Local activist Pamela Moses kicks off run for mayor of Memphis

Memphis activist Pamela Moses kicked off a run for mayor on Beale Street Friday, widening the field of candidates seeking the city's top office to six. 

Moses joins former Mayor Willie Herenton, Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, businessman Lemichael Wilson and activist Terrence Boyce in challenging Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland's re-election bid.

'The people of Memphis need to be free'

"I stand here today because the people of Memphis need to be free," Moses said Friday, at Club Handy on Beale Street. "Free from poverty, free from crime, free from blight and free from the curses that we are plagued in this city each day."

Moses' campaign slogan is "moving Memphis forward," and she's running on a platform that calls for "tri-state connectivity" with mass transportation and light rail, more mental health services, affordable housing and a reduction of "systemic poverty and homelessness."

Moses said she would pursue talks with President Donald Trump for federal funding for a light rail system. 

"(Trump) says he wants to fix infrastructure. Why isn’t our local government and our congressman having a conversation with him? They’re too busy bashing him," Moses said. "Well, I’m going to make him do what he’s supposed to do, which is provide for our city, which is 50 years behind time."

Community policing, marijuana decriminalization and restorative justice with youth development and mentoring are also part of Moses' platform.

Moses calls her run 'a formal protest'

Moses launched her campaign with under six months to go until the candidates square off on the Oct. 3 ballot.

Moses characterized her candidacy as a "formal protest against the establishment's broken system," and said other mayoral candidates are "out of touch with the issues that affect most of the city's population" in a news release.

Moses recalled on Friday being arrested and detained by police in 2016 while walking down Washington Avenue, saying "I have my hands up, don't shoot," during a Black Lives Matter protest. She was charged with inciting to riot. The charges stemming from that arrest were later dismissed. 

Earlier this month, Moses won a defamation lawsuit against former Shelby County Commissioner Terry Roland.

Moses pleaded guilty in 2015 of stalking a Shelby County judge.

Strickland's re-election campaign revolves around a theme of "Memphis has Momentum," which some of his opponents have criticized, contending that momentum is spread unevenly throughout the city.

Sawyer, the progressive freshman Shelby County Commissioner, declared "Memphis Can't Wait" in her campaign kickoff last month. 

The Memphis City Council's 13 seats, municipal judges and the Memphis Court Clerk will also be on the October ballot. The candidate qualifying deadline is July 18, and the voter registration deadline is Sept. 3. Early voting for city elections runs from Sept. 13 through Sept. 28.

Jamie Munks covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jamie.munks@commercialappeal.com. Follow her on Twitter @journo_jamie_.