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Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton cruised to victory on Thursday with 60
percent of the vote, spanking 24 opponents in the special election to
replace longtime Memphis mayor Willie Herenton.
With turnout at close to 25 percent of the city’s 423,107 registered voters, Wharton’s easy win hardly represents a mandate.
Still, it marks a striking shift in power at City Hall. Wharton, 65,
becomes the city’s first new mayor in nearly 18 years, replacing the
controversial Herenton, who retired from his fifth term on July 30
under the cloud of a federal investigation.
Wharton will serve out Herenton’s unfinished term until 2011. He’ll
be sworn in after the Shelby County Election Commission certifies the
election results Oct. 26.
“It’s not about me, it’s about our city,” Wharton said during his
victory speech Thursday night to a crowd of cheering supporters at
Minglewood Hall in Midtown. “Because of the voters, what was once a
dream is now reality.”
Although Wharton had served as Herenton’s campaign chairman and
longtime ally, some opponents were unable to cast the county’s former
public defender and two-term county mayor as more of the same.
Wharton, who won 60 percent of the vote with all 227 precincts
reporting, announced his bid for city mayor seven months ahead of his
rivals. He raised $335,711 — more than the other candidates combined —
and enjoyed a commanding lead throughout the campaign.
Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery finished a distant second with 18 percent
of the vote. He made inroads by aggressively campaigning from the
mayor’s office, but the exposure and an ambitious agenda weren’t enough
to overcome his underdog status.
Former mayoral candidate and City Council member Carol Chumney finished third with 10 percent.
Attorney Charles Carpenter — a Herenton campaign manager — waged an
expensive campaign, spending $122,549, including $98,225 he loaned
himself, but he finished fourth with 5 percent.
None of the 21 other candidates received more than 4 percent of the vote.
Herenton may have been controversial and outspoken, but the frenzy
surrounding his on-again, off-again departure didn’t translate into
excitement over his replacement.
“Slow, slow, slow” is how Election Commission chairman Bill Giannini
characterized turnout during early voting and Election Day, totaling
109,339 registered voters. Early voting drew only 48,655, or 11.5
percent, of registered voters.
Throughout the campaign, Wharton relied heavily on a unification theme, with the slogan, “One Memphis.”
Accepting victory, he delivered a stirring call for optimism and
unity to face city concerns including crime and shoddy education.
“Let me tell you this: I can see the sun breaking through the
clouds, and I can feel the light streaming down on this great city ...
and shining down on one Memphis,” Wharton said.
By 9 p.m., Lowery had already made his concession speech to a small crowd of supporters at his Whitehaven headquarters.
“He had more money and a better organized campaign,” Lowery said before leaving to congratulate Wharton in person.
“I have run the mayor’s office and the campaign the way I thought it
should be done,” said Lowery, who was first elected to the City Council
in 1991. “I gave the public a chance to see what I would do.”
While Lowery, the former council chairman, said he’ll focus again on
his council duties, he also left the door open for another mayoral run
in 2011.
Meanwhile, Chumney, who had expressed confidence in her ability to
chip away at Wharton’s base of support, conceded shortly after Lowery.
“I was running against a formidable opponent, I know that,” she said
from her campaign’s election-night celebration at Cafe Ole in Midtown.
“I hope someday a woman can be the mayor of Memphis, even if it’s not
me.”
Pro wrestler Jerry Lawler, who walked away with a fifth-place finish
and 4 percent of the vote, sounded crestfallen when reached at his
campaign headquarters.
“When you’re surrounded by supporters and campaign workers, it’s
easy to get a false sense of where you are in the race,” he said. “We
all knew Wharton was a favorite but I didn’t think the numbers would be
like they are.”
The race to replace Herenton turned into a free-for-all early when
25 people — including Beale Street restaurateur Thomas “Silky” Sullivan
and perennial candidate Robert “Prince Mongo” Hodges — tossed their
names into contention.
But as the campaign kicked into gear, only the top handful of
candidates wound up waging an aggressive campaign against Wharton, the
early front-runner who was consistently cast as winner in pre-election
polls. |
