A three-plus hour mayoral forum Thursday night at First Congregational Church in Cooper-Young featured Daniel Abston, Frank Colvett, J.W. Gibson, Reginald Hall and Paul Young. 

The lawsuits over the five-year residency rule in the mayor’s race get their first court hearing Friday. Meanwhile, four of the mayoral contenders show up for a People’s Convention gathering at LeMoyne-Owen College and council candidates Meggan Kiel and Pearl Walker kick off their bids.

Cary Vaughn was re-elected Shelby County Republican chairman at the local party’s biennial convention, with a call for new blood and a focus on common ground.

As the People’s Convention begins this weekend, local Republicans will decide if they’ll stick with the party’s current leader. Plus, two contenders for the local Democratic party head, more on the mayoral residency issue and who could be waiting in the wings.

The proposed ordinance comes up for council consideration as two contenders in the 2023 race for mayor have filed lawsuits over the current residency requirement.

Turner’s lawsuit is likely to be combined with a similar challenge of the five-year residency requirement filed Monday by Sheriff Floyd Bonner.

An early unaffiliated poll shows Memphis NAACP President Van Turner, former mayor Willie Herenton and Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. tightly bunched at the top of the crowded Memphis mayoral race.

Two contenders for Memphis mayor say they have already decided they will not keep Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis as Memphis Police director if they are elected.

Bonner is seeking to stop enforcement of the city charter’s residency provision for candidates running for Memphis mayor. 

A line added to a page on the Shelby County Election Commission’s website the last day of February has turned this year’s race for Memphis mayor upside down.

The Shelby County Election Commission released a legal opinion Feb. 28 that said Memphis’ five-year residency requirement for mayoral candidates should be enforced in the upcoming Memphis municipal election. 

The business and philanthropic leader kicked off his mayoral bid Monday, March 6, in South Memphis straddling the issues of crime and police reform.

Southaven alderman Charlie Hoots would like to add state representative to his resume.

The Mississippi state GOP leaders ruled Thursday that despite living in D.C. during the Trump Administration, Mandy Gunasekara meets the residency requirements to run for Public Service Commission in the Northern District.

The measure would not apply to this year’s mayoral election. 

The time Mandy Gunasekara spent in D.C. working for the Trump administration has called her residency into question, and her ability to run for the office.

Bonner moves back within the Memphis city limits ahead of his bid for city mayor later this year. 

Several city council races start to take shape with familiar names from the past, and the local Democratic party will have a new leader this spring. Former New York Congressman Lee Zelden talks to Memphis Republicans about competing.

Name recognition could give Herenton an edge, observers say.

Three contenders reported raising $300,000 or better in the first financial report of the mayor’s race. J.W. Gibson talked on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about his mix of contributions with self financing and why he wants to depart from outgoing Mayor Jim Strickland’s “brilliant at the basics” theme.

Candidates file for a number of party primaries in DeSoto County. Two supervisor races are among the contested elections.

Memphis City Council member Frank Colvett formally announced his candidacy Thursday, Feb. 2.

The DMC president raised $347,482 since September compared to the $311,719 raised by Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and $300,000 by businessman and philanthropist J.W. Gibson. 

Environmental activist Justin J. Pearson followed up his Tuesday victory in the District 86 Democratic primary with a 9-0 county commission vote Wednesday, appointing him to the open seat in the Shelby County delegation.

In his first race for elected office, Pearson easily beat attorney and former Shelby County Commissioner Julian Bolton in the Democratic primary. Pearson will be running uncontested in the general election.