Memphis, Tennessee municipal elections, 2015

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2015 Elections for Mayors and City Councils

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The city of Memphis, Tennessee, held elections for mayor and city council on October 8, 2015. City council races for Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 required runoff elections on November 19, 2015, with no candidates receiving majorities of the general election vote. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was July 17, 2015. All 13 city council seats were up for election.

There was a lot of competition in Memphis' 2015 elections. Mayor A. C. Wharton, who was elected in a special election in 2009, faced nine opponents. Wharton was elected to a full term in 2011, defeating nine challengers with 65.5 percent of the vote. Wharton was defeated in his re-election bid by Councilman Jim Strickland.

In total, 60 candidates filed to run for the 13 seats on the city council. Every race was contested. Seven members of the council ran for re-election, while six members chose not to run. Of those six, councilmen Harold B. Collins of District 3 and Jim Strickland of District 5 filed instead to run for mayor. The most crowded races included the mayoral race with 10 candidates, District 7 with nine candidates, District 4 with eight, and Districts 3 and 5 with seven candidates each. As expected, more candidates filed to run for districts with no incumbent running. The exception was District 7, where an incumbent member of the council attracted eight challengers. Newly-appointed Councilman Berlin Boyd joined the council early in 2015, following the election of Lee Harris to the Tennessee State Senate.

Some main issues for the 2015 elections were urban blight, population loss and crime. Read more below.

Mayor

Candidate list

October 8 General election candidates:

• Leo Awgowhat
• Councilman Harold Collins
• Anderson Fullilove, Jr.
• Robert "Prince Mongo" Hodges
• Councilman Jim Strickland
• David Phillip Walker, Jr.
• Sharon A. Webb
• A. C. Wharton - Incumbent Wharton was first elected in 2009.
• M. Latroy Williams
• Mike Williams

Election results

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

Map of Memphis' council districts. Click to enlarge

District 1

October 8 General election candidates:

• Bill Morrison - Incumbent Morrison was first elected in 2007.
• Wayne Roberts

District 2

Note: Incumbent William C. Boyd did not run for re-election.
October 8 General election candidates:

• Frank Colvett, Jr. a
• Detric Golden
• Rachel Knox a
• Jim Tomasik

November 19 runoff election candidates:

• Frank Colvett, Jr. a
• Rachel Knox

District 3

Note: Incumbent Harold B. Collins did not run for re-election. He ran instead for mayor.
October 8 General election candidates:

• Rhonda Banks
• Tanya L. Cooper
• Sherman "Perkins" Kilimanjaro
• Kevin Mott, Sr.
• Patrice Jordan Robinson a
• Coleman Thompson
• Keith O. Williams a

November 19 runoff election candidates:

• Patrice Jordan Robinson a
• Keith O. Williams

District 4

Note: Incumbent Wanda Halbert did not run for re-election.
October 8 General election candidates:

• Kirstin L. Cheers
• Donnell Cobbins
• John Cornes
• Doris DeBerry-Bradshaw a
• Adrian Jones
• Louis Matthew Morganfield, III
• Jamita E. Swearengen a
• George Walker

November 19 runoff election candidates:

• Doris DeBerry-Bradshaw
• Jamita E. Swearengen a

District 5

Note: Incumbent Jim Strickland did not run for re-election. He ran instead for mayor.
October 8 General election candidates:

• Jimmie Franklin
• John Marek
• Worth Morgan a
• Charles "Chooch" Pickard
• Dan Springer a
• Mary Wilder
• Jennifer James Williams

November 19 runoff election candidates:

• Worth Morgan
• Dan Springer

District 6

October 8 General election candidates:

• Perry L. Bond
• Edmund Ford, Jr. - Incumbent Ford was first elected in 2007.
• Delvin Lane

District 7

October 8 General election candidates:

