Democrat Lee Harris, Republican David Lenoir win Shelby County mayor nominations

Senate Democratic Leader Lee Harris won the Democratic nomination for mayor of Shelby County on Tuesday while David Lenoir, now county trustee, won the Republican nomination, according to final unofficial returns.

Harris, who is not seeking reelection to his state Senate seat, defeated former county commissioner Sidney Chism 34,081 votes to 10,425 votes in the Democratic primary. The GOP primary was also lopsided with Lenoir collecting 18,408 votes to 8,655 for runner-up Terry Roland in the three-candidate contest.

From the Commercial Appeal report:

The winners of the primaries will battle it out in the Aug. 2 general election for the right to succeed Mark Luttrell, who is at the end of his second and final term as mayor.

..In social media posts of highlights from his victory speech, Harris said he received support from Democrats but also Republicans.

“When I received a kind word, here and there, from Republicans in our county, it always reminded me that, even though I’m a Democrat, we are one community,” he said in a tweet. “And we can come together, despite the division you sometimes see on the news.”

… Lenoir released this statement after his win: “We are excited and extremely humbled by the overwhelming support we received tonight. We look forward to further sharing our vision of how we build a safer, stronger Shelby County together.”

Note: The Shelby County Election Commission posting of full election results is HERE.