Bevy of Shelby County contenders jostle for Congressional primary races
TOP ROW: 5th District candidates (from left) Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, DeVante Hill, Rachel Hurley, Carrie Ann Iacomini SECOND ROW: 8th District candidates (from left) Dewey Gordon Bryan, Jordan D. Hinders, Heidi Kuhn, David Kustoff, Leonard Perkins THIRD ROW: 9th District candidates (from left) M. LaTroy A-Williams, Charlotte Bergmann, London Lamar, Justin Pearson, Brent Taylor (Photos from The Daily Memphain files)
A total of 14 contenders from Shelby County are on the Aug. 6 federal primary ballot in the 5th, 8th and 9th Congressional districts. That’s out of 20 candidates total in both the Democratic and Republican primaries for the three districts.
None of the districts consists primarily of Memphis and Shelby County as the 9th did by the old lines, making the redistricting a potential political sea change.
Local political folklore in Congressional primaries that include parts of Shelby County but take in multiple other counties suggests too many Shelby Countians can split the vote here and help those from other parts of the district.
Topics
2026 elections 2026 redistricting Justin J. Pearson London Lamar Shelby County Democratic Party New Sardis Baptist Church Memphis Bar Association 2026 special judicial elections Lashanta Rudd Thomas Long Subscriber OnlyThank you for reading The Daily Memphian. Your support is critical.
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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