Election Day is tomorrow, when voters will select 13 City Council members and a new city mayor. Here’s everything you need to know about this Memphis municipal election.

Two polls made public – one in August and one in early September – showed essentially a four-way race for mayor among Floyd Bonner, Willie Herenton, Van Turner and Paul Young.

After agreeing on the short-term spending bill last week that lead to the Tuesday, Oct. 3, vote on ousting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Congressmen Steve Cohen and David Kustoff parted company on McCarthy’s political fate.

The 2007 Memphis elections saw Willie Herenton elected mayor for the fifth time and the largest turnover of Memphis City Council seats in the 55-year history of the mayor-council form of government.

None of the other 13 Memphis mayoral candidates on the ballot were in six figures, but these four spent six-figure sums on their campaigns throughout the summer.

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Election season’s final act starts as curtain goes down on early voting

The last day of early voting is Saturday, Sept. 30, at 18 sites across the city. Next, the Oct. 5 election day will close out the campaigns for Memphis mayor and all 13 seats on the Memphis City Council. 

More than 31,000 Memphians had voted early through Tuesday, Sept. 26, passing the totals for the same period during 2015 and 2019 city elections.

Germantown Municipal School District’s Board of Education is formally asking the Shelby County Election Commission to find different precincts than school buildings in light of a new state law.

“That video should not have been released,” Bonner said in an interview on the WKNO-TV program “Behind The Headlines.”

A 2020 open letter signed by more than 100 leaders of local nonprofits has become a flashpoint in the most expensive race for a city council seat on the Oct. 5 ballot.

Former Mayor Willie Herenton talks on “Behind The Headlines” about his bid to return as mayor, a recent discussion he had with millennials and his leadership of MPD.

About 23% of voters remained undecided, indicating that the crowded 17-person field remains very much up in the air. 

Here is everything you need to know about early voting in the Memphis elections and links to the ballot as well as a locator to figure out what council districts you live in.

Early voting begins Friday, Sept. 15, with a large field of 17 mayoral candidates.

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Ballot Basics: Early voting is Sept. 15-30

Six candidates were asked how they would allocate $350 million in state cash between Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium and FedExForum. 

“Memphis is at a critical juncture. We cannot afford to continue the stagnation. We cannot continue allowing crime, poverty and low educational achievement to define this city.”

Two of the three positions in City Council Super District 9 have incumbents facing one challenger each. 

City Council Super District 8 covers half of the city’s population. All three Super District seats are on the October Memphis ballot, and two of the races are contested in the upcoming city elections.

Four years after upsetting incumbent council member Berlin Boyd, Michalyn Easter-Thomas faces six challengers for the District 7 council seat. If the recent past is any indication, it could be bound for a November runoff.

The candidates were allowed to ask each other questions, confronting one another on their pasts and records.

This roundup looks at the latest report on voter registration, checks in with Election Commission officials ahead of Friday’s opening of early voting in Memphis and replays the Republican debate that ended with no school-board primaries.

Council District 5 is one of five seats on the council with no incumbent seeking reelection. Two of the three contenders have raised more money than any other council candidate.

With less than a week before early voting begins in the 2023 Memphis elections, a reporters roundtable on “Behind The Headlines” looks at what is at stake.

One is a current City Councilwoman, and the other served on the council briefly. 

Five people are competing for the City Council District 3 seat being vacated by term-limited incumbent Patrice Robinson.