MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shelby County is not exactly a hotbed for national politics. Candidates for President have not campaigned here during a general election in 20 years, primarily because Tennessee has been a solid red state for about that long. But that does not mean there is low interest here in national campaigns. In fact, the opposite is true.
As The Commercial Appeal reported Sunday, tens of thousands of county residents care enough to send millions in campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans. The paper examined data from the Federal Election Commission for the first eight months of 2020. What the CA found is that county residents contributing to Democrats far outnumbered those who gave to Republicans. But Republican donors are obviously wealthier, and their contributions exceed that of Democrats, though not by much.
Another tidbit from the data is that FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith and his wife gave almost $300,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Although the Political Action Committee at FedEx contributes to both Republicans and Democrats.
Overall, what the data tells me is that lots of local residents have a stake in the outcome of this national election. And if you go by the principle of one person one vote, Democrats are making much more of a difference in Shelby County.
In other words, turnout this year will be enormous. And that’s my point of view.
