WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): Saturday, Aug. 1 is the last day of early voting before the Aug. 6 election. Candidates are making their final appeals either for local offices or for the November general election. With us again is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. It's good to be back with you.
BLANK: Well, first of all, we've been following some of the early voting numbers and they are up across the state. What do you think is the biggest race in this election for Shelby County voters and why does the outcome matter?
SANFORD: The biggest race right now for Shelby County voters is the Democratic congressional primary in District 9. And the reason I say that is because you have two well-established candidates in that Democratic primary, with State Senator London Lamar and State Rep. Justin J. Pearson. And whoever wins that nomination will tell us a lot about the mood of Democratic voters in that district, whether they want to go with someone who's more moderate and a consensus builder or they want to go with someone who's more of a firebrand, and in some ways confrontational, and is willing to call out Republicans in every way possible. I think the outcome of that is going to be really significant.
BLANK: Well, one of the questions for local Democrats, especially in those congressional primaries, is the future of the Memphis Safe Task Force. And there has been some recent killings by agents and the National Guard troops and this has stoked public opinion about this one way or the other. Republicans like Brent Taylor are running on the success of the task force, while Democrats like London Lamar are running on its lack of transparency. How do you think this will affect the campaigning after next Thursday's results?
SANFORD: A lot of it depends on who wins the Democratic primary, but I think either one of them will really make the case that we need more transparency, especially from the federal law enforcement agencies that are involved. We have not gotten much transparency at all as it relates to these fatal shootings. I think Brent Taylor, who is easily expected to win the Republican primary, is going to continue to say that the task force is doing a great job-- it's all about crime, it's all about this, it's all about that. But I do think that the Democratic nominee can put him a little bit on the defensive about the lack of transparency.
BLANK: Otis, the media tends to focus on the major races. And then, you know, as a voter, you get to the polls and then you see this ballot with a lot of unfamiliar names. You have to vote for judges, property assessors, school board members. How do you prepare to go to vote? Where do you get your recommendations?
SANFORD: Well, I mean, I'm a different kind of bird than the average voter because I keep up with all of this stuff. The judges are trickier, as you mentioned. So, what I try to do is to ask around, talk to people, and see who is the best qualified in terms of their experience. But I try to find as much information as I can, anywhere I can.
BLANK: Wow, it takes a lot of work to be a good citizen there, Otis.
SANFORD: Well, it really does. And I wrote a column about this in the Daily Memphian about the lack of traditional newspapers offering that kind of guidance. And newspapers have given that up. And I think that was a mistake, because I do think a lot of voters trusted the newspaper, especially in races where they didn't know anything about the candidates. And that would be these judicial races to help them try to discern who is the best capable. We don't have that anymore. And that's shortchanging the voters.
BLANK: On another issue, as you may know, SpaceX or xAI promised to put money into four public schools that are near the data centers in South Memphis. But a recent report in the Daily Memphian found that the company is coming up short on those promises. And this is just a small part of a larger conversation about xAI and the data centers. But why does it matter?
SANFORD: It's important be because a lot of officialdom in town were touting the fact that "they're going to pump a lot of money into Memphis, it's going to be great." But they're not following through on some of those things. That's why we should be concerned.
BLANK: And we've been reading more about small Tennessee towns already starting to take steps regulating new data centers from being built. And it's interesting because small towns might have more to gain from big-time property taxes. But do you think this xAI tale here in Memphis has been a cautionary one, maybe, for those other cities, when it comes to data centers?
SANFORD: Oh, I think so. First of all, they are concerned about the pollution, they are concerned about the noise. Those are number one and number two. But I think what has happened here in Memphis in terms of the SpaceX not following through on everything that they promised is a cautionary tale for these smaller towns to say, "Wait a minute, are you going to make good on what you are promising us? If you're not doing it in Memphis and Shelby County, if you're not doing it across the state line in DeSoto County, what makes us think that you're going to do it for us?" This is something that smaller communities in Tennessee should be paying attention to.
