WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): There's no telling at this point what Tennessee's congressional maps could look like once various lawsuits are finished in state and federal courts. But campaigns are moving forward nonetheless. With us to talk about that is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Good to be with you, Chris.
BLANK: Otis, there is now a spot near the Central Library in Memphis where you can stand on the intersection of three new districts. And you'd have to walk hundreds of miles in any direction to see the other side of them. Republican leaders are upfront about why they divided Memphis voters this way. It's to ensure Democrats cannot win. But it does raise an old question from the Civil Rights Movement and that is: how do you engage Shelby County voters, in particular, who do not feel that the system itself is fair?
SANFORD: And that's going to be the challenge here, Chris, for any Republican including the ones who live close by. They're going to have to justify why this was done and try to make the case that it was not done for racial reasons. And that's a tough case to make in this climate.
BLANK: Well, since these new maps are about getting Republicans elected, let's talk about how those candidates, the current candidates, might address Memphis and Shelby County issues. We'll start with District 5, which now takes up the western half of the county. Who's on deck there?
SANFORD: The incumbent in District 5 is Andy Ogles. He's from Columbia and he has a lot of scandal in his closet, obviously, if people have been paying attention to it. And even if they haven't, this campaign will bring it out. And even though I'm hearing that he intends to campaign here, he's not going to get any votes here. If he wins the primary, Chris, that would be a gift for the Democrats.
BLANK: Well, onto District 8. This is northeast Shelby County. And here there's just one Republican incumbent, David Kustoff. He lives in Germantown. What does his advocacy for our area look like?
SANFORD: Well, of all of the candidates who will be running, David Kustoff has the longest congressional representation that even touches on Memphis and Shelby County. Now, prior to this redistricting, pretty much all of his district was in the rural areas of West Tennessee and Northwest Tennessee, although it did touch on Shelby County, obviously, because he does live in Germantown. Now with this new redistricted map, he has a lot more of Memphis and Shelby County in it. As you said, you're standing on Poplar Avenue right there at the Central Library and that's in David Kustoff district now. And while he has done some things to help Memphis, he's going to have to be a lot more visible. He has basically been avoiding Memphis media for the most part since he has been in Congress. And if he wants to have any shred of credibility here, he needs to spend more time within the city talking to people and go on Memphis media and talk about what he hopes to do not just for the rural areas, but for the inner city as well, because now he represents a larger part of it.
BLANK: Well, finally there's the new District 9, a seat formerly occupied by Democrat Steve Cohen who announced he won't be running in that district. This district reaches halfway across the bottom of the state and kind of forks into Shelby County picking up historic Black neighborhoods like Orange Mound and Hickory Hill, and then a rural part of the county known as Eads. Is there any significance to that?
SANFORD: Anybody who pays attention to local politics knows that there is. And that's where current State Senator Brent Taylor lives. Now, he argues that he has always been in District 9, but whatever. The issue here, especially where Memphis voters are concerned who are still in District 9, is he has to convince them that the things that he has been saying about "Make Memphis Matter" is really true. And so he's going to have to do some serious campaigning within the city. And I don't know how many people, especially in the areas that he would represent, I don't know how much they trust him because a lot of people don't like what this legislature did and he was a vital part of that.
BLANK: Well, talking about Memphis issues -- you would say poverty, crime, housing, education, infrastructure-- which of These new districts could potentially have the biggest impact on the county as a whole?
SANFORD: District 9 still has parts of it--Whitehaven, Hickory Hill --that needs some attention. And so, whoever the nominee is, and it's probably going to be Brent Taylor, I think he has the edge over Charlotte Bergmann, who has been running as a Republican in District 9 forever. I would say it's [Districts] 5 and 9. 8 is more of the Poplar corridor. So, basically where I live out in in Cordova, those areas they don't have as much of the issues that District 5 and District 9 would have in these races.
