The conclusion of the Memphis mayor’s race showed how a packed ballot left voters confused and apathetic toward voting, but also how appeals to younger voters and moderates galvanized those who did vote.
Thursday night as he claimed victory as the next Memphis mayor, Paul Young stood beside his family and other supporters, urging both those who voted for him and those who did not to come alongside his vision for the city.
“I want to make sure that together we go through a transformation, a transformation that’s going to take us from hopelessness, hopelessness, to hopeful, from poverty to prosperity, from hurt to healing, from stalled to thriving, and from good to truly great,” Young said.
With 17 candidates on the ballot for mayor, Young’s campaign kicked off strong, raising more money than any other candidate including donations from every zip code in Memphis, a statistic often touted by his campaign.
His campaign workers hustled, knocking on doors, attending forums and pushing back on attacks from other candidates without also slinging mud.
Just 43 at the time of his election, Young campaigned on a platform of bringing jobs and a strong economy to Memphis, building off his time as head of the Downtown Memphis Commission and director of the city’s division of housing and community development.
Memphis election results:See all the vote totals here
Paul Young’s campaign focused on family
Faced with attacks by other candidates regarding his three votes cast in Republican primaries and for his support of Memphis City Council police reform ordinances, Young pushed back by focusing on his own campaign rather than attacking the campaigns or characters of others.
In one television advertisement, Young starts by mentioning how opponents are “trying to smear my name.” The video, filmed on a playground, transitions seamlessly to Young’s children riding down a slide and hugging his wife Jamila Smith-Young.
In the advertisement, Young talks about supporting families, saying, “It’s time for a new generation of leadership with a vision to push our city forward.”
His message focused on the future: Engaging young people, building up wealth among Memphians and creating a city that is safe. At the same time, he did so while expressing love and affection for the current Memphis.
“I love this town, I love our city. Our best days are ahead of us, not behind us, and together we’re going to get there,” he says in one campaign advertisement.
Power of positivity
It was that message of positivity that resonated with voters, said former Memphis City Councilwoman Tajuan Stout-Mitchell, a close follower of local politics who supported Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner in the mayoral election.
Bonner also didn’t engage in disparagement of other candidates and came in second place.
“That says to me that the Memphians who are voting don’t have an appetite for mudslinging. They want to hear about your issues and what you plan to do,” Stout-Mitchell said. “I thought it was interesting that with all the political clout that one candidate had, he still failed to come in close. That was some heavyweight political clout, where you have the county mayor, the congressman and Justin Pearson. It also says people are looking at individuals and not big-name politicos.”
The candidate with the political clout — the backing of numerous high-level Democrats — was former Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner, also the former head of the local NAACP. Turner came in fourth place, with 21.25% of the vote, falling behind Young, Bonner and former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton.
Young won with more than 4,500 votes than Bonner, his closest competitor, but just 24,408 votes total out of Memphis’ 373,091 registered voters.
Paul Young to lead a city that, for the most part, didn’t vote for him
Only about 88,000 people in total voted in the Memphis mayor’s race, low voting numbers that concern experts.
Stout-Mitchell said that having won only 27% of those who did vote, Young has his work cut out for him.
“He is going to have to find a way to bring people along that he didn’t have, to get some consensus in the city on how to move forward,” Stout-Mitchell said. “If he doesn’t do it, he will be like others with a one-term tenure. I’m sure he wants two terms.”
The Rev. Keith Norman, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Broad Avenue and vice president of government relations and chief community relations officer at Baptist Memorial Health Care, said Young realizes that fewer than 25,000 votes is not a mandate from the public and does not mean everyone is on board.
“I think Paul hit the nail on the head last night when he said the election is over, campaigning is over, now let’s galvanize,” said Norman, who has known the Young family for years. “He kept saying ‘we’ and ‘Memphis’ and ‘not about him’ and that was such a positive direction. … he’s not vindictive, he’s welcoming and that was the tone that we needed.”
According to unofficial results, Young did well with voters in Downtown, Midtown, and the parts of East Memphis closest to the center of the city.
Bonner held strong throughout East Memphis, while Herenton garnered the most votes in North and South Memphis.
Paul Young, his family, represent ‘hopeful trajectory,’ supporter says
It was Young’s appeal to young families and professionals, along with his hard work and clear communication that propelled his campaign forward, Norman said.
His wife and children were close to him in photos and videos, and his mother and siblings frequently joined him on the campaign trail.
It was his wife, accompanied by their two children, who first came out on stage Thursday night to claim his victory — and to announce that the children would be getting a dog, as promised if their father won.
“It is the hopeful trajectory of what we’re looking for in the city of Memphis,” Norman said. “We’ve been on a population decline for many years and I believe the youthful family representation of Paul and his wife … I think that was smart, an asset. I hope we will attract young African American and other families back to the city of Memphis who will roll up their sleeves, contribute to the tax base and make us the world class city that we are.”
Young’s term as mayor of Memphis will begin Jan. 1.
Katherine Burgess covers Memphis City Government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kathsburgess.