Karen Camper was put in a tough spot earlier this year during the massive gun-control protest at the Tennessee State Capitol, when Reps. Justin J. Pearson and Justin Jones used a bullhorn on the House floor to lead protesters in chants.

Camper, the House minority leader, had to defend, support and manage Pearson and Jones, while maintaining the across-the-aisle relationships necessary to accomplish anything in Nashville.

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Camper and Rep. Joe Towns, a fellow Memphis Democrat — both visibly angry — yelled at Pearson and Jones as the House was in recess, as seen in a video recorded by the Tennessean. Camper pointed, directing them to a side room, then pushed them through the door, her hand on Jones’ back.

Later, Camper’s tone was more conciliatory.

“We were trying to lower the temperature,” she told reporters later. “My job as leader is to tamp that down.”

She acknowledged the two representatives’ backgrounds as activists, saying she supported them making their voices heard “the way they know how.”

“It was unprecedented, so there was no real model for how to handle that situation,” said state Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, the second-highest ranking House Democrat after Camper.

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“She was expected as the leader to help restore order — or so-called ‘order’ — to the body. I think she and all of us showed that we have our caucus members’ backs, and at the same time, we wanted to show that there was some semblance of order.”

In her campaign for Memphis mayor, Camper is emphasizing her relationships with the state’s Republican leadership, saying she is in a “unique position” to bring more state resources to Memphis.

She says her approach opened the door for some sort of gun-safety legislation during the special legislative session that began Aug. 21 and is still underway.

“At the end of the session, the Republican leader came to my desk and said, ‘Leader, I’m open to a conversation about what we can do with gun violence,’” Camper said in July on the WKNO-TV show “Behind The Headlines,” referring to House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland. She said House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, said the same thing.

“I didn’t ask that. He came to me. So that was a key moment to me — that there’s an opportunity to actually get something done,” Camper said.

“If there’s a way to compromise, to ensure that they get what they need for their community, then there’s a possibility that we can get what we need for our community.”

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Lamberth, Camper’s Republican counterpart, called her a “passionate advocate” in a brief interview.

“I have a great level of respect for her,” Lamberth said. “She is always able to disagree with folks in an agreeable fashion.”

But that gun-safety legislation never came, illustrating the difficulty of negotiating as a Democrat with a supermajority that doesn’t have to compromise. The General Assembly is primarily weighing bills that continue things the state already does.

Camper said in an Aug. 28 interview that she was disappointed at how the session has gone, “particularly after both of them saying they were open to having this conversation.”

She said Gov. Bill Lee’s proclamation was “too narrowly focused” because it made most gun legislation off-limits during the session.

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And of the gun-safety bills that were still within the scope, Republicans often didn’t second the motions to begin debate.

“Even within the call, we had members that offered some pretty decent legislation — within the call — and my disappointment there is, those bills didn’t even get a second in committee,” she said. “None of the Republicans even gave a second to have a conversation about it.”

‘Be really firm about the value of your city to the state as a whole’

To bring resources to Memphis, the mayor must convince state leaders the city brings economic value to Tennessee. Despite a high poverty rate, Memphis is one of the state’s most significant economic engines.

Camper, an Army veteran who was serving in Germany when the Berlin Wall fell, says one of the successes of current Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration was a constant lobbying presence in the General Assembly.

She said the Memphis delegation encouraged the city to grow these relationships.

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“More legislators have been exposed to Memphis’ assets than they ever have before,” she said in a phone interview after attending a rally for union workers striking against International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. “I do feel like the advice that we have given him has led to these successes.”

Clemmons, who went to law school at the University of Memphis, said mayors “have to sit down face-to-face with these folks, and make them very aware of the value your city brings to the state of Tennessee economically, culturally and otherwise, and be really firm about the value of your city to the state as a whole.”

“A good, strong mayor will do that on every given opportunity.”

Polling and fundraising

But she faces an uphill battle in the campaign, as many leading mayoral candidates have raised far more money.

Camper is polling at less than 1%, according to an August poll conducted by Emerson University for WREG. More than a quarter of respondents were undecided, but former Mayor Willie Herenton led with 16%. Downtown Memphis Commission CEO Paul Young stood at 14%; Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. and former judge Joe Brown each had 10%.

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During April, May and June, according to her latest campaign finance report, Camper raised $16,951 and spent $44,371.

Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner, by comparison, raised $151,187 and spent $93,384. Young raised $254,656 and spent $89,622.

Camper also trailed Memphis-Shelby County Schools board member Michelle McKissack in fundraising, but she was ahead of Herenton and Brown.

Yvonne Acey, a racial justice and labor activist who led the Memphis Education Association in the 1980s and participated in the 1968 sanitation strikes, gave Camper’s mayoral campaign $200 in May. She remained undecided but credited Camper’s “compassion and humanitarian efforts.”

“She’s in the top five,” Acey said.

Many of her donors are women lawmakers from other states, including Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, a Democrat. Camper made many of these connections through the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women, of which she served as president for four years.

“She’s been a leader for Black women throughout this country, and I support Black women,” said Yolanda Cash Jackson, a lobbyist and lawyer based in the Miami area, who gave Camper’s state campaign $1,000 in October.

“She has reached all over this country,” Jackson said. “She could be running for dog catcher, and I’ma support her.”

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‘We’re at the cusp of something great’

In a race largely defined by crime, Camper says she wants to establish a more “holistic” strategic plan.

She said at The Daily Memphian and WKNO’s Aug. 15 debate that she wants to address the root causes of crime with “intervention and prevention.”

“There is a need to give a hard look at the entire public safety system, the entire ecosystem,” she said.

She wants to revitalize neighborhoods, expand the tax base and increase funding for youth services. Memphis is well-positioned to benefit economically from investment tied to BlueOval City, she said, and she wants workers to choose to move to Memphis. She said she wants to ensure there is reliable transportation between the city and the Haywood County site.

“Memphis is at a very strategic place and point in history right now,” she said. “We’re at the cusp of something great with Ford and SK coming just 42 miles away. This entire region will be transformed and so will Memphis.”