How to win a Memphis mayoral election
Floyd Bonner, Karen Camper, Frank Colvett, J.W. Gibson, Willie Herenton, Michelle McKissack, Van Turner and Paul Young are all running to be mayor of Memphis. (The Daily Memphian file)
The candidates in the crowded Memphis mayoral race should not forget broadcast media, according to one political consultant.
They also should be wary of spending too many resources trying to expand the electorate.
The Daily Memphian recently sat down with Cole Perry of Perry Strategies, a full-service political consulting firm, for a recording of its On The Record podcast. Cole — along with his mother, Kim — helped run Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s 2015 and 2019 campaigns.
Cole Perry (Courtesy Cole Perry)
Perry said Memphis remains a town where the two largest television stations are a key place to reach voters — whether it’s through campaign coverage or, more likely, television advertising.
He said the race could be decided by someone getting as low as 25% of the vote, but it was more likely the winner would win by getting in the low 30s.
Perry also said the winner of the 2023 race would have to connect with voters on a personal level, a skill Strickland relied on in 2015 and 2019.
“Plenty of people (who) would make great mayors never achieve it because they’re not great retail politicians,” Perry said.
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Samuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. He began his journalism career at the Tulsa World in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he covered business and, later, K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on Elon Musk’s xAI, regional energy needs and how Memphis and Shelby County government spend taxpayer dollars.
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