Election day in Shelby County

Ryan Poe | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Brandon Dill / For CommercialAppeal.com

Lee Ardrey Harris was elected mayor of Shelby County on Thursday as a "blue wave" reinstalled Democrats in many top county offices lost in a Republican sweep eight years ago.

Harris declared victory shortly before 9:30 p.m.

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.

General Election: Full Shelby County results

Harris will succeed Republican mayor Mark Luttrell on Sept. 1.

The county was one of a handful across the state that didn't post any results until after 9 p.m.

The election will reshape county government, returning many offices to Democratic control that were handed to Republicans in a 2010 rout of Democrats. The shoe was on the other foot Thursday, though, as Harris led his party to victory.

Democratic sheriff candidate Floyd Bonner thrashed Dale Lane.

Renier Otto / For CommercialAppeal.com

On the commission, Democrat Michael Whaley narrowly beat Republican Richard Morton for a seat that belonged to term-limited Republican Heidi Shafer. That will give the Democratic commissioners eight votes, paving the way for Lee's initiatives.

Down ballot, Democrat Bill Morrison beat Republican Chris Thomas for Probate Court clerk. Democrat Janis Fullilove narrowly beat Republican Bobby Simmons. Democrat Melvin Burgess beat Robert "Chip" Trouy for property assessor. Democrat Regina Newman beat Republican George Chism for trustee. Democrat Temiika D. Gipson beat Republican Tom Leatherwood for Circuit Court clerk. Democrat Heidi Kuhn beat Republican Richard DeSaussure for Criminal Court clerk. Wanda Halbert beat Donna Creson for County Court clerk.

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Republicans fought hard to even keep seats they had — like the County Commission District 1 seat of term-limited Republican Terry Roland. Republican Amber Mills defeated Racquel Collins by 1,755 votes.

Voters also overwhelmingly elected to tie pay raises for charter-required jobs like mayor to state employees' raises, relieving the County Commission of the responsibility of voting on raises for those county jobs. And Memphis voters also chose Ford Canale to replace City Council Super District 9 Position 2 council member Philip Spinosa Jr., who resigned earlier this year to take a job at the Greater Memphis Chamber. Canale had served in the interim.

Shelley Mays/ The Tennessean

Meanwhile, Republican Bill Lee and Democrat Karl Dean won their statewide primaries in the governor's race.

The received political wisdom is that Democrats make up 60 percent of voters, although many of them cross over to vote Republican in general elections. But that didn't happen Thursday — at least, not enough to sway the election. Instead, Democrats voted Democratic, perhaps in response to the polarization of the President Trump era.

Also, turnout was up: A total of 153,583 people cast votes this election, compared to 145,228 in the 2014 mayoral election, according to the Election Commission.

As mayor, Harris vowed to attack the underlying roots of poverty, which quickly became a campaign issue. Harris advocated for new, innovative solutions — as did Lenoir, but in a more conservative way with an eye on keeping government lean and fiscally sound.

Lenoir sounded a lot like Luttrell on many issues, while Harris embraced new approaches to old problems — like the county funding the Memphis Area Transit Authority. Funding MATA, though potentially costly, could address broader quality of life issues and lead to long-term results, he argued. Lenoir took the position that Memphis alone should fund MATA, but expressed a willingness to look closer at the issue.

Stan Carroll / For CommercialAppeal.com

Over the campaign, Lenoir was often the aggressor, accusing Harris of wanting to raise taxes and being weak on stiffening penalties for violent crime.

"I think it's a little offensive to ask for a property tax increase when government isn't right-sized," Lenoir said of last year's commission debate over raising property taxes.

Shortly before the election, Lenoir caught flak for a political attack ad that included a darkened photo of Harris, which some critics said emphasized Harris' black skin.

The public safety theme was a winner for Jim Strickland in the 2015 Memphis mayoral election, but not so for Lenoir. Harris instead found success as he emphasized the need for reentry programs and other programs to reduce incarcerations.

"We need to do something on the other side of the coin, which is prevention," Harris said at a recent NAACP forum. "We need to make sure that we invest in some of our communities and some of our children to make sure that they don’t have a reason to commit crimes in the first place."

Harris, a University of Memphis law school professor, is widely considered a rising Democratic star, winning a City Council seat in 2011, then vacating the office to successfully challenge incumbent state senator Ophelia Ford in 2014.

Soon after Harris' election, he was named Senate minority leader and began heading up the party's Republican-embattled caucus.

Lenoir, whose professional experience is in accounting, reaches the end of his second and final term as county trustee this year. As trustee, Lenoir was widely credited with a dramatic increase in tax collections, which was partly responsible for a roughly $20 million county surplus this year. He emphasized his budgeting chops in the campaign.

Luttrell won the 2010 election in a GOP sweep, and then won reelection in 2014. Before him, Democrat A C Wharton left the office in 2009 to successfully run for mayor of Memphis. Wharton became the county's first black mayor when he was elected in 2002.