Memphis, TN is a vibrant city with an active political scene. In the past few years, there have been changes in the leadership of Memphis and its surrounding areas. The most recent election saw Lee Harris take office as mayor of Memphis, bringing fresh energy and ideas to the city. Harris has worked to improve education, public safety, infrastructure and economic development. Additionally, Memphis’s City Council is made up of numerous representatives from its nine districts who serve as a voice for their constituents. Through collaboration and hard work, these elected officials strive to make decisions that will benefit the entire city and ensure it remains a place where people want to live and work.
The political climate in Memphis, TN is strongly liberal.
Shelby County, TN is strongly liberal. In Shelby County, TN 64.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 34.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Shelby county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 64.4% to 34.0%.
Shelby county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Memphis, TN is strongly liberal.
Shelby County, Tennessee is strongly liberal.
Memphis Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Tennessee is moderately conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Memphis, Tennessee: D D D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Memphis, TN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 51,985 contributions totaling $4,863,639 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $94 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 18,606 contributions totaling $12,061,798 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $648 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)