He would be a heavy underdog in the general election were he to win the Democratic nomination. 

The Greater 901 Initiative, a political action committee, was identified as the group paying for the earlier poll in an email sent out Tuesday evening.

The meeting was canceled after Memphis City Council Vice Chairman JB Smiley Jr. asked Davis and City Attorney Jennifer Sink about it during the council’s Tuesday meeting. 

Memphis City Attorney Jennifer Sink has taken the stance the City of Memphis' five-year residency requirement for mayoral candidates is in effect.

The City of Memphis’ five-year residency requirement for elected officials goes back to 1905. So why is it up for debate now? And when will we know who is eligible to run for Memphis’ next mayor? 

A referendum ordinance on a two-year residency requirement cleared the Memphis City Council, which left open the question of the residency requirement for this year’s race for mayor.

Related story:

Strickland won’t testify in mayoral residency suit

Watch five mayoral candidates discuss local crime and criminal justice issues during last night’s Daily Memphian mayoral debate. 

The discussion focused on crime and criminal justice moderated by The Daily Memphian CEO Eric Barnes.

Five of the 11 declared mayoral contenders will debate crime, policing and criminal justice at the April 24 event at The Halloran Centre at the Orpheum, which will also be live-streamed on The Daily Memphian site.

A three-plus hour mayoral forum Thursday night at First Congregational Church in Cooper-Young featured Daniel Abston, Frank Colvett, J.W. Gibson, Reginald Hall and Paul Young. 

The lawsuits over the five-year residency rule in the mayor’s race get their first court hearing Friday. Meanwhile, four of the mayoral contenders show up for a People’s Convention gathering at LeMoyne-Owen College and council candidates Meggan Kiel and Pearl Walker kick off their bids.

Cary Vaughn was re-elected Shelby County Republican chairman at the local party’s biennial convention, with a call for new blood and a focus on common ground.

As the People’s Convention begins this weekend, local Republicans will decide if they’ll stick with the party’s current leader. Plus, two contenders for the local Democratic party head, more on the mayoral residency issue and who could be waiting in the wings.

The proposed ordinance comes up for council consideration as two contenders in the 2023 race for mayor have filed lawsuits over the current residency requirement.

Turner’s lawsuit is likely to be combined with a similar challenge of the five-year residency requirement filed Monday by Sheriff Floyd Bonner.

An early unaffiliated poll shows Memphis NAACP President Van Turner, former mayor Willie Herenton and Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. tightly bunched at the top of the crowded Memphis mayoral race.

Two contenders for Memphis mayor say they have already decided they will not keep Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis as Memphis Police director if they are elected.

Bonner is seeking to stop enforcement of the city charter’s residency provision for candidates running for Memphis mayor. 

A line added to a page on the Shelby County Election Commission’s website the last day of February has turned this year’s race for Memphis mayor upside down.

The Shelby County Election Commission released a legal opinion Feb. 28 that said Memphis’ five-year residency requirement for mayoral candidates should be enforced in the upcoming Memphis municipal election. 

The business and philanthropic leader kicked off his mayoral bid Monday, March 6, in South Memphis straddling the issues of crime and police reform.

Southaven alderman Charlie Hoots would like to add state representative to his resume.

The Mississippi state GOP leaders ruled Thursday that despite living in D.C. during the Trump Administration, Mandy Gunasekara meets the residency requirements to run for Public Service Commission in the Northern District.

The measure would not apply to this year’s mayoral election. 

The time Mandy Gunasekara spent in D.C. working for the Trump administration has called her residency into question, and her ability to run for the office.