WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): The results are in from Thursday's election here in Shelby County. With us again is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back!
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris, good to be with you.
BLANK: Well, let's start at the top of the ballot with the U.S. Senate primaries. It looks like Knoxville state representative Gloria Johnson — famously one of the Tennessee three — won the Democratic primary. She even celebrated that win here in Memphis. She'll be facing incumbent Republican Marsha Blackburn in November, who is, as we know, an ardent Trump supporter. Given that Trump does appear to be struggling against a re-energized Democratic party right now, what does that do for this senate campaign?
SANFORD: Well, I think it makes a little bit more interesting. But I don't think it changes the expected outcome. Tennessee is still a bright red state, and even though Donald Trump is struggling mightily nationally and especially in the swing states, Tennessee is not a swing state. And they don't care that he shows tinges of racism and everything else that he's been doing and they don't care that Kamala Harris has caught fire.
So that bodes well for Marsha Blackburn, but I do think that with this new burst of energy, turnout is going to be extremely high in Shelby County, in Davidson County and possibly Knox County where Gloria Johnson is from. And she'll make it more interesting, but I doubt she wins.
BLANK: I know, Otis, you were keeping an eye on this race for Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk not because it's such an exciting job title. But because even administrative jobs like this one are now seen through a lens of national politics. I'm assuming you saw Donald Trump's appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists this week, and I don't know that he did Republicans anywhere a favor with that, but especially those running for office in a Black community. Looking ahead, what do you think it's going to take qualified Shelby County Republicans to get elected to countywide office here?
SANFORD: Well, it's going to take a miracle really, Chris, honestly. But I think beyond that, they're going to have to change their political ways. The Republican party in Tennessee, especially, but even in some places here in Shelby County, they have alienated Memphis voters who are traditionally Democratic voters. They have alienated them to no end. And it's just keeps on going with the legislature — with the way they treat Memphis. Even in this race the Republican Party locally ran a very negative race against Tami Sawyer and compare her to [County Clerk] Wanda Halbert.
And those two people are not alike at all. And so that's the problem here. As long as Republicans, especially at the state level, continue to treat Memphians the way they do, I don't think that they will win any countywide election any time in the near future.
BLANK: There were a lot of Tennessee primaries on the Thursday ballot. Pretty much incumbents won all of their seats. Did anything in those races stand out to you?
SANFORD: Well, not really because you know, the districts in in Tennessee legislature are so gerrymandered that there's really no surprise. I think in District 96, where Dwayne Thompson who had been the incumbent decided not to run for re-election. That one was fairly interesting and of course, we will see somebody new there because the Republicans did not even put up a candidate there. That was the only one that was of any interest.
BLANK: Well, finally Otis, I don't know that it would be called a 'shake-up,' but there will be some changes to the Memphis Shelby County Schools board. Looks like board chairwoman, Althea green, has lost the job to Natalie McKinney. What did this election say about the recent last few years with Memphis Shelby County Schools?
SANFORD: It tells me that the voters the ones who did turn out (and it was a very low turnout), but the ones who did they were not happy with the way this school board acted over the last couple of years. The superintendent search was a debacle, and then even after they picked Marie Feagins, then they have problems with her. And of course, she brought a little that on herself with a lack of communication, but the school board did not look very good at that. And so the voters exacted some punishment to the incumbents today. And you mentioned Althea Greene as one of them. Mauricio Calvo, who I thought was
a very effective school board member, but he was collateral damage as well.
I think the voters are saying we want to have a new slate and maybe this new slate can work better with the new superintendent.