(C) Tennessee Lookout
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Paul Young elected mayor of Memphis – Tennessee Lookout [1]

['Anita Wadhwani', 'More From Author', '- October']

Date: 2023-10

Paul Young, a longtime fixture in local government in his first-time bid for political office, has become the 65th mayor of Memphis.

Young, 43, is a Memphis native who spearheaded urban growth and development as leader of the Downtown Memphis Commission, served as president of the city’s housing and community development agency and worked as a Shelby County lobbyist.

He emerged as victor in a crowded race of 17, defeating frontrunners Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, former mayor Willie Herenton and Van Turner, a Shelby County Commissioner and local NAACP chapter president. Current Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, elected in 2016, was term-limited out of the race.

Young pledged to bring jobs and economic development to Memphis. He also set a priority of restoring trust between residents and the Memphis police while investing more in the city’s youth.

“In order to truly make our community safe, we have to find ways to make additional investments in public safety that’s not necessarily MPD — investments in our parks and our community centers and mental health programs, things that will actually prevent the crime in the first place,” Young said earlier this year in an interview with MLK50 – Justice Through Journalism. “We have to build up this additional support for public safety. At the same time we support this police system that we’ve been using for years.

Young will take office at a turbulent time for Tennessee’s second most populous city, still reeling after a series of brutal and high profile crimes, including the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police. A Department of Justice investigation into the police department is ongoing.

“I want to make sure that together, we go through a transformation — a transformation that’s gonna take us from from hopelessness to hopeful, from poverty to prosperity, from hurt to healed, from stalled to thriving,” Young said in a victory celebration Thursday night.

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