MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Suddenly, a third partisan race in next month’s Shelby County general election has become one to watch: the contest for county clerk.
Democratic incumbent Wanda Halbert has become very vulnerable to Republican challenger Jeff Jacobs – and Halbert herself is primarily to blame. The ongoing struggle by the county clerk’s office to distribute a huge backlog of car tags and new state license plates has called into question Halbert’s leadership of that office.
Jacobs, formerly a 22-year employee of the clerk’s office, is taking advantage of Halbert’s troubles with plenty of help from the local Republican Party. Recent mailers by the Jacobs campaign emphasize the long lines outside clerk’s offices in the intense summer heat, where some customers have waited up to two hours to get their tags. And the party this week is distributing a separate mailer with Jacobs now at the top of the GOP ticket with mayoral candidate Worth Morgan and District Attorney Amy Weirich.
GOP leaders tell me that the cascade of negatives news about Halbert means the clerk’s race is indeed winnable for Republicans.
Of course, Democratic voters outnumber Republicans countywide. But the clerk’s job is about service more than politics. And Memphians who routinely vote Democratic are in those long lines – or they’re still waiting for tags in the mail, and they are not happy.
Time will tell if Halbert will suffer at the polls as a result.