Memphis voters have spoken. With 27.6% of the vote, Paul Young beat out established political contenders and will be sworn in as the city’s new mayor on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024.

From before the polls opened at 7 a.m. until final vote counts rolled in after 11 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, The Daily Memphian’s reporters sent frequent updates to our Election Day live blog.

Read what voters had to say about the election (“Something’s got to change with this city”) and the voting experience (“If there were more voters, it would’ve been a pain in the butt”) and what candidates had to say about campaigning at the polls (“This is a lot of work”), plus Memphis mayoral fun facts and City Council trivia.

Here are four more takeaways from the 2023 municipal election:

Memphis mayoral candidate Van Turner concedes during his Election Day watch party at the Westin Hotel in Downtown Memphis Oct. 5. (Ziggy Mack/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Who won on Election Day?

Though he earned less than 28% of the vote, Downtown Memphis Commission President Paul Young defeated 16 other candidates running for mayor of Memphis, including Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. and five-time Memphis mayor Willie Herenton. 

As for the Memphis City Council race, Bill Dries reports that seven incumbents will keep their seats, including Rhonda Logan, Jana Swearengen-Washington, Edmund Ford Sr., Chase Carlisle and Ford Canale.

Abigail Warren reports that Philip Spinosa took the District 5 seat, despite speculation that the race would require a runoff after a pricey and heated campaign.

See the full results with vote totals and percentages for all races on our results page.

Runoff special elections will be held on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023 for City Council Districts 2, 3 and 7. (The Daily Memphian file)

Which Memphis City Council races will be determined by runoffs?

Runoff special elections will be held on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023 for City Council Districts 2, 3 and 7. City Council candidates must earn 50% plus one of the vote to win; Super Districts do not have runoffs.

Pearl Eva Walker and James Kirkwood will face off for the District 3 seat, which represents Whitehaven and parts of Parkway Village, Oakhaven and Hickory Hill.

Scott McCormick and Jerri Green will vie for the District 2 seat left open by term-limited Frank Colvett. That district includes East Memphis and parts of Cordova and Hickory Hill.

Michalyn Easter-Thomas, the District 7 incumbent, will head to a runoff with Jimmy Hassan.

A voter exits the polling location at the Whitehaven Community Center Oct. 5. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)

What was the voter turnout for Memphis city elections in 2023?

Only 23.7% of eligible Memphis voters elected to choose a new mayor and City Council members during Thursday’s election. Young’s 24,408 votes are a record low for any winning mayoral candidate in the last 55 years. That’s only 3.88% of the city’s population, as Samuel Hardiman reports.

The next-lowest vote count for a winning Memphis mayor was Jim Strickland’s 41,820 votes to defeat incumbent A C Wharton Jr. in 2015.

Why was turnout so low? It might have been the rain, or it could have been the “preposterous field” overcrowded with mayoral candidates, as The Daily Memphian columnist Geoff Calkins pointed out.

Still, municipal election turnout was lower in 2011 when only 18% of eligible voters showed up to the polls to elect Wharton for his first term.

Supporters are seen at former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton’s Election Day party. Around 9:45 p.m., Herenton conceded to Paul Young. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

How did mayoral candidates react to defeat?

Speaking of a crowded field, six candidates who fell short in the mayor’s race spoke with reporters from The Daily Memphian to share their thoughts and speculate on reasons why they did not win.

Bonner was the first mayoral candidate to concede the race, taking the stage at his election night party around 9:18 p.m. to thank his supporters and remind them he is still the Shelby County sheriff.

“To be honest, we thought the election was about crime,” Bonner said at the event.

Herenton conceded around 9:45 p.m. from his event in South Memphis.

“In the minds of the voters, apparently, they wanted younger leadership. I don’t know,” he said.

He also commented on whether or not he would run for office again.

Democratic House Rep. Karen Camper may have failed in her bid for Memphis mayor but said she believes winner Paul Young will set a vision for Memphis.

“One of the things that Paul consistently said was a new generation of leadership, so people probably bought into that and said, ‘Let’s give this young man a chance,’” she told The Daily Memphian Thursday evening.

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