MEMPHIS, Tenn. — "Yall, we won!" TN House District 90-elect Torrey Harris told his supporters Tuesday night.
His win - by a more than three-to-one margin - signaled a new era for the Memphis district, after he defeated 13-term incumbent John DeBerry said.
"What I'm asking for from the public, from the people who are supporting me, is hold me accountable," Harris said.
Proving that the second time can be the charm, the 29-year-old defeated DeBerry after running against him in 2018 and losing badly. But Harris decided to run again in the district that spans south Memphis, Midtown Memphis, and Frayser.
"We showed that hard work and determination and consistency is what people want to see, so we continued with that," Harris said.
Another major dynamic changed this year in District 90, when the Tennessee Democratic Party removed DeBerry from the party's ticket, following his support with Republican lawmakers on abortion, school vouchers, and other conservative causes.
DeBerry told Local 24 News Wednesday, "the district's voters made their decision. This decision was made in April when I was taken off the Democratic ticket and voters were told to vote straight ticket. No matter how hard I campaigned, in these partisan times, it's hard to win as an independent."
"There's not much hope to win that district unless you have a big D by your name. Torrey Harris had that big D by his name," Susan Adler Thorp, a Memphis political analyst, said Wednesday.
Thorp believed Harris' win signals a changing of the guard in local leadership.
"The new Shelby County Democratic party is young and it's enthusiastic and they really have youth on their side," Thorp said.
Harris said Tuesday night his top priorities in the Tennessee state legislature will be reforming the cash bail system and improving public transportation.
The 29-year-old is also one of the first two LGBTQ candidates ever elected to the Tennessee state House.
