Carnita Atwater

Current office and 2026 campaign

Carnita Atwater has not held elected or appointed public office ¹. She is a Democratic candidate for Governor of Tennessee, scheduled to appear on the Democratic primary ballot on August 6, 2026; the general election is scheduled for November 3, 2026 ¹¹⁰. On her campaign site, Atwater says she is running "to change our state's political culture" under the message "Make Tennessee Whole Again," and states, "I can be the next governor who can bring Tennesseans back together" ¹⁰¹¹. This is Atwater's second run for governor: she previously sought the Democratic nomination in 2022 ³⁴, and also ran for Mayor of Memphis in 2023 ⁵.

Background and education

Atwater was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi ¹. She has described starting her first business, a lawn-care service, at age 12 in Clarksdale ⁷. She graduated from Frayser High School in Memphis and earned a bachelor's degree in community health education and nursing from Murray State University in 1996 ¹. Ballotpedia additionally credits her with a 1998 graduate degree in gerontology, public health administration, and psychology from Austin Peay State University and a 2003 doctorate in public health administration and education from the University of Bristol ¹. She holds a doctorate and is commonly referred to as "Dr. Carnita Atwater" in media coverage and public records ¹⁷.

Career

Per a campaign profile, Atwater has held titles including dean of medical studies, dean of student affairs, academic dean, medical director, adjunct professor, nursing home administrator, hospital administrator, nurse, and teacher ². Beginning in 2003, she began acquiring property in the New Chicago neighborhood of North Memphis ⁷. She founded and operates the New Chicago Community Development Corporation (NCCDC) there.

Office history

Atwater has not held elected or appointed public office ¹. In the August 4, 2022 Tennessee Democratic gubernatorial primary, she finished third behind Jason Martin and J.B. Smiley Jr. Election-night returns reported by the Daily Memphian showed Martin with 96,505 votes (40.82%), Smiley with 36.96%, and Atwater with 22.22%, while votes were still being counted ³; the final certified count was Martin 101,552 votes (39.39%), Smiley 100,062 votes (38.81%), and Atwater 56,227 votes (21.81%), out of 257,841 votes cast ⁴. Martin went on to lose the general election to incumbent Republican Governor Bill Lee. The day after the 2022 primary, Atwater announced via Facebook Live that she planned to run for U.S. president, saying she wanted to be "the first African-American woman from the state of Tennessee to run for president" ⁹. In 2023, Atwater was one of 17 candidates on the ballot for Mayor of Memphis; she did not win the October 5, 2023 general election, which was won by Paul Young ⁵⁶. Atwater is a candidate in the 2026 Democratic gubernatorial primary, scheduled for August 6, 2026; that primary has not yet occurred and no results are available ¹¹⁰.

Documented disputes and controversies

In December 2020, as executive director of the NCCDC, Atwater and roughly six other plaintiffs filed a $10 billion class-action lawsuit in Shelby County Chancery Court, Division 13, later amended to $20 billion, against a group of government officials and entities — including Governor Bill Lee, then-Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, former Memphis Mayor Mark Luttrell, then-Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, and the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) board — alleging "genocide due to noninvestment in the New Chicago neighborhood" and "continued generations of neglect" ⁸.

Business interests and wealth source

Atwater owns and operates the New Chicago Community Development Corporation, housed in a two-story building in the New Chicago neighborhood of Memphis that also contains the Kukutana African-American History and Culture Museum, a collection of African-American historical artifacts she has assembled over roughly 30 years. The NCCDC rents its event space for $600 and hosts free community meals ⁷.

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