• Anthony Anderson a
• Berlin Boyd a - Incumbent Boyd was first appointed in 2015.
• Eric Dunn
• Anthony Ambee Johnson
• Alfonzo Durell Lee
• Michael Steven Moore
• Coby V. Smith
• Thurston Smith
• David W. Vinciarelli

November 19 runoff election candidates:

• Anthony Anderson
• Berlin Boyd a

District 8

Position 1
October 8 General election candidates:

• Joe Brown - Incumbent Brown was first elected in 1998.
• George Thompson
• Victoria E. Young

Position 2
October 8 General election candidates:

• J. Eason
• Janis Fullilove - Incumbent Fullilove was first elected in 2007.
• Isaac Wright

Position 3
Note: Incumbent Myron Lowery did not run for re-election.
October 8 General election candidates:

• Jacqueline Camper
• Martavius D. Jones
• Mickell Lowery

District 9

Position 1
October 8 General election candidates:

• Charley Burch
• Kemp Conrad - Incumbent Conrad was first elected in 2008.
• Robin A. Spielberger

Position 2
Note: Incumbent Alan Crone did not run for re-election.
October 8 General election candidates:

• Stephanie Gatewood
• Lynn Moss
• Paul Shaffer
• Philip C. Spinosa, Jr.
• Kenneth Twigg Whalum, Jr.

Position 3
October 8 General election candidates:

• Stephen Christian
• Zachary Ferguson
• Reid Hedgepeth - Incumbent Hedgepeth was first elected in 2007.

Runoff election

Memphis City Council, District 2, Runoff election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Frank Colvett, Jr.	73.9%	2,353
Rachel Knox	26.1%	833
Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting)		3,186
Source: WMC Action News 5, "Election Results," accessed November 19, 2015

Memphis City Council, District 3, Runoff election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Patrice Jordan Robinson	58.9%	1,121
Keith O. Williams	41.1%	783
Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting)		1,904
Source: WMC Action News 5, "Election Results," accessed November 19, 2015

Memphis City Council, District 4, Runoff election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jamita E. Swearengen	77.2%	1,154
Doris DeBerry-Bradshaw	22.8%	340
Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting)		1,494
Source: WMC Action News 5, "Election Results," accessed November 19, 2015

Memphis City Council, District 5, Runoff election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Worth Morgan	50.9%	3,374
Dan Springer	49.1%	3,252
Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting)		6,626
Source: WMC Action News 5, "Election Results," accessed November 19, 2015

Memphis City Council, District 7, Runoff election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Berlin Boyd	62.8%	1,196
Anthony Anderson	37.2%	709
Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting)		1,905
Source: WMC Action News 5, "Election Results," accessed November 19, 2015

