{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nWilliam Chism Jr. was a Democratic candidate for Shelby County Probate Court Clerk in the May 5, 2026 primary, challenging incumbent Eddie Jones [1]. Jones won a close renomination, 34,230 votes (51.4%) to Chism's 32,172 votes (48.3%), with 140 write-in votes [1]. Jones ran unopposed in the August 2026 general election [1].\n\n## Office history\nChism previously challenged Jones for the same office in the 2022 Democratic primary, finishing second with 29.0% of the vote (13,283 votes) behind Jones (46.0%) and incumbent Bill Morrison (24.9%) [2].\n\n## Sources\n[1] [Shelby Co. Probate Court Clerk (Dem) - Election Results](https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/politics/election_results/shelby-co-probate-court-clerk-dem/race_9be890b5-0279-5e20-b988-b885d6167fa2.html) - fox13memphis.com, accessed 2026-07-06\n[2] [William Chism Jr. - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/William_Chism_Jr.) - accessed 2026-07-06 (not independently re-verified this session; retained from prior sourcing)","campaigns":[{"contest":"probate_court_clerk","county":"shelby","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"primary","state":"TN","title":"Probate Court Clerk"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"William","fullname":"William Chism Jr","lastname":"Chism","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"probate_court_clerk","contest_title":"Probate Court Clerk","county":"shelby","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-05-05","office_county":"shelby","office_key":"probate_court_clerk","office_title":"Probate Court Clerk","party":"D","pgr":"primary","state":"TN"}],"county":"shelby","cycles":[{"general":null,"party":"D","primary":{"contest":"probate_court_clerk","contest_title":"Probate Court Clerk","county":"shelby","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-05-05","office_county":"shelby","office_key":"probate_court_clerk","office_title":"Probate Court Clerk","party":"D","pgr":"primary","state":"TN"},"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"probate_court_clerk","office_title":"Probate Court Clerk","state":"TN","terms":[]}],"suffix":"Jr","summary":"Memphis Democrat; narrowly lost the May 2026 primary for Shelby County Probate Court Clerk to incumbent Eddie Jones, 51.4% to 48.3%.","terms":[],"token":"kt6uilkvXn"}