Floyd Bonner Elected First African-American Sheriff in Shelby County
WREG.com, News Channel 3, Bridget Chapman, 8/3/18 – MEMPHIS, Tenn. — History was made Thursday night when Shelby County voters elected an African-American sheriff for the first time.
Floyd Bonner has been serving as chief deputy with more than 30 years of experience.
He beat out conservative opponent Dale Lane.
As the election night went on, the singing, dancing and chanting grew stronger at Bonner’s watch party in East Memphis.
The win means much more to Bonner than a new badge.
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Jim Strickland Elected New Mayor Of Memphis
Tenn.’s largest city elects 1st white mayor in 24 years
The Commercial Appeal, Clay Bailey and Thomas Bailey Jr., 10/9/15 – Voters in this majority-black city elected their first white mayor in 24 years, rebuffing a three-term incumbent whose campaign sagged under rising crime, poverty and troubled finances, according to unofficial election returns.
Although a computer glitch caused a delay of several hours in tallying the vote, Mayor A C Wharton conceded to Councilman Jim Strickland shortly after 10 p.m. CT Thursday, saying he had no regrets about the race. Strickland declared victory a few minutes later.
Complete but unofficial returns showed Strickland took 42% of the vote to Wharton’s 22%. Harold Collins, also a councilman, captured 18% and Mike Williams, president of the Memphis Police Association, had 16%.
Six other candidates stood at less than 1% each. The city’s mayor’s race has no runoff.
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Memphis-Based Sutton Reid Named Finalist for Best Radio Advertising
Listen to our nominated spot “Obama” below.
MEMPHIS, TN, 1/17/2014 – Campaigns & Elections, the nation’s leading political campaigns journal, has selected Memphis advertising agency, Sutton Reid, as a finalist for the 2014 Reed Awards. For the second consecutive year, Campaigns & Elections has honored Sutton Reid for being among the nation’s best creative agencies in political advertising and public affairs.
“Obama,” a 60-second radio commercial created by Steven Reid of Sutton Reid Advertising, was selected as a finalist in the category of Best Radio Spots: Best Use of Voice Over Talent. The advertisement was created in 2013 for the citywide campaign to fund universal Pre-K classes in Memphis.
“Being selected by the Reed Awards is one of the most prestigious honors in political advertising,” said Steven Reid, president of Sutton Reid. “It’s an even greater honor to know that our small agency is recognized among some of our country’s largest and finest agencies, especially since Sutton Reid is one of a few finalists outside of our nation’s capital.”
The Reed Awards is named in honor of Stanley Foster Reed, founder of Campaigns & Elections. The Reed Awards recognize outstanding work in direct mail, online and print advertising, live and automated phones, radio, TV, political technology, and signage and collateral material.
Winners will be announced at the Sixth Annual Reed Awards to be held February 7, 2014, at the Washington Marriott in Washington, DC.
Kemp Conrad’s What Government Should Be TV Ad
MyFox Memphis, Fox13 News, 10/6/11 – All of the city council seats were up for grabs Thursday night, but one of the hottest races was in Super District 9 Position 1 where Republican incumbent Kemp Conrad faced Democrat Paul Shaffer.
Both Shaffer’s and Conrad’s campaigns raised a lot of money, and in the end that cash bought Conrad a victory on the Memphis City Council.
Conrad raised more than $140,000, and some are calling that a council record. Shaffer brought in about $75,000, and gained the support of nearly every city worker union.
Kemp Conrad: 19,919 votes, 64%
Paul Shaffer: 11,313 votes, 36%
*88 of 88 precincts reporting
A C Wharton’s Resounding Win
Commercial Appeal, Amos Maki, 10/6/11 – Memphis Mayor A C Wharton swept aside nine challengers and overcame fierce union opposition to snare a decisive election to his first full term in office.
After months of campaigning, the outcome of the mayoral race was never really in doubt. The only questions remaining as voters went to the polls Thursday were about turnout and how big Wharton’s margin of victory would be.
With all 178 precincts reporting, Wharton overcame voter apathy and low turnout to win with 65 percent of the vote. Wharton’s closest competitor was former City Council member Edmund Ford Sr., who gained the support of unions representing city workers and garnered 28 percent of the vote.
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Voters Respond To Call For ‘One Memphis’
Commercial Appeal, Zach McMillin, 10/15/09 – The question came from A C Wharton’s opponents, with increasing frequency and volume: Why would he run in the City of Memphis’s special election when there remained one year on his second and final term as mayor of Shelby County?
It was aimed at the voters as much as Wharton, delivered with skepticism that suggested maybe Wharton should have done more as county mayor, that insinuated Wharton could not be trusted to bring needed change.
As early as 7:50 p.m. Thursday, when Wharton campaign manager Julian Bolton delivered early-voting results to Wharton’s crowd at Minglewood Hall, it was clear voters would be giving Wharton the ultimate rejoinder: More than 63 percent of the early vote was Wharton’s and the celebration could begin.
Strickland Campaign Ad Picked ‘Best’
Memphis City Councilman Jim Strickland’s "Making a Difference" campaign commercial took home a 2007 award for best political television commercial in Tennessee.
