The fantastic Commercial Appeal research library helped us with today's story on the county mayoral race by tracking down numbers from past races for the position. For whichever reasons, the position has never featured a competitive race, unless you consider the Roy Nixon's 1975 victory in the very first contest, with 45 percent of the vote to John Ford Canale's 33 percent, to be "close." In the last 30 years, the closest margin of victory came in A C Wharton's 2002 blowout of George Flinn, when he got 62 percent of the vote and finished 47,690 votes ahead despite Flinn spending more than $1 million.
Whether this year's race will be "close" or not may depend on your definition of "close." Interim mayor and Democratic candidate Joe Ford said his polls show him with a lead of six percentage points, while Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell, the Republican candidate, said the polling he trusts most has shown him with a consistent double-digit advantage. Luttrell, however, is certainly running like it's very tight, aggressively seeking votes from Memphis Democrats by touting his record as sheriff -- and hoping they will forgive him for beng the county chair of both Bob Corker's 2006 senate campaign and the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign.
As the story points out, the result of a close race appears to be a campaign that forces both candidates to run campaigns that do more than just attempt to galvanize their respective voting bases.
Click on the jump to see the results of previous county mayor races:
Whether this year's race will be "close" or not may depend on your definition of "close." Interim mayor and Democratic candidate Joe Ford said his polls show him with a lead of six percentage points, while Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell, the Republican candidate, said the polling he trusts most has shown him with a consistent double-digit advantage. Luttrell, however, is certainly running like it's very tight, aggressively seeking votes from Memphis Democrats by touting his record as sheriff -- and hoping they will forgive him for beng the county chair of both Bob Corker's 2006 senate campaign and the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign.
As the story points out, the result of a close race appears to be a campaign that forces both candidates to run campaigns that do more than just attempt to galvanize their respective voting bases.
Click on the jump to see the results of previous county mayor races:
County Mayor elections results over the years:
1975
Roy C. Nixon 73,367 (45 percent)
John Ford Canale 53,508 (33 percent)
Dedrick 'Teddy' Withers 18,130 (11.1 percent)
Jim White 17,751 (10.9 percent)
Charles Gordon Vick 915 (0.5 percent)
1978
Bill Morris: 41,174 (50.8 percent)
John Ford Canale - 24,905 (30.7 percent)
Robert, "Prince Mongo" Hodges - 14,049
Ed McBrayer - 9,077
1982
Bill Morris got 90.1 percent of the vote.
1986
Bill Morris got 79. 3 percent of the vote.
1990
Bill Morris 96,059 (77 percent)
Robert Hodges 13,168 (11 percent)
Mary D. Taylor 9,910 (8 percent)
Gene Thomas 5,070 (4 percent)
1994
Jim Rout 98,367 (55 percent)
Jack Sammons 36,086 (20 percent)
W. Otis Higgs 28,648 (16 percent)
John Ford 9,662 (5 percent)
Kenneth Whalum 3,448 (2 percent)
Robert Hodges 1,184 (1 percent)
Robert Jones 758 (.5 percent)
Darron Purifoy 443 (.25 percent)
1998
Jim Rout 87,236 (90 percent)
Robert Hodges 9,800 (10 percent)
2002
A C Wharton 116,489 (62 percent)
G. Flinn 68,799 (37 percent)
B. Young 1,442 (1 percent)
S. Ford 679 (0 percent)
J. Kelly 509 (0 percent)
2006
A C WHARTON 116,077 (75.59 percent)
JOHN H WILLINGHAM 37,405 (24.36 percent)
1975
Roy C. Nixon 73,367 (45 percent)
John Ford Canale 53,508 (33 percent)
Dedrick 'Teddy' Withers 18,130 (11.1 percent)
Jim White 17,751 (10.9 percent)
Charles Gordon Vick 915 (0.5 percent)
1978
Bill Morris: 41,174 (50.8 percent)
John Ford Canale - 24,905 (30.7 percent)
Robert, "Prince Mongo" Hodges - 14,049
Ed McBrayer - 9,077
1982
Bill Morris got 90.1 percent of the vote.
1986
Bill Morris got 79. 3 percent of the vote.
1990
Bill Morris 96,059 (77 percent)
Robert Hodges 13,168 (11 percent)
Mary D. Taylor 9,910 (8 percent)
Gene Thomas 5,070 (4 percent)
1994
Jim Rout 98,367 (55 percent)
Jack Sammons 36,086 (20 percent)
W. Otis Higgs 28,648 (16 percent)
John Ford 9,662 (5 percent)
Kenneth Whalum 3,448 (2 percent)
Robert Hodges 1,184 (1 percent)
Robert Jones 758 (.5 percent)
Darron Purifoy 443 (.25 percent)
1998
Jim Rout 87,236 (90 percent)
Robert Hodges 9,800 (10 percent)
2002
A C Wharton 116,489 (62 percent)
G. Flinn 68,799 (37 percent)
B. Young 1,442 (1 percent)
S. Ford 679 (0 percent)
J. Kelly 509 (0 percent)
2006
A C WHARTON 116,077 (75.59 percent)
JOHN H WILLINGHAM 37,405 (24.36 percent)
"Joe Ford said his polls show him with a lead"
Yeah, he also said he absolutely would not run for the position if chosen as interim Mayor.