Willie Wilbert Herenton

Current office and 2026 campaign

Willie Wilbert Herenton served as Memphis Mayor from 1991 to 2009. He returned to run for the office in 2023, finishing third with approximately 22% of the vote behind winner Paul Young and Floyd Bonner.

Background and education

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1940, Herenton was raised by his mother and grandmother. An accomplished amateur boxer, he won the Tri-State Boxing Championship four times and held the Kentucky Golden Gloves title before attending LeMoyne College in Memphis for his undergraduate degree. He later earned a doctorate from Southern Illinois University and completed a national fellowship preparing minorities for urban school leadership.

Career

Herenton became a teacher at 21 and by 28 was named principal of the Memphis elementary school he had attended as a child — the youngest principal in Memphis history at that time. In 1979, he became the first African American superintendent of Memphis City Schools, a position he held until 1991. That year, he defeated nine-term incumbent Mayor Richard Hackett by just 142 votes — the closest mayoral election in Memphis history — becoming the first African American elected mayor of Memphis. He won reelection four more times, serving until he abruptly resigned mid-way through his fifth term in 2009. During his nearly 18 years as mayor, Memphis secured its first major professional sports franchise (the Memphis Grizzlies) and saw significant downtown development.

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