Thread by @wendi_c_thomas

Tune in NOW to the Shelby County mayoral debate here. I'll be live tweeting at @wendi_c_thomas #VIP901 civilrightsmuseum.org/voting-is-power

@SenDemLeaderTN opens by praising @NAACPMemphis for fighting to expand early voting locations. Crowd applauds. @LenoirForMayor does not. #VIP901

Lenoir starts off with a falsehood. He says that the NAACP honored his request to replace me as moderator. That's not what happened. Sigh.

Here's what happened. The NAACP asked me to moderate around June 26. I said: Be sure Lenoir will participate if I'm the moderator. Deidre Malone asked specifically about that and Lenoir agreed to the debate. #VIP901

I go on vacation. On my way back to Memphis yesterday, Lenoir announced that he was reneging on the commitment he'd made June 26-27, citing my involvement (which he'd known about since June 26-27) and the NAACP lawsuit, to which he was NOT A PARTY.

Late last night, I offered - first on social media and then in a message to Malone - to withdraw if it meant that that Lenoir would participate. It's bigger than me. Voters should get to hear what Lenoir thinks.

Lenoir is getting the sequence of events wrong. The NAACP was going to hold the debate without Lenoir. They did not and were not going to ask me to step aside. Lenoir didn't ask the NAACP to replace me. I stepped aside and then he was like OK, I'm in.

Back to the debate: Lenoir has name checked some black folks - Self Tucker architects, Gibson, and says that he believes the county should do more on minority contracts. Warren notes that you can have growth - but the rich still get richer and the poor get pennies.

Warren says the biggest issue in the community is poverty. Gets applause.

Lenoir says 85 percent of his staff are women of color. I need someone to fact check that - who can get the trustee office payroll?

This is weird - Lenoir notes that his CAO is a black woman and makes more than him. He says he can't control her salary. Not sure the point is that he's trying to make.

Warren made the point that he's not indebted to big campaign donors, that he doesn't owe anyone jobs and that he's the people's candidate.

Lenoir says recruiting medical device companies will help the county land high paying jobs. Warren says (to the audience's applause) return vo-tech to schools, points out his dad, an HVAC tech, in the office.

Harris notes his endorsement by teachers (union? not sure) and Stand for Children.

Lenoir trying to get in a slick dig at Harris - saying he's served the full term of every office he's been elected to.

This should be Harris. Brain fart.

Harris said the state office he ran for - he did it because the prior occupant (Ophelia Ford, @DanielConnolly reminds me) needed to go. The problem isn't people staying in office for a short amount of time, it's people staying in office too long. Gets rousing applause.

Lenoir says that he has executive experience (Harris doesn't) and that's what matters. He gets some struggle applause.

This isn't editorializing, honestly. Harris is a crowd-pleaser so far and the crowd is being polite to Lenoir.

Q on crime: Lenoir says he'd invest in education and he's a fan of the juvenile assessment center, that it will keep kids out of the system. Says Harris is soft on violent crime.

Violent crime is down in Shelby County, btw.

Harris: It's easy to criticize my record because I have a record.

Harris says the bill he voted against mandated a 10-year sentence for POSSESSION of a firearm, which target nonviolent offenders.

LOL at Harris' expression. He called for an investment in MATA, Lenoir says MATA is a city-funded department (this is true) but he'd be willing to have a conversation about county support.

Harris: We may have the highest tax rate, but we also have the highest poverty rate. Cutting taxes doesn't bring people in, he says. This is a big distinction between him and his opponent.

Harris: No one thinks Amazon was serious about moving here because we haven't made enough investments in the community.

Q: What's the biggest health disparity in the county?
Lenoir: For 8 years, he's worked on financial education for citizens, has worked with Regional One, says we need more healthcare awareness because people go to RO with colds.

Same Q. Harris: Expand Medicaid (as current county mayor Mark Luttrell supports), also known as Obamacare. He would push the legislature to draw down those federal resources.

Lenoir (rebuttal): As far as spending your money, $300M toward Regional One - not saying we shouldn't do it, but we should ask difficult questions. Hire a healthcare consultant to evaluate the needs.

Lenoir: The ask is $500M for schools, $300M for Regional One - he wants to be a good steward of the public's money.

