Early voting starts Wednesday for House District 86. Here's who is trying to replace Barbara Cooper

Samuel Hardiman, Memphis Commercial Appeal
·1 min read

After the death of State Rep. Barbara Cooper, Gov. Bill Lee called a special election to fill the seat. The primary is Jan. 24.

Early voting for the primary starts Wednesday and ends on Jan. 19. The general election is scheduled for March 14. Because no Republican candidate qualified, the Democratic primary serves as the de facto election.

The seat stretches north and south along the Mississippi River, going from Southwest Memphis through Downtown to Millington. If you want to find out if you live in the district, you can go to the Shelby County Election Commission's website.

Here's a list of the Democratic candidates on the ballot in the order they appear. There are no Republicans on the ballot:

  • Rod Blount

  • Julian T. Bolton

  • Tanya L. Cooper

  • Juliette Eskridge

  • Dominique Frost

  • Clifford Lewis

  • Justin J. Pearson

  • Will Richardson

  • Rebecca Robinson

  • Andrew "Rome" Withers

Primary is to replace long-serving legislator

Cooper died Oct. 25 and was reelected on Nov. 8. She was the oldest member of the Tennessee General Assembly and among the oldest Democrats serving in office nationwide.

She was first elected in 1996 after a career as a teacher. Cooper's daughter, Tanya Cooper, is among those running for the seat.

County Commission plans to appoint a primary winner to fill the seat

Chairman Mickell Lowery said the commission plans appoint the person already chosen by the public in the Jan. 24 primary for the seat, allowing that person to start work in the legislature sooner.

The timing of the election means the seat, without an interim appointment, will be vacant during the upcoming session of the Tennessee General Assembly.

The commission plans to make the appointment on Feb. 1.

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commmercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: who is running to replace Barbara Cooper Memphis