Mayor's Race

Here’s who else is running to be Memphis’ next mayor

By , Daily Memphian Published: September 04, 2023 4:00 AM CT

In a series of stories, The Daily Memphian featured the candidates for Memphis mayor, including full profiles of the major candidates, and this story on the rest of the field. We’re making these stories free for all readers.

The Daily Memphian profiled the top Memphis mayoral contenders, based on criteria such as polling and money raised. Here are the other contenders for Memphis mayor on the October ballot.

Carnita Atwater is a North Memphis activist who heads a group that has plans to recreate an African village on the site of the old Firestone plant. She runs a cultural center from one of the old union halls near the plant’s site.


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Atwater ran in the 2022 Democratic primary for Tennessee governor, finishing a distant third behind nominee Jason Martin of Nashville and Memphis City Councilman JB Smiley Jr.

Atwater was also a vocal critic of the Memphis 3.0 long-range land use plan.

Jennings Bernard owns a private probation company, National Probation of America. He has run for numerous offices over the years. He last ran unsuccessfully as an independent in the 2018 race for Probate Court Clerk.

Bernard touts his experience working in the criminal justice system balanced with a call to reject the better-known names in the race. “I don’t want your money. I want your vote,” has been his slogan in this run for office.

Joe Brown is a retired Shelby County Criminal Court Judge and host of the syndicated show “Judge Joe Brown.”


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He was the Democratic nominee for Shelby County District Attorney General in the 2014 county elections, losing to incumbent Republican Amy Weirich.

Brown has campaigned on several issues, including a call to put turbines in the Mississippi River to generate electric power to supply the city. He also has said women cannot handle the job of being Memphis’ mayor.

“I don’t want to get crude about it, but some places you need to go to exercise leadership — some of the good ladies in here would get drug into an abandoned apartment and raped. That’s one of the problems,” Brown said at an October Shelby County Young Democrats gathering.

Kendra C. Calico ran for U.S. president in 2020 as an independent, according to federal election records.

Reggie Hall is a life coach, mentor and founder of HALLS – Helping Adolescents Learn Life’s Strategies.


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Hall, a Whitehaven homeowner, is making his first bid for elected office on a platform of wrap-around services and counseling to get those in a life of crime out of it.

James Harvey is a former Shelby County commissioner who ran for Memphis mayor in 2015 before dropping out of the race to back Jim Strickland.

A Democrat during his two terms on the commission, Harvey was censured by the local Democratic Party’s executive committee in 2013 for voting with Republicans on the commission on several issues, as well as getting elected chairman of the body with the votes of five of the six Republican commissioners at the time.

Brandon A. Price, aka Brandy Price is a transgender activist also known as “Salamander.” She was among a group of protesters camped outside City Hall in 2020 and removed by police. Price used bungee cords to tie herself to a chain link fence.

She was also one of several people arrested this past March protesting an appearance by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee at the opening of the new Whitehaven YMCA. And she was a constant presence at Memphis City Council meetings in the wake of the January death of Tyre Nichols.


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Price has called for a “land-back initiative” that would give city land directly to “native and indigenous” Memphians and called for reparations and restitution for slavery.

Justina Ragland has not filed a finance report, and no additional information about her was available.

Tekeva “Keva” Shaw describes herself as a “life coach with a twist,” a “mystic/realist” and a “goal digger.”

Derek Winn is a bakery assistant at Hive Bagel & Deli. He has called for the abolition of all zoning in Memphis. He also called for removing all of Interstate 40 in the city and converting it into biking and walking paths.

Topics

2023 Memphis Mayor's race 2023 elections 2023 Memphis elections

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Bill Dries

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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