VOL. 133 | NO. 89 | Thursday, May 3, 2018
Commission Races Feature Basar Upset, Lowery is Newest Commissioner
By Bill Dries
The 13-member Shelby County Commission will have eight new faces when all of the votes are counted in the Aug. 2 county general election.
Five of the current incumbent commissioners are term-limited from seeking re-election this year and two other incumbents chose not to seek a second term.
And in the Tuesday, May 1, county primary elections, District 13 Republican incumbent Steve Basar was upset by challenger Brandon Morrison – a mother of five and Second Presbyterian Church deacon who has also worked in equity research and has served on numerous community boards.

Mary Frances Pitts votes for the primary election for the Shelby County Mayor's office position at Open Door Bible Church. (Daily News/Houston Cofield)
Morrison meets George Monger, a former Shelby County Election Commissioner who currently works at Made In Memphis Entertainment, on the August county general election ballot. Monger beat Charlie Belenky in Tuesday’s Democratic primary by 244 votes in the closest election on the primary ballot.
The unofficial results in the Republican primary are: Morrison, 2,938; Basar, 1,488
The unofficial results in the Democratic primary are: Monger, 1,208; Belenky, 964
Meanwhile, Mickell Lowery, a FedEx employee and chairman of the Memphis Housing Authority board, claimed the District 8 County Commission seat by winning Tuesday’s Democratic primary over rivals J.B. Smiley Jr., Daryl L. Lewis and Edith Ann Moore. The seat is currently held by Democrat Walter Bailey, who is term-limited. There is no Republican or independent contender for the seat on the August ballot.
The unofficial results are: Lowery, 2,373; Smiley, 745; Lewis, 299; Moore, 233
Democratic incumbent commissioner Eddie Jones was effectively re-elected with his victory over Eric Winston on Tuesday’s Democratic primary in District 11. Jones faces no Republican or independent opposition on the August ballot.
The unofficial results are: Jones, 2,334; Winston, 1,105
Memphis City Council member Edmund Ford Jr. had little trouble winning the most crowded race on the ballot Tuesday – the Democratic primary for County Commission District 9, currently held by his cousin, Justin Ford. Justin Ford is term limited and is running for the state Senate in the August legislative primaries.
Edmund Ford Jr. beat rivals Roz Nichols, Jonathan M. Lewis, Adrian Killebrew, Pamela Williams Kelly, Ian Jeffries and Jonathan Lang Smith. He meets Republican Sharon Webb in the August county general election. Webb, a former Memphis City Schools board member, ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.
If Ford wins the general election for the commission seat, it would trigger an appointment to fill the City Council seat he would vacate until the winner of the October 2019 city elections takes office in January 2020.
The unofficial results are: Edmund Ford, 3,711; Nichols, 1,233; Lewis, 1,140; Killebrew, 689; Kelly, 188; Jeffries, 114; Smith, 27
Local Republican steering committee member Amber Mills won the party’s primary for County Commission District 1, the seat now held by Republican Terry Roland, who is term-limited and ran for county mayor. Mills beat Melody McLeary to advance to the August election where she will meet Democratic nominee Racquel Collins of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, who ran unopposed Tuesday in her primary.
The unofficial primary results are: Mills, 1,856; McLeary, 1,488
Mick Wright won the Republican primary for County Commission District 3 over Lindsey Massey to meet Democrat Monica Timmerman on the August ballot. Timmerman ran unopposed Tuesday. The race is for the seat Republican incumbent David Reaves is giving up.
The unofficial primary results are: Wright, 2,655; Massey, 2,140
The race for County Commission District 5, currently held by Republican commission chairwoman Heidi Shafer, who is term-limited, is between Republican Richard E. Morton and Democrat Michael Whaley.
Morton, who last ran as the Republican nominee for General Sessions Court Clerk in 2016 and works in the Probate Court Clerk’s office, beat Geoff Diaz, who ran for commission four years ago and is executive director of Crye-Leike Realtors.
Whaley, the founding director of Leadership for Educational Equity, beat Lawrence Pivnick, a retired University of Memphis Law School professor, in the Democratic primary.
The unofficial Republican primary results are: Morton, 1,380; Diaz, 887
The unofficial Democratic primary results are: Whaley, 1,610; Pivnick, 323
Take ‘Em Down 901 founder and leader Tami Sawyer is the Democratic nominee for the County Commission District 7 seat that Democratic incumbent Melvin Burgess is giving up because of term limits and his bid to be property assessor. She bested former Shelby County Schools board member Stephanie Gatewood and Eric Dunn in the primary. Sawyer faces Republican nominee Sam Goff in the August general election. Goff had no opposition in his primary.
The unofficial Democratic primary results are: Sawyer, 2,249; Gatewood, 1,599; Dunn, 627
The commission primaries were a formality for Democratic incumbents Van Turner and Willie Brooks, who ran unopposed and face no Republican or independent opposition in August.
Democratic incumbent Reginald Milton ran unopposed in his primary and faces no Republican opposition, but does go up against independent challenger Vontyna Durham in the August general election.
Meanwhile, Republican David Bradford and Democrat Tom Carpenter had already advanced to the August county general election in County Commission District 2, the seat now held by Republican George Chism who is the Republican nominee for county trustee. Bradford and Carpenter were each unopposed Tuesday in their respective primaries.
The same is true of County Commission District 5 Republican incumbent Mark Billingsley and his Democratic challenger Kevin Haley.