Lenoir should have brought more of his people here so his applause moments could be comparable. Said in love.

Lenoir notes that he has the sheriff's union and police union's endorsement.

This does not impress the audience as he likely intended.

If you have questions about any of my tweets, feel free to review the video of the livestream, on which you will be able to hear the answers and the volume of the applause.

Here's the link to the livestream: civilrightsmuseum.org/voting-is-power

Q about supporting the county office of re-entry. Harris says yes, he'd support it. Lenoir says yes, he would too - and notes that Harris voted against a $260K ask for a second chance program. (I have not verified that this is true.)

Lenoir says that Harris must have woken up one day and decided that he was for re-entry programs AFTER he was against them.

Kinda like when you agree to participate in a debate and then decide you don't want to do the debate?

@ministerdbrown, both Lenoir and Harris are name-checking you. Lenoir says that he went out to Frayser when there was a storm with his chainsaw to help.

I have not fact-checked that so I can not verify that what Lenoir is saying is true. Maybe someone has photos?

Q: Bail reform?
Harris says carried legislation on juveniles and bail (I'm not sure what he's referring to and this wasn't clear). The juvenile court judge wasn't on board and they couldn't make it happen.

Same Q. Lenoir says he worked with a kid in an inner-city neighborhood who had a high bail (he didn't say whether he did anything about this). He says he supports expungement, does not say whether he supports bail reform.

Q: County cooperating with ICE?
Lenoir: It's a federal issue. What we're talking about is illegal immigration. A lot of people like to leave that word out.

Same Q: Harris: Federal government's behavior has been troubling, but as it stands now, I don't think we should voluntarily work with ICE. (Crowd applauds)

Harris: County mayor appoints public defender and there's no reason that the public defender shouldn't defend immigrants regardless of their documentation status.

Q: It's been two years since the bridge protest. Was it a good thing, effective?
Harris: He says public protest broadly is a good thing. He connects officer-involved shootings to the protests and says he's pushed legislation to make those police reports open to the public.

Lenoir supports public protest, but have to consider that blocking I-40 could endanger lives.

Someone in audience shouts out that lives WERE in danger, thus the protest.

Q: Early voting location lawsuit? Much ado about nothing or big deal?
Lenoir: He's all for giving more people more access to vote.
Woman on the second row: "Really?"

Harris: won't speculate on why the early voting locations were restricted to the outer ring of the city, but the IMPACT was voter suppression. "We are vulnerable."

Harris: Used to be you could have written a letter to the Justice Department and gotten some relief, but you can't expect that anymore.

Harris is getting lots of applause and this sister in the second row is HERE FOR HIM.

Q: about @EcoGrowthEngine and PILOTS. Harris: The board has developers, but not teachers. Would like to see the board be more representative of the community. EDGE's tools have been expanded, but he'd like them to form a neighborhood authority.

Lenoir: We're in a competitive environment, Mississippi will roll out the red carpet and those jobs will go there. We need economic incentives. He wants to target/attract medical device companies, ag-tech companies

Lenoir: We need EDGE. Instead of a shotgun approach, we need a rifle. What if there were a PILOT for teachers and their property taxes were discounted? (Applause) Or for law enforcement community? (Silence.)

A PILOT for teachers is actually interesting. That's an idea I hadn't heard before. If I were keeping score - and I'm not - Lenoir would get a point there.

Q about whether local community should be able to decide whether Confederate monuments stay or go.
Lenoir gets testy, says that reports that he said it should have been a state decision are incorrect. He believes it should be a local decision.

Harris reminds the crowd that he voted when on council to rename the parks and introduced legislation (city? state? I'm not sure) to protect LGBT rights.

Hope his campaign sees this and elaborates.

They're at closing arguments. Lenoir touts his record as the county's banker, thanks the crowd and asks for their vote.

Harris says he's not beholden to insiders, asks for the crowd's vote and says it's time we change everything.

Everything? OK, then! LOL

The debate is over about 30 minutes early. Other candidates for office are getting a chance to introduce themselves.

Terry Roland, who chaired Trump's Shelby County campaign, stands up in the back, says he's a country boy who loves the people.

I am not joking.

Your Shelby County Commissioner Terry Roland. I can’t find the C-SPAN video in which he... um... distinguished himself. Somebody post that.