MEMPHIS, Tenn. — With the twin crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and massive protests against deadly police practices, state election politics has been pretty much ignored in recent weeks. But that is about to change with a rather intriguing race shaping up for a state legislative seat in Memphis.
The current occupier of that seat is Democrat John DeBerry, who has represented House District 90 for 26 years. But in April, the state party’s executive committee booted DeBerry off the Democratic primary ballot for voting too much with Republicans, who have a super majority in the legislature.
The decision intentionally came after the deadline for DeBerry to qualify to run as an Independent. But now, his Republican pals in Nashville have fixed that. Both the House and Senate have passed a bill that will allow DeBerry to run as an Independent after all in the November general election. And he plans to do just that.
Republicans were all too willing to rub their collective thumbs in the eye of the Democratic Party on this issue. And now we have an interesting race to watch in District 90 come November.
I’ve said before that the Democrats acted unwisely by kicking DeBerry off the ballot. But it was their prerogative. Now they will have to spend money to retain the seat. And DeBerry must show that his electability transcends party.
For political junkies, this one will be fun. And that’s my point of view.