Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery won the Democratic primary for Shelby County Mayor.
According to unofficial election results, Lowery defeated seven other candidates in the primary, earning 32.03 percent of the vote. Memphis City Council Member JB Smiley, Jr. came in second with 23.80 percent of the vote.
After winning the nomination, Lowery (pictured above) thanked Shelby County on social media.
“Thank you for entrusting me with the honor of being your Democratic nominee for County Mayor,” he said.
Lowery will now go up against John J. DeBerry Jr., who won the Republican nomination. He did not face a primary challenge.
DeBerry is a former Democratic state representative who served in the State House for 26 years from 1994 to 2020. The State Democratic Party’s executive committee removed him from the Democratic primary ballot in 2020 because of his support for school vouchers and his pro-life beliefs.
Lowery and DeBerry will face off on August 6th to see who becomes the next Shelby County Mayor.
As a politician, Lowery has come out against the Memphis Safe Task Force, a federal initiative that has reduced crime rates in the city.
After winning the Democratic nomination, he told Fox 13 that Memphis does not “need mass law enforcement in our neighborhoods, specifically ICE.”
“We don’t have an immigration problem. I’ve said that numerous times again. But also, as county mayor, I’ll make sure I’m at the table to understand what’s going on and how our citizens can be safe. Shelby Countians can govern Shelby Countians,” he told the outlet. “Shelby Countians can police Shelby Countians.”
In December, on a Subreddit dedicated to the City of Memphis, Lowery did an Ask Me Anything, which means he answered questions from Reddit users. One user asked him about how he felt “about the National Guard walking around Memphis.”
Lowery replied, “I’m not a fan. I don’t support the militarization of our city, and I was not a proponent of the National Guard being deployed in Memphis.”
“That said, the real question we have to answer is what happens when they leave, because public safety is still our responsibility at the end of the day. We have to create an environment where this doesn’t happen again,” Lowery said.
“I’ve heard from people on both sides. Some folks are afraid when they see the National Guard and large task forces in their neighborhoods,” he added. “Others feel a little safer. I understand both perspectives. But we should not need the military to make our communities feel safe.”
This year, the Memphis Safe Task Force has helped reduce violent crime rates in the city.
Comparing crime data from January 1, 2025, to March 31, 2025, to the same time period this year, Memphis has seen homicides decrease by 35 percent.
Furthermore, the city has seen motor vehicle thefts decrease by 67 percent and robberies decrease by 51 percent in the same time period.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and others filed a lawsuit in October 2025 attempting to stop the deployment of the National Guard in Memphis. A lower court blocked the state from deploying National Guard troops into the city, but in April, a Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed that decision, giving the state the authority to do so.
– – –
Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
Photo “Mickell Lowery” by Mickell Lowery.
