MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Polls are now closed for the Shelby County General Election and Tennessee Primary Election across Memphis, and we have election results for the key races in Shelby County.
Shelby County voters decided who will be their next General Sessions Court Clerk, as well as five representatives on the Memphis-Shelby County School Board.
Late July, we spoke with all 18 candidates for those school board seats about what they want to do to improve education in Memphis. We also spoke with both Lisa Arnold and Tami Sawyer, facing off in the race for General Sessions Court Clerk, about their plans for improving that office.
For a full list of election results, go HERE.
Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk
In what some are saying is already an overheated political climate nationally, locally in Shelby County, the race for General Sessions Court clerk isn’t without its share of heated disputes.
Incumbent Joe Brown lost the Democratic primary to former Shelby County commissioner Tami Sawyer earlier this year, while Lisa Arnold was the only Republican to meet the qualifications for the Aug. 1 general ballot.
Both Arnold and Sawyer are campaigning for the role of keeping all of the records for the six civil divisions and nine criminal courts in the state of Tennessee’s largest court system.
In the end, Sawyer pulled ahead and was declared the winner just before final results came in, gaining 54% of the vote.
Memphis-Shelby County School Board
The Shelby County General Election on August 1 will determine who will fill five seats on the Shelby County Board of Education.
Thursday marks the first school board election since then-superintendent Joris Ray was removed from his position, sparking an 18-month-long search for a superintendent, that at times drew major criticism towards the board.
Just one of three incumbents hoping for re-election won their races, with four of the nine total school board seats now represented by new members.
The winners will be sworn in this September and receive a four-year term on the board.
