “We do have to work across the aisle. But we need that firm foundation of knowing that Republicans are standing firm on values.”

The primary battle is for the reconfigured District 4 seat that Republican Commissioner Mark Billingsley of Germantown is leaving because of term limits.

In the redistricting process, commissioners redrew their district lines to take District 4 from a predominantly Germantown district to one that takes in six of the nine Germantown precincts.

Those precincts are matched with the East Memphis precincts that had been in Morrison’s District 13.

They are the city precincts that were instrumental in Morrison’s 2018 Republican primary upset of incumbent Republican Steve Basar.

There was never any question that Morrison was going to run in the new District 4 once the lines were approved.

Moody’s friends come forward as he challenges Harris, hints at revealing memos

“I was really concerned about who might take my seat,” Billingsley said at the Sunday event.

“You’re the real deal, which is rare these days,” he said to Jordan before a crowd of 40 people.

The fourth Republican commissioner, David Bradford of Collierville, wasn’t present.

But earlier, he signed a letter along with Billingsley, Mills and Wright supporting Carpenter in his challenge.

Carpenter is critical of Morrison for not being vocal enough about the majority Democratic commission’s backing of health department directives shutting down local businesses during the COVID pandemic as well as her successful budget amendment providing county funds for the Memphis Area Transit Authority.

Crime Campaign: The search for simple answers to a complex issue

“You don’t take money from one fund that is designated for one thing and send it to this solution that doesn’t work,” he said. “You don’t take county taxpayer money and send it to a Memphis city agency. They are not using the money that they already have correctly.”

Morrison has also called for Gov. Bill Lee to expand Medicaid to those uninsured and urged Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Michelle Taylor to push Lee for such an expansion.

She has said the differences with her Republican colleagues on the commission is a difference between Republicans within the city of Memphis and the Republican base in the six suburban towns and cities within Shelby County.

“I am not a partisan hack. But those principles that form the foundation of the Republican party really mean a lot,” said Carpenter, who also lives in Memphis. “The principles are what divide me and my opponent. The principles undergird my conservative values.”

The Safest Incumbent

The safest countywide incumbent of the 2022 county elections got endorsements over the weekend from Democratic county mayoral contender Ken Moody and Republican mayoral nominee Worth Morgan.

Democratic incumbent Sheriff Floyd Bonner opened his campaign headquarters over the weekend.

Bonner is running unopposed in the May Democratic primaries, and the Shelby County Republican Party decided not to hold a primary for Sheriff. It was an unprecedented decision in the 30-year history of partisan primaries in Shelby County elections.

Bonner kicks off re-election bid for sheriff as others open 2022 campaigns

In the process of passing on a primary in what is consistently the hardest fought countywide contest even when past incumbents have sought re-election, Vaughn said the decision was an endorsement of Bonner’s record so far.

Bonner faces three independent challengers on the August county general election ballot — Jon Burleson, Donald Taylor and Keisha Scott.

In the 30-year history of county primaries an independent candidate has never won any office — district or otherwise —covered by the primaries.

Democrats’ Distraction

Morgan’s endorsement of Bonner came the same week that some local Democrats said they plan to seek a censure of Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland for his endorsement of Brent Taylor in the contested Republican primary for state Senate District 31.

Strickland is a former chairman of the Shelby County Democratic Party.

The winner of the Republican primary in the State Senate district will likely face Democrat Ruby Powell-Dennis on the November general election ballot.

Democrats call for censure of Strickland over endorsement

City elections are nonpartisan.

Strickland has said his 2019 re-election bid for mayor was his last campaign, meaning a censure by the Tennessee Democratic Party would be an expression of the party’s displeasure but not much else in terms of political repercussions.

Some Democrats see the controversy over the endorsement as a distraction from the most contentious Republican scrap on the May primary ballot — the District 4 Republican primary battle between Morrison and Carpenter.

Republican Strategy

Vaughn said his goal was to have a Republican primary ballot of one-candidate races in order to raise money for a Republican ballot for the August county general election that would go out early without the necessity of mending fences from the primary battles.

He hopes to reverse the 2018 Democratic sweep of every countywide office on the ballot that did not include a race for District Attorney General, which has an eight-year term.

District 4 Republican primary skirmish survives challenge

While the May primary ballot is set, contenders in the nonpartisan countywide races on the August ballot along with state and federal primaries have until noon April 7 to file qualifying petitions with the Shelby County Election Commission.

Political Roundup: Whitehaven’s importance, and Aug. ballot fills

Here are the major filings through Friday, March 25:

• Democratic state House incumbent Larry Miller has filed his petition for another two-year term in District 88 but was short of the 25 signatures of voters in the district to qualify. He is so far unopposed and has a chance to get more signatures ahead of the deadline.
• Democratic state House incumbent Karen Camper has filed for re-election in District 87.
• So has fellow Democrat Dwayne Thompson in state House District 96.
• Republican state House members Kevin Vaughan of Collierville and John Gillespie of Memphis have filed for re-election in Districts 95 and 97, respectively.
• In the companion District 95 Democratic primary, Patricia Causey of Lakeland has filed and Nandi Washington-Murfik of Collierville has pulled a petition.
• Willie Richardson has pulled a petition to make three possible challengers to Democratic incumbent Barbara Cooper in the state House District 86 primary. The other possible challengers are David Page Jr. and Brandon Morris. No one, including Cooper, had filed their petitions with the Election Commission through Friday
• Marion Latroy Alexandria Williams Jr. has pulled a petition to run in the Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 33, joining London Lamar and Rhonnie Brewer. Lamar was appointed by the Shelby County Commission to hold the seat vacated when Democrat Katrina Robinson was expelled from the Senate following her conviction on federal wire fraud charges.
• Williams was dropped from the May county primaries by the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance.

Here is the complete list.

Political Roundup: From local elections to international events

In the August nonpartisan judicial races:

• Incumbent Circuit Court Judge Gina Higgins has filed for re-election in Division 4.
• Attorney Sheila B. Renfroe has pulled petitions for three race —
  Juvenile Court Judge, Criminal Court Judge Division 9 and General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Division 9 — in possible challenges of incumbent judges Dan Michael, Mark Ward and Gerald Skahan, respectively.
• Damita Dandridge has filed to challenge Division 8 Circuit Court Judge Robert Weiss.
• Joe Townsend has filed to challenge Division 2 Probate Court Judge Karen Webster.
• Michael Floyd has filed to challenge Division 1 Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan.
• Sam Winnig has filed to challenge Division 2 Criminal Court Judge Glenn Wright.
• Handel Durham has filed to challenge Division 7 General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Bill Anderson.
• Terita Hewlett has filed to challenge Division 11 General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Karen Massey.
• Chris Lareau has filed for Criminal Court Division 5 joining Carlyn Addison.
• Carlos Bibbs has filed for Circuit Court Judge Division 2 joining Kenneth Margolis.
• Stuart Breakstone has filed in Division 6 of Circuit Court joining Cedrick Wooten.
• Kevin Reed has filed for General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Division 10 joining Missy Branham and Greg Gilbert.