Shelby County Commission goes to Democratic majority of nine
Voters across Shelby County finished up an overhaul of the Shelby County Commission Thursday, Aug. 4, that began at the filing deadline for the May county primaries.
The result with Thursday’s unofficial election results appeared to be a nine-vote Democratic majority on the 13-member partisan body and a historic first for women as a majority on the commission.
The nine-vote partisan majority hinges on several precincts still out after midnight Thursday in commission District 13.
Eight of the 13 county commissioners who will take office next month were effectively elected and reelected already because they had no general election opposition.
That builds in four reelected incumbents: Republicans David Bradford and Mick Wright as well as Democrats Mickell Lowery and Edmund Ford Jr.
Add in the four Democratic newcomers: Charlie Caswell Jr., Britney Thornton, Miska Clay Bibbs and Erika Sugarmon.
The result is a commission that already had two Republicans and six Democrats before early voting began in July.
According to Thursday’s unofficial results, here are the rest of the commission races:
District 1 Republican incumbent Amber Mills won a second term, defeating Democratic challenger Donna McDonald-Martin.
District 4 Republican incumbent Brandon Morrison beat Democratic challenger Britney Chauncey by a better than a two-to-one margin.
Former Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board member Shante Avant claimed the new District 5 Cordova seat on the commission created in last year’s redistricting of the body.
Avant beat Republican nominee Todd Payne.
Former commissioner Henri Brooks returns to the body she left in 2014 by easily defeating independent Shirelle Dakota Brown in the District 7 race.
In the 30-year history of partisan county primaries, an independent candidate has never beaten a nominee of either party.
The closest race of the group of 13 was Democratic incumbent Michael Whaley’s 279-vote lead over Republican challenger Ed Apple with nine of the 12 precincts in the newly configured district counted in the unofficial tally.
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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 more than 40 years.
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