Four more years: Lee Harris reelected as mayor of Shelby County in extension of blue wave

Shelby County will have another four years of Mayor Lee Harris after he was reelected Thursday night, defeating Memphis City Councilman Worth Morgan, the Republican who sought to unseat the Democratic county mayor.

"I’m grateful to the voters and really humbled for the results of tonight," Harris said. "I’d like to say thank you roundly. What happened tonight is we saw a coalition of working families come together and give voice to their desire to say how government works on their behalf. I’m thrilled and we're excited to see what comes next on this campaign over the next months."

Unofficial vote totals, including early voting and all 142 precincts, gave Harris 57.86% of the vote (76,908 votes) Thursday night to Morgan's 42.03% (55,859 votes). Absentee ballots had not yet been tabulated.

A fifth generation Memphian, Harris, 43, was sworn in as the sixth mayor of Shelby County on Sept. 1, 2018, part of a "blue wave" of Democrats that swept the county. In 2014, Harris was elected to the State Senate, becoming the youngest senator in the state of Tennessee at the time. Democratic senators selected him to serve as the Senate Minority Leader. Before that, he served on the Memphis City Council, starting in 2011.

With a law degree from Yale, Harris was a professor at the University of Memphis for 14 years.

Morgan, 35, has served on the City Council, from 2016 to today. He’s also a native Memphian, the son of Allen Morgan, a founder and former chairman of investment firm Morgan Keegan. Today, Morgan is a private investor.

Around 11 p.m. Thursday, Morgan told supporters at his watch party that the numbers did “not look good.”

“Right now, it just doesn’t quite look like enough," Morgan said, according to a live stream from Action News 5. "It has been an incredible journey and there are things that were worth fighting for and talking about and discussing on this campaign that go on and far beyond the scope of just this campaign. The only way you lose that fight is to just quit fighting. I hope this experience inspires others to step up and do it for the right reasons, to talk about the right issues in our community and to focus on the right priorities.”

In an often-heated campaign, Harris portrayed himself as a voice for working people, someone who’d raised the minimum wage for county employees, fought for parental leave and advocated for the county to get involved in funding the Memphis Area Transit Authority. He garnered the support of the majority of the county’s labor organizations, ranging from the AFL-CIO Labor Council, Teamsters Local 667, United Campus Workers, Ironworkers Local 167, SEIU Local 205 (representing healthcare workers), The Memphis Shelby County Education Association, The Memphis and West Tennessee Building and Construction Trades Council, CWA Local 3806 and the United Education Association.

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Morgan focused his campaign on crime, saying Harris had cut millions from the sheriff’s budget (which never happened). Both the county’s law enforcement unions, the Memphis Police Association and the Shelby County Deputy Sheriffs Association, supported Morgan.

Harris’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the distribution of vaccines in Shelby County also provided fodder for Morgan to attack the incumbent mayor, calling it a “complete void in leadership.”

In February 2021, the state cut Shelby County out of vaccine distribution, turning the work over to the City of Memphis. Shelby County didn’t regain the ability to distribute COVID-19 vaccines until December 2021. The state found deficiencies in Shelby County’s handling of vaccines, and both the director of the county’s health department and its chief of nursing resigned.

But Harris has said his reelection will mean an increased focus on healthcare for the people of Shelby County, particularly working on access to primary care providers for low-income residents of Shelby County.

In his first term as mayor, Harris ushered through what will likely be $34 million in funding for early childhood education over four years, a historic investment allowing every child in need to have access to pre-kindergarten education. Harris also passed a paid parental leave program for Shelby County employees, eliminated inquiry into criminal history from most Shelby County Government employment applications and delivered a property tax relief program for veterans, the elderly and the disabled.

And, he championed a plan to provide equity in pay with a 20% pay raise for public safety employees, which was approved with a unanimous vote by the Shelby County Commission.

While campaigning earlier Thursday, Harris said one of the first things he'd do if reelected would be to ensure that more families have healthcare access, but also to work on public safety, creating more meaningful opportunities for youth and more second-chance programming for offenders.

After his win, he praised several of the incumbents who had lost their seats to newcomers, including allies of Harris. Those incumbents included Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael, who was ousted by Judge Tarik Sugarmon, and District Attorney General Amy Weirich, who was ousted by Democrat Steve Mulroy.

Both had "heart(s) for service," Harris said, even though he didn't always agree with their policies.

And, Harris praised Morgan, his opponent, saying that he got to know him a bit during the campaign and believes he will have a "bright future."

"I think we'll hear from him and he'll have more to add to the conversation," Harris said.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Four more years: Lee Harris reelected as mayor of Shelby County