General election

Memphis City Council District 1 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Bill Morrison Incumbent	77.7%	7,895
Wayne Roberts	21.9%	2,224
Write-in votes	0.4%	38
Total Votes		10,157
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 2 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Frank Colvett, Jr.	49.5%	7,455
Rachel Knox	22.5%	3,387
Jim Tomasik	18.7%	2,811
Detric Golden	9.1%	1,364
Write-in votes	0.2%	36
Total Votes		15,053
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 3 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Patrice Jordan Robinson	48.3%	5,558
Keith O. Williams	20.8%	2,388
Tanya L. Cooper	17.6%	2,028
Rhonda Banks	5.8%	664
Coleman Thompson	3.8%	440
Kevin Mott, Sr.	2.1%	241
Sherman Kilimanjaro	1.4%	161
Write-in votes	0.2%	22
Total Votes		11,078
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 4 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jamita E. Swearengen	33.1%	3,688
Doris DeBerry-Bradshaw	24.4%	2,726
Donnell Cobbins	12.4%	1,388
Kirstin L. Cheers	9.2%	1,023
John Cornes	7.9%	884
Adrian Jones	4.8%	533
George Walker	4.6%	508
Louis Matthew Morganfield, III	3.2%	361
Write-in votes	0.4%	43
Total Votes		9,709
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 5 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Worth Morgan	31.9%	6,374
Dan Springer	23.3%	4,647
Mary Wilder	18.6%	3,705
John Marek	16.9%	3,375
Charles Pickard	6.4%	1,274
Jennifer James Williams	1.6%	316
Jimmie Franklin	1.3%	251
Write-in votes	0.1%	28
Total Votes		19,375
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 6 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Edmund Ford, Jr. Incumbent	72%	10,610
Perry L. Bond	18.4%	2,708
Delvin Lane	9.4%	1,387
Write-in votes	0.2%	24
Total Votes		14,729
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 7 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Berlin Boyd Incumbent	26.4%	2,577
Anthony Anderson	24%	2,340
Anthony Ambee Johnson	12.2%	1,192
Thurston Smith	10.5%	1,028
Michael Steven Moore	8.6%	839
David W. Vinciarelli	6.7%	653
Coby V. Smith	4%	390
Eric Dunn	3.7%	362
Alfonzo Durell Lee	3.5%	339
Write-in votes	0.3%	28
Total Votes		7,976
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 8, Position 1 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Joe Brown Incumbent	69.3%	30,397
Victoria E. Young	20.4%	8,967
George Thompson	10.1%	4,445
Write-in votes	0.2%	81
Total Votes		43,890
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 8, Position 2 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Janis Fullilove Incumbent	76.9%	34,397
J. Eason	11%	4,934
Isaac Wright	11.9%	5,322
Write-in votes	0.2%	98
Total Votes		44,751
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 8, Position 3 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Martavius D. Jones	44.9%	19,680
Mickell Lowery	41%	17,965
Jacqueline Camper	13.9%	6,078
Write-in votes	0.1%	60
Total Votes		43,783
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 9, Position 1 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kemp Conrad Incumbent	70%	33,050
Robin A. Spielberger	16.9%	7,990
Charley Burch	12.8%	6,057
Write-in votes	0.3%	128
Total Votes		47,225
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 9, Position 2 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Philip C. Spinosa, Jr.	47.2%	23,695
Kenneth Twigg Whalum, Jr.	23.5%	11,807
Paul Shaffer	14.1%	7,082
Stephanie Gatewood	11.1%	5,579
Lynn Moss	3.9%	1,950
Write-in votes	0.1%	56
Total Votes		50,113
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

Memphis City Council District 9, Position 3 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Reid Hedgepeth Incumbent	61.2%	27,825
Stephen Christian	19.6%	8,910
Zachary Ferguson	18.8%	8,567
Write-in votes	0.3%	156
Total Votes		45,458
Source: Shelby County Election Commission, "Memphis Election 2015 October," accessed October 8, 2015

District map

Below is a map of Memphis' council districts in 2015. Click the map to return to the candidate list.

Election rules

Memphis has a hybrid system of elections where some races proceed to runoffs while others do not. In the mayoral and at-large city council races (Districts 8 and 9), the winner only needed a plurality and no majority was required. In the individual districts (Districts 1-7), if no one candidate received a majority, the race proceeded to a runoff election on November 19, 2015.

Issues

Blight and population loss

Urban decay, or blight, is the deterioration of cities due to neglect, age and vacant properties. Many candidates in 2015 declared blight as an urgent problem in Memphis. Tied to this issue was the city's population loss, where lack of opportunity or jobs spurred residents to leave, contributing to blight and the atmosphere of abandonment and decay.

Comments from Memphis' 2015 mayoral candidates on population loss and blight.

