Shelby County SHeriff: Anthony Buckner
Welcome to our official Shelby County primary voter guide coverage. For the first time, we’re endorsing in the Sheriff’s race. We don’t take that lightly – especially for an office we’ve been pushing to change for years.
We’re endorsing Anthony Buckner for Shelby County Sheriff.
We want to be clear and transparent about what that means. Buckner has served as Chief Deputy under the current administration, which is the same office we’ve been vocal in criticizing. People have died in custody. The conditions inside 201 Poplar have been dangerous and documented. This endorsement doesn’t erase that record or excuse it.
What it reflects is our judgment that Buckner is the candidate most able to change how this institution operates – in part because he knows how it operates. He’s committed to improving jail conditions, expanding diversion, reducing unnecessary incarceration, and building real transparency into how this office reports to the public.
We paid particular attention to where he stands on immigration enforcement, because our community deserves a Sheriff who is clear about that. We had direct conversations with him about the specific policies and commitments we want to see from this office, and we came away with greater confidence that he understands what’s at stake for immigrant families in Shelby County and is willing to be held to concrete expectations. As state and federal pressure on local law enforcement continues to grow, he’s committed to being transparent with our community about what the law requires and to pushing for every protection within it.
This is the beginning of a working relationship, and we hold it with some tension. We’re choosing to invest in what this office could become, not what it has been. This is not a blank check. It’s a commitment to work together to hold this office accountable to what Shelby County residents deserve.
Shelby County Mayor: JB Smiley, Jr.
We’re endorsing JB Smiley, Jr. for Shelby County Mayor.
Shelby County’s next mayor will inherit a community at a crossroads – and an office with real power to shape which direction we go. The mayor controls the county budget, stewards our most critical public infrastructure, manages the Division of Corrections and the youth detention center, oversees the pretrial mental health facility for justice-involved adults, and holds the contracts that determine conditions inside our jails. That’s a lot of power over a lot of lives, and this election will determine whose hands it sits in.
Smiley is the progressive choice in this race. And for us, that means more than a set of positions. It means a candidate who understands that progress has to actually reach people.
He’s been clear that the county’s infrastructure crisis is urgent: aging school buildings that send the wrong message to the students inside them, a jail in dangerous disrepair, and a public hospital (Regional One) that serves as the safety net for our most vulnerable residents and can’t be allowed to fail. He’s committed to treating these as immediate priorities, not long-term planning exercises.
On public safety, he sees the county’s role as one of coordination and prevention: funding mental health support, expanding opportunity for young people, and ensuring the systems meant to protect our communities actually do. On reentry, he’s committed to starting the process before someone walks out the door, not after. On immigration, he’s pushed back on military deployment in Memphis and committed to an approach rooted in community trust rather than federal enforcement pressure.
We need a mayor who shows up for the whole county – especially for those who have been most left behind. That’s what we’re investing in with JB Smiley, Jr.
