The 901: Who could be the next mayor of Memphis?
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Good morning, Memphis, where tonight we see if the Grizzlies have what it takes to continue in the NBA Playoff series without their star player.
But, first, who could be the next mayor of Memphis?
People are beginning to express interest in being the next Memphis mayor as current Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland is scheduled to depart in 2023 after finishing his term, our Samuel Hardiman reports in his story for subscribers.
If term limit rules aren't changed between now and then, political observers expect a wide open race where the winner, like in 2015, could be elected with less than 50% of the vote. That person will likely need to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars and have a message that resonates across a diverse city.
"I think the person who will win is the person who can touch the grassroots voters," said Gale Jones Carson, a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee and a woman who remains a power broker in Memphis politics.
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Tennessee Democratic Party focused on turning state blue
Hendrell Remus, a Memphian and the chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party, said in an interview the party is playing a long game for electoral success in Tennessee, Samuel reports.
On the day after Election Day in November, he said the party will look at the margins of the governor's race, and their question will be whether the party whittled down Gov. Bill Lee's margin of victory as part of the slog to winning statewide elected office.
Brit Bender, a Memphian and the executive director of the party, said the party's concern with Lee's margin of victory does not mean the party is conceding the race, but just acknowledging the uphill battle the party faces in Tennessee.
Unprecedented number of Black women to serve on next Shelby County Commission
On the next board of the Shelby County Commission, at least four — possibly five — out of the total 13 members will include Black women serving simultaneously, our Katherine Burgess reports.
“What a historic night!” Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer tweeted.
Winners of their Democratic primaries included Shante Avant, Miska Clay Bibbs, Henri Brooks, Britney Thornton and Erika Sugarmon, all Black women.
Record number of U of M graduates earned their degrees Saturday
On Saturday, thousands pooled into the halls at FedExForum with family members and friends to coordinate searches for seats at U of M’s spring commencement with a record number of 2,713 students receiving degrees, our Tonyaa Weathersbee writes in her latest column.
Here’s an excerpt:
Before Natalia Salvador Ellis graduated from the University of Memphis yesterday, her husband, Timothy Ellis, had a dozen red roses to complement her cap and gown.
But years earlier, those flowers might have adorned a coffin.
“She was out on a run one day, and she had a really bad accident,” Ellis’ sister-in-law, Karissa Huey, said, as he yielded the storytelling to her.
“She already had a bachelor’s degree, and a major in business and communication, and she worked for a Big Ten Network. But it [the accident] left her with a traumatic brain injury.”
It also derailed her career, Huey said.
If Roe fails, anti-science lawmakers will rule Tennessee women’s lives
Also from Tonyaa, she writes in another column that if Roe is scrapped, Tennessee will survive. But many women and girls — especially Black women and girls in Tennessee who die at twice the rate of white women during childbirth — won’t.
Here’s an excerpt:
On May 2, just hours after Cherisse Scott, founder and CEO of SisterReach, Memphis’ reproductive justice organization, and I were fretting about the horrors awaiting Tennessee women if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, things got real.
Well, almost.
A draft of the highly awaited opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court in a Mississippi case that would ban abortion after 15 weeks and force rape and incest victims to give birth to their predator’s child, was leaked to Politico.
It turned out to be the horror we anticipated.
The decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito and signed off on by justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, would, if it stands, strip women of the right to end a pregnancy. It’s a right that women have held for nearly 50 years; one that respects their health and their humanity.
Can the Grizzlies have one more miracle without Ja Morant?
The Grizzlies are down just 2-1 in this series, but they’re losing on all fronts against Golden State. And now they might have lost Ja Morant, ahead of the game that will decide if they still have a realistic shot to reach the Western Conference finals, our Mark Giannotto writes in his latest column.
Here’s an excerpt:
It could all be a set up.
It could be that the Memphis Grizzlies were trying to see if the NBA would suspend Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole for injuring Ja Morant just like it suspended Dillon Brooks for injuring Gary Payton II.
Maybe that’s why coach Taylor Jenkins said Sunday “there’s a really good chance” Morant doesn’t play in Game 4 of this contentious Western Conference semifinal series with the Warriors leading 2-1.
Maybe Morant will actually be out there on the Chase Center court Monday night, particularly now that the NBA decided not to take any action against Poole. It would be a modern-day Willis Reed story, a star forging ahead through the pain in the biggest moment of the NBA playoffs.
We can dream, right?
The 901 is written by Ray Padilla, digital producer for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at raymond.padilla@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Ray_Padilla_.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: The 901: Look ahead at next Memphis mayor candidates; Grizzlies update