A. C. Wharton Mayor A. C. Wharton's campaign website said his "zero tolerance policies for blight will result in even more lawsuits and prosecutions of all violations for noncompliance, using the new Vacant Property Registry that to [sic] immediately determine property ownership." He also said he would expand the 25 Square anti-blight program and work more with community organizations like Lifeline to Success. During a debate on August 10, Mayor Wharton accused mayoral candidate Councilman Jim Strickland of being a "Dr. No" when the council came up with programs for the city. On Councilman Jim Strickland's campaign website, he lamented that "the census showed that more than 50,000 people moved out of Memphis in a decade." Due to the changed state annexation laws, he said, this population loss and restricted annexation would soon strongly affect Memphis negatively. In the August 10 debate, Strickland claimed that Mayor Wharton had failed to combat the problem by saying, "Our city is more violent than it was a few years ago, it's more blighted than it was a few years ago, and it's more littered than it was a few years ago." In his back-to-the-basics plan, Strickland said in order to avoid more population loss, the city needed to "Clean up the trash, the blight and pave our streets." Jim Strickland Harold B. Collins Harold B. Collins said that the city needed to focus on making the city a desirable place to live in order to attract young people and prevent population loss. At a forum for mayoral candidates in July, Collins criticized Mayor Wharton for the underwhelming success of his major projects. "Our kids still do not want to be here. It’s image and what we do with our resources. Bass Pro, Electolux, few jobs, not much money: Something’s not right about that. We need to let the Chamber of Commerce know that our city is not a low-wage community," he stated. He said the businesses added too few jobs to make a differences and that the wages were low.

Crime

Crime proved to be another significant issue in Memphis' municipal elections. The budget for the police force, the number of officers and the benefits for members of the police force were popular topics on the campaign websites of candidates and at the debates.

Comments from Memphis' 2015 mayoral candidates on crime.

A. C. Wharton According to his campaign website, "Mayor Wharton is emphasizing the three prongs of crime reduction: fighting crime through smart police protection, preventing crime through programs that reduce risks for criminal behavior, and intervening in the lives of young people so they do not embark on lives of crime." He emphasized that body and dash cameras on police would start being used in the fall. Upon announcing his candidacy for mayor, Harold B. Collins said he would put a focus on crime if elected. "You will see police cars on the street in your neighborhood. We will focus our energy on that because neighborhoods are the sustainability of our city," he said. Collins stated that the city needed 2,500 police officers and that he would work to hire that number. He also said that he voted against reducing benefits for police officers. Collins said the city needed to increase transparency in order to boost trust between residents and police. "African-American males feel threatened when they see police officers who do not treat them right. It’s about transparency," he added. Harold B. Collins Jim Strickland Jim Strickland said he had a "zero tolerance" policy for violence and called for a more visible approach to Blue CRUSH, the aggressive, statistics-based policing strategy the city adopted in 2006. He proposed focusing on the use of technology to prevent crime. "You put all these crimes in the computer and the computer figures out what time a day, what day of the week, the place, what place in the city most crimes occur," he said. Mayoral candidate Mike Williams advocated restoring the benefits of the city's first responders to the levels of 2013 in order to retain a top-notch police force. He criticized the reduction of benefits, saying, "With crime I think they made a mistake when they started taking benefits away from police officers. We have police officers that are running out of the door." Mike Williams

Census information

The table below shows demographic information about Memphis, Tennessee, from the United States census.

Demographic data for Memphis, Tennessee (2015)
	Memphis	Tennessee
Total population:	657,167	6,595,056
Land area (square miles):	315	41,235
Race and ethnicity
White:	30.2%	77.8%
Black/African American:	62.8%	16.8%
Asian:	1.8%	1.6%
Native American:	0.2%	0.3%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.1%
Two or more:	1.7%	2%
Hispanic/Latino:	6.7%	4.9%
Education
High school graduation rate:	83.7%	85.5%
College graduation rate:	25.2%	24.9%
Income
Median household income:	$36,445	$45,219
Persons below poverty level:	27.6%	21.4%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Memphis Tennessee Election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Memphis, Tennessee municipal elections, 2015 - Google News

See also

• United States municipal elections, 2015
• Memphis, Tennessee

External links

Suggest a link

• Shelby County Election Commission - Election Calendar 2015
• Shelby County Election Commission - Official candidate list