There are 50 article(s) tagged Willie Herenton:

• July 2020

  • Starz’ new series ‘P-Valley’ brings Bluff City influence to cable

    Created by Memphis playwright Katori Hall, Starz series "P-Valley" is a drama based on the politics of the Mississippi Delta, set in a flamboyant Bluff City-inspired strip club.

    By Jared Boyd July 11, 2020

• May 2020

  • The time Michael Jordan made a bet with the mayor of Memphis

    The bet against MJ did not go the way of former mayor Willie Herenton. More tales of basketball-star-turned-baseball-player's trips to Memphis.

    By Drew Hill May 17, 2020

• February 2020

  • Interstate 69: ‘The last great American highway’

    Then-Mayor Willie Herenton was such a supporter of I-69, he hosted the Mid-Continent Highway Coalition’s first meeting in November 1992 at The Peabody. Around 50 business and community leaders from all eight of the states that would benefit from I-69 attended that day.

    By Scott Williams February 25, 2020

• November 2019

  • Strickland campaign post mortem shows tightening of mayor’s race in summer months

    On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Jim Strickland campaign consultant Steven Reid talked about the blip in polling and said challenger Tami Sawyer never split the African American vote as rival and former Mayor Willie Herenton repeatedly charged during the campaign. 

    By Bill Dries November 12, 2019

  • How the 2019 elections gauged Memphis’ state of change

    The race for mayor in particular highlighted different kinds of change at work in the city's politics, from cutting edge to much more gradual changes begun 12 years ago. With the winners and losers decided, the different kinds of change remain in play.

    By Bill Dries November 04, 2019

• October 2019

  • Nelson: The ghosts of politics past – four of them – paid a visit to Memphis last night

    Of the Ghosts of Politics Past that voters turned away, the first was the 79-year-old former mayor, Willie Herenton, who resigned the office in the middle of his fifth term in 2009. 

    By Michael Nelson October 07, 2019

  • Strickland wins big in quest for second term as mayor

    Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland easily won re-election Thursday over former Mayor Willie Herenton, County Commissioner Tami Sawyer and six other challengers. 

    By Bill Dries October 04, 2019

  • Third-party ad airs, adding mystery to end of city campaigns

    As the early-voting period neared its end, a third-party ad by the “Heartland Accountability Project” began airing Thursday with a message that begins with a voiceover saying “Memphis is more than Downtown.” It never endorses or attacks any candidate by name.

    By Bill Dries October 01, 2019

• September 2019

  • Sawyer votes, Herenton senses change, Strickland courts early vote

    The second Saturday of early voting in the Memphis elections came with indications the pace is picking up. The early voting period runs through Sept. 28. Oct. 3 is election day in Memphis.

    By Bill Dries September 22, 2019

  • Sanford: Sawyer’s hurtful words come back to hurt her

    Tami Sawyer’s already longshot quest for mayor has imploded. And the wounds were all self-inflicted.

    By Otis Sanford September 19, 2019

  • Sawyer apologizes for old tweets, says they don’t reflect who she is

    The latest resurrected tweets, including one about outing a gay faculty member while in college, have become a major issue in Sawyer's campaign. Sawyer says there may be more. Meanwhile, the first day early-voting turnout from Friday was still tentative into Saturday afternoon, but it appeared to be several hundred lower than the opening day turnout in 2015. 

    By Bill Dries September 16, 2019

  • City campaigns move through last weekend before early voting

    Mayor Jim Strickland opens his Whitehaven campaign headquarters, challenger Willie Herenton readies the "Herenton Express" and fellow challenger Tami Sawyer focuses on millenial hopes and goals.

    By Bill Dries September 08, 2019

  • Sanford: A magazine cover inspires outrage, and a critical question

    Where was the racial diversity in the room that would have, and should have, said we cannot publish this cover?

    By Otis Sanford September 03, 2019

• August 2019

  • Strickland responds to Sawyer, saying mayor’s race ‘about results, not rhetoric’

    In a “Behind The Headlines” interview, Mayor Jim Strickland defended his record of racial equity. His comments were his most pointed about Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer of the campaign, covering several issues.

    By Bill Dries August 29, 2019

  • Sanford: Herenton’s refusal to debate is a ‘grievous error’

    Willie Herenton still trails Mayor Jim Strickland in the mayor’s internal polls. A televised debate would be Herenton’s chance to convince skeptical voters that he’s still got it. 

    By Otis Sanford August 29, 2019

  • Herenton’s Long Legacy

    Former mayor Willie Herenton is the city's longest-serving mayor and its first elected African-American mayor, with a colorful legacy. His bid to return after a decade away is the next chapter in that legacy.

    By Bill Dries August 26, 2019

  • Herenton calls on supporters to win mayor’s race with early vote dominance

    Former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton told a women's rally that he wants to guard against election fraud. Meanwhile, contender Tami Sawyer rips Herenton and Mayor Jim Strickland for attending the local GOP's Lincoln Day Gala.

    By Bill Dries August 26, 2019

  • Vote to gain political power

    Memphis has seen its own types of gerrymandering and the political opportunism that undergirds those efforts.

    By Earle J. Fisher August 24, 2019

  • Sanford: Mayor mines campaign gold with Nickleberry endorsement

    An unassuming, 87-year-old, recently retired black sanitation worker provides a powerful and authentic endorsement of Jim Strickland.

    By Otis Sanford August 23, 2019

  • Herrington: A mayor’s race marked by vocabulary lessons and personal disdain

    As the confused reader response to “not … anti-racist”  underscored, this is not a widely familiar term. Sawyer is seeking the mayor’s office, not tenure. That means persuading voters who haven’t sat in a college sociology or cultural studies class in a while, or ever. 

    By Chris Herrington August 20, 2019

  • Rally kicks off sales tax hike campaign

    The storefront opening Saturday in the Poplar Corridor begins a campaign to the Oct. 3 election day. It also featured more of the clash of priorities among the major candidates for mayor on the same ballot.

    By Bill Dries August 18, 2019

  • Herrington: Mayor’s race boys’ club, in defense of scooters and more

    Thoughts on Willie Herenton's attempt to make the Memphis mayor's race a two-man affair, the influx of scooters and the Memphis story at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

    By Chris Herrington August 06, 2019

  • Herenton vows to ‘Fight the Power’

    Tami Sawyer charges patriarchy. The Jim Strickland campaign says Willie Herenton left a "mess" with tax hikes and service cuts during his 17-year tenure at City Hall.

    By Bill Dries August 04, 2019

  • Sanford: Will Memphis voters sit this one out?

    Because of our toxic political climate, the two biggest motivators that drive voters to the polls are anger and excitement. The city election is nonpartisan and falls between the 2018 midterm and next year’s presidential contest, which may leave Memphis voters complacent.

    By Otis Sanford August 01, 2019

• July 2019

  • Strickland says first term as mayor has answered call for change

    Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland opened his reelection campaign headquarters Tuesday in Poplar Plaza, citing his record and setting a goal to "accelerate momentum" if elected to a second term.

    By Bill Dries July 31, 2019