Kustoff and Cohen were poised to be reelected handily to their U.S. House seats representing Tennessee’s 8th and 9th Congressional Districts.

Candidates for all four Lakeland offices — two commissioners and two school board members — had easy victories as all of them were unopposed in Thursday’s elections.

The Associated Press reports Marsha Blackburn defeated state Rep. Gloria Johnson, who shot to fame last year after she was nearly expelled from the Statehouse for her participation in a gun control protest from the House floor.

The state’s two Republican U.S. senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, both won their first elections behind endorsements from Trump.

Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips says it could be a long night for the local presidential general election vote count.

Several voters at Davis Community Center voted straight down the ballot for the Democratic party, citing their beliefs aligned most with those candidates. 

On the eve of the presidential election, one voter in Whitehaven returned to watching the televised debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump to help her decide who to vote for.

Some voters at a polling location at Second Baptist Church preferred Donald Trump, in contrast with another East Memphis church 2 miles away where voters said they favored Kamala Harris.

“Our office has reported it to the authorities for further investigation,” said Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett. 

Some say they’re excited about the prospect of the nation’s first woman president. But wording of the gun control referendums may have led to ballots cast against the measure they intended to support.

Voting traffic was steady Tuesday afternoon at One City Church in East Memphis. All of the voters who agreed to speak with The Daily Memphian said they cast ballots for Kamala Harris.

One voter said he voted for Kamala Harris because he saw her as strong and “borderline cocky,” which is what he felt she needed to deal with Trump. 

“It was busy at 7 a.m. I’m not hearing of lines anywhere,” Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips said at a noon update of polling locations across the county.

Early Tuesday morning in Bartlett at St. Ann Catholic Church and School at 6529 Stage Road, voters didn’t have to endure much of a wait time.

U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty blitzed Second Baptist Church in East Memphis and The Great Hall in Germantown Tuesday morning, Nov. 5, just ahead of a late morning rain.

At Whitehaven Community Center, a steady patter of foot traffic was in and out around 8 a.m.

State House District 97 candidate Jesse Huseth showed up around 10 a.m. to greet the small number of voters shuffling in and out of the Bert Ferguson Community Center in Cordova.

DeSoto County residents successfully submitted more than 18,000 ballots during the early voting period. 

There were lots of cars around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday at the Glenview Community Center, where people were streaming in after the night shift and before the day shift.

Voters trickled in and out of Balmoral Presbyterian Church when polls opened early Tuesday morning. There was no line at the church, at 6413 Quince Road, as of 7:30 a.m. 

Follow The Daily Memphian’s blog for live updates from the polls and voting results on Election Day 2024.

Related content: 

Shelby County full election results

Voting results could be late, election chief warns

What to watch for in the presidential general election returns

Election Day comes after a 14-day early voting period in which 257,515 voters cast ballots at 26 locations across Shelby County. Polls are open at 142 precincts across Shelby County as of 7 a.m. today.

Here is everything you need to know about voting Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Shelby County from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

Here’s what to look for in the election day returns beyond who wins and who loses, especially Shelby County’s role as the county with the largest bloc of voters for both parties.

Partisans on both sides were still rallying voters to turn out on the Tuesday, Nov. 5, presidential general election day with similar appeals but with very different motivations and beliefs.