John DeBerry, Jr., a Republican candidate for Shelby County Mayor, addressed various topics, including public safety, state involvement in Memphis and Shelby County, education, and more, during this week's WKNO/Channel 10 "Behind the Headlines."
In the discussion led by host Eric Barnes and Daily Memphian reporter Bill Dries, DeBerry elaborated on his political transformation from Democrat to Republican, his 26 years of service in the Tennessee House of Representatives, and his work with Governor Bill Lee.
Despite his change in party affiliation, DeBerry says his beliefs and values have remained consistent throughout his career.
“One of the things I do know, as a matter of fact, is I did not change from my core beliefs. Somewhere along the line, the party priorities changed,” he said.
Discussing public safety, DeBerry explained that state and federal intervention in Memphis followed years of increasing crime rates.
“Memphis was for a while there called the most dangerous city in America,” DeBerry said. “So, the state and the national government didn’t just say, well, let’s go mess with Memphis.”
DeBerry acknowledged that intervention by federal and state agencies, including the Memphis Safe Task Force, was initially necessary in addressing the high crime rate. Now, DeBerry believes it is time to gradually return more law enforcement responsibilities to local agencies.
"Let's make sure that our people can do the job. Let's make sure our streets are safe because our police force, our sheriff department, and our various law enforcement agencies are doing the job, and let the National Guard go home. I think they've done a good job [but] allow the feds, other federal agencies to go home."
The conversation also touched on the newly appointed state oversight board of Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS). DeBerry said the MSCS oversight board should remain focused on financial accountability and governance rather than classroom operations.
“They have not been sent to run the school system,” DeBerry said. “They have not been sent to oversee the teachers.” DeBerry explained that the MSCS oversight board was "sent to make sure that the board properly does what it has a charter responsibility to do, to see that the money is spent right, that it's going to pay the teachers, take care of the schools, and educate the children."
Later in the discussion, DeBerry outlined how he views the role of county mayor and the influence the office can have across the Shelby County government.
DeBerry said the position "was created to build a bridge between other independent agencies like the sheriff's department, the school, the assessor, [and] the trustee. All of them are independent agencies, but the county mayor has a tremendous amount of influence that I do not believe has been properly used in order to bring us together as a county and as a people."
As the conversation concluded, DeBerry criticized low voter turnout and encouraged voters to prioritize candidates' records and ideas over party labels.
“I think what we’ve got to do is keep it competitive,” he said. “Listen to the person, listen to the ideas, and make a decision based upon whether or not you actually believe that that person is going to keep their word.”
The Shelby County general election and federal and state primaries are scheduled for Thursday, August 6, with early voting taking place from Friday, July 17 — Saturday, August 1. Find your polling location(s).
