What Democrats' election sweep means for Shelby County [View all]

MEMPHIS -- Shelby County Democrats trounced Republicans last night.

Of the 26 county offices up for grabs, Democrats won all but five — and those were previously Republican commission seats. Before the election, Republicans held nine of the 10 most high-profile county offices, including mayor and sheriff. Now, they hold zero.

How to describe the devastation of last night's win for Republicans? It was a rout. A sweep. A wave that overwhelmed Republicans who had largely controlled the county — not counting the commission, which had a scant Democratic majority — since 2008.

Of course, all eyes were on the mayor's race, where Democrat Lee Harris easily won by more than 10 percentage points:

With 153,583 ballots counted as of 11:03 p.m., Harris had 84,956 votes, or 55.3 percent, to Republican David Lenoir's 68,491 votes, or 44.6 percent, according to unofficial results from the Shelby County Election Commission.

Read more: https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/the-901/2018/08/05/9-01-what-democrats-big-win-last-night-means-shelby-county/861574002/