Atwater Plans White House Run After Failed Governor’s Race

 

Dr. Carnita Atwater

MEMPHIS, TN – Securing the Democratic nomination for governor of Tennessee was a long shot for Dr. Carnita Atwater. But to her surprise, she amassed 56,061 votes in the Aug. 4 gubernatorial primary.

Her vote count was impressive but not enough to overtake Memphis City Councilman J.B. Smiley’s 99,753 votes and Nashville’s Dr. Jason Martin’s 101,221 votes. Martin, the Democratic nominee, will face Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Nov. 8 in the general election.

The loss, however, fueled Atwater’s desire to step back into the political arena. On Aug. 5, a day after the election, Atwater formally announced her intentions via Facebook live to run for president of the United States in 2024.

Declaring herself to be nonpolitical, Atwater said she’ll be ready the next go-round and run a more aggressive campaign for president with signage and boots on the ground. She said she’ll start with the 56,061 votes she netted from the governor’s race.

Her platform for president will likely be the same as her platform for governor. “I ran (for governor) to place people back into politics,” she said, in addition to “standing up against political and judicial corruption.”

“I talked about homelessness, poverty, economic disparities, disinvestment, poor, underserved and marginalized neighborhoods, mass incarcerations, abusive tax incentives to large corporations, and environmental injustice,” she said.

Mounting a national campaign can be a daunting undertaking for lesser-known aspirants – and well-known politicians as well – seeking the highest office in the land. It’s an even longer shot for national office seekers.

Undeterred by such stats, Atwater believes she’s ready for what could be a grueling campaign. In the governor’s race, she took pride in being the first to declare her candidacy and “the first African-American woman” to run. 

“It was a miracle,” said Atwater, considering she ran a grassroots campaign with very little media exposure and no paraphernalia, such as yard signs and mailers. She didn’t fundraise, either.

“I didn’t ask people for money because of the pandemic,” Atwater said. However, she spent a modicum of $4,000 that she’d set aside in her failed bid to best Smiley and Martin for the opportunity to take on Gov. Lee.

Running a grassroots operation – which, of course, was her choice – Atwater campaigned in five of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Nevertheless, she is grateful for the cache of votes that she hauled in. 

“It wasn’t about winning or losing to me. I wanted to shine a light on the issues, and I put that out there,” said Atwater, and pointed out that she also plans to be the first African-American woman from the state of Tennessee to run for president.”

Perhaps she is trying to fulfill a promise that she made to her father long ago. At the age of seven, she recalls, he asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up. 

“I told him I wanted to be the president of the United States.” 

Atwater recalls sharing her same lofty goal with one of her grade-school teachers, who was white, and was told, “eyeball-to-eyeball,” that she will never be the president of the United States. 

The teacher said, Atwater continued, “You will never be fitting to be anything but, maybe, a teacher or a nurse.”

Atwater has no regrets running for governor and said she’ll continue to stand up for people – even if she’s fortunate to “break the glass ceiling” in pursuit of the White House.

“If I never win a race, I’m going to fight for the people regardless,” Atwater said. “I believe in ‘we the people,’ not we the politicians.” 

Atwater is a longtime advocate for various causes in Memphis and a philanthropist who has fed and clothed the poor and disadvantaged. 

She is a former schoolteacher as well and owner of the Kukutana African American History and Cultural Museum at 1036 Firestone Ave. in North Memphis. 

Federal Building Bears Name of Judge Odell Horton

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents Tennessee's 9th
Congressional District, hosted the renaming ceremony for the federal
building in Memphis in honor of the late Judge Odell Horton. His son,
Odell Horton Jr., expressed his gratitude. Photo by Wiley Henry.

MEMPHIS, TN – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee is housed in the federal building that now bears the name of the late Judge Odell Horton, who presided until his death in 2006.

A renaming ceremony took place July 25 amid a cadre of jurists, attorneys, and elected officials, who gathered at the foot of the federal building in Downtown Memphis to witness the unfolding of a new era.

Once named after Clifford Davis, a U.S. congressman with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen’s first bill in congress in 2007 added Judge Horton’s name to the building.

“One of the first things I did as a Congressperson was to hyphenate this building. It became known as the Clifford Davis – Odell Horton Federal Office Building,” Cohen said. “I considered naming it for Judge Horton alone at the time but didn’t know if it was the right time…The right time is now.”

Davis’ name was removed from the federal building after the Senate passed Cohen’s bill last year and President Joe Biden signed it into law. There was “insufficient support” to remove Davis’ name in 2007, said Cohen, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

Cohen hosted the renaming ceremony and relished the moment with the Honorable S. Thomas Anderson, Chief United States District Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee; the Honorable Bernice B. Donald, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; and Odell Horton Jr., son of Judge Horton.

 “It is a good morning,” Cohen said in his remarks to the attendees. “It’s the end of a past that needed to pass and the beginning of a future whose future is now, and has been, and will be.” 

Judge Anderson spoke on behalf of all federal judges in the Western District of Tennessee. 

“It is an honor for all of us that from this day forward this building will served as a reminder of a character, strength and contributions made by one of our very own, U.S. District Judge Odell Horton,” he said.

Judge Donald said Judge Horton deserves to be exalted. “He was my mentor. He was my friend. He was the thought of wisdom…and I consulted him often,” she said. “He had this rare ability to give even difficult advice in a way that made you stop, listen, and take heed.”

She added that Cohen’s effort to rename the federal building to honor Judge Horton was the right thing to do.

Odell Horton Jr., who asked his brother, Chris Horton, to stand with him on the platform, spoke on behalf of the family and expressed his gratitude.

“Our father wanted us to say his wife, our mother Evie, was the driving force behind his success,” he said, noting that their parents worked hard to build careers and made a positive impact in the community.

“I was asked in an interview how would I describe my father,” Horton recalls. “He was a kind man and understood the rigors of life. Growing up poor he understood those who struggled to better themselves.”

Judge Horton was born in Bolivar, Tenn. After graduating from high school in 1946, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Howard University in Washington, D.C., earned his law degree in 1956, and moved to Memphis to set up his law practice.

 He took a position as Assistant United States Attorney in Memphis until his appointment to Shelby County Criminal Court by Gov. Buford Ellington. From there he served as president of LeMoyne-Owen College.

Judge Horton was the first Black federal judge in Tennessee since Reconstruction. He was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.