Memphis Election Review: Mayor defeated, five council races head to runoffs
October 9, 2015
By Ballotpedia's Municipal government team
Memphis held elections for mayor and 13 seats on the city council on Thursday, resulting in high turnover for the city's government. The mayor's office switched hands from incumbent A. C. Wharton to city councilmember Jim Strickland in a race defined by clashes over crime and blight. No incumbent councilmembers lost election, but six open seats on the council mean six new members when new officials are inaugurated in January 2016.[1]
Mayor
Memphis' mayoral election grabbed the spotlight in Thursday's municipal elections as challenger Jim Strickland defeated incumbent A. C. Wharton. Wharton, who was first elected in a special election in 2009, conceded the election just after 10:00 p.m. CST as Strickland built an early lead. Strickland moves from the Memphis City Council to the mayor's office after eight years of service. After Wharton's concession, Strickland said that law enforcement would be his administration's top priority because the city is "not growing in population or jobs, because of crime."[2]
| Memphis Mayor General Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
 Jim Strickland |
41.3% | 42,020 | |
| A. C. Wharton Incumbent | 22.1% | 22,490 | |
| Harold B. Collins | 18.5% | 18,767 | |
| Mike Williams | 16.1% | 16,388 | |
| Sharon A. Webb | 0.6% | 610 | |
| M. Latroy Williams | 0.4% | 413 | |
| Anderson Fullilove, Jr. | 0.4% | 369 | |
| Robert Hodges | 0.2% | 240 | |
| David Phillip Walker, Jr. | 0.2% | 171 | |
| Leo Awgowhat | 0.1% | 119 | |
| Write-in votes | 0.1% | 92 | |
| Total Votes | 100,275 | ||
| Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015 | |||
City council
A total of 60 candidates competed for 13 seats on the city council. Seven members of the city council ran for re-election, with no incumbent councilmember losing in the general election. Incumbents won re-election by large margins, with the smallest incumbent margin of victory (45.9 percent) for Reid Hedgepeth in District 9, Position 3. Five races head to runoff elections on November 19, 2015, because no candidates in those elections received a majority of the votes. The only incumbent facing a runoff election is Berlin Boyd in District 7, who will face challenger Anthony Anderson. Boyd received 26.5 percent of the vote and Anderson received 24.1 percent, with seven candidates splitting the remainder of the vote.[3]
See also
External links
Footnotes
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