Memphis City Council chairwoman Jamita Swearengen has resigned from her District 4 seat, effective immediately, setting the stage for a special election to fill the seat on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Swearengen, who takes office as Shelby County Circuit Court Clerk Thursday, Sept. 1, announced her resignation at the end of the Tuesday, Aug. 9, council session.

Mud Island zip line proposal has Strickland’s support

By the county charter, Swearengen had 90 days to give up the city position. 

The resignation leaves enough time for the Orange Mound, South Memphis and Hickory Hill seat to go on the November ballot for voters in that district.

The winner will serve the year or so left in Swearengen’s four-year council term through the October 2023 city elections.

With the resignation, council vice chair Martavius Jones becomes chair for the rest of this calendar year. 

Council member JB Smiley was voted in as council vice chair by acclamation.

County election aftermath pushes urgency of city council redistricting process

The resignation comes as the council debates whether or not to make changes to district lines ahead of the special election in what would move up the once-a-decade redistricting process required before the 2023 city elections.

The changes could affect other surrounding council districts. But council attorney Allan Wade told the council earlier Tuesday the changes are necessary to prevent a possible court challenge to the special election on constitutional grounds.

Several council members questioned the need to change the district lines now instead of closer to the regularly scheduled October elections next year, including Swearengen.

“I think it would be very disrespectful to those constituents that presently live in District 4’s boundaries to not be able to decide who will represent them,” she said. “If I had not been successful in this election, they would have been represented with the same boundaries as they are now. So why change it?”

“Absent an election, that would be true,” Wade replied. “But if we have an election, that’s what brings the Constitutional issue into play.”

A guide to how city government works

“Our population is not static,” he said. “If you have one district that has 100,000 and another that has 82,000, then that smaller district has more power proportionately than the larger district.”

Swearengen said she had talked with election commission officials this week who told her there was “no sense of urgency” to change the district lines ahead of the November special election.

“I’m surprised that the election commission told you what they did when right now there are two (council) districts that are out of balance constitutionally,” Wade replied. “We give them instructions about elections. They don’t give us instructions.”

Wade said the changes to District 4 boundaries would probably be minor but that he wants to avoid any single-member council district having a population more than 5% more or less than the ideal size of 90,000 people.

Wade is also trying to avoid splitting any precincts among the council districts — in other words having voters in the same precinct who live and vote in different council districts.

Jones discusses City Council redistricting process

The countywide set of precincts was recently reorganized by the Shelby County Election Commission for the first time in 20 years.

The council approved what amounts to a placeholder redistricting ordinance Tuesday on the second of three “readings” or votes. The third reading is scheduled for the Aug. 23 council session, with Wade anticipating he will have details on the district changes in committee sessions before that vote.

Some council members talked of possibly delaying a final vote to the Sept. 13 council meeting. Wade said that would probably be acceptable. Although candidates for the special election could begin pulling qualifying petitions the week before that to get on the November ballot.

The council has redistricted after the petition filing period began in at least one previous city election, resulting in some candidates being knocked out of races because they suddenly didn’t live in the district they intended to run in.

Wade said the council is free to disregard his advice and leave the district lines as they are.

City Council redraws district lines in case Swearengen, Morgan elected to county jobs

“You can roll the dice if you want to,” he said.

Council member Martavius Jones said the council could return to the matter after the November special election but ahead of the October 2023 regular city elections with more dramatic changes.

Jones has talked in the past about eliminating the two council super districts with three council members each that also cover the entire city.

In previous discussions, Jones has talked of the council instead going to a system of 13 single-member council districts covering the entire city, which would result in smaller council districts.