Gerald L. Melton, public defender for the 16th Judicial District, has officially announced his candidacy for re-election, the Murfreesboro Post reports. He will be a candidate in the Republican primary in May 2022. The 16th Judicial District serves Rutherford and Cannon counties. Melton, a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, maintains an active personal caseload and supervises the work of 13 assistant public defenders. He is a past member of the TBA House of Delegates and Board of Governors, the Tennessee Sentencing Commission and then Gov. Bill Haslam’s Sentencing and Recidivism Commission. He also has served as president of the District Public Defender's Conference on two separate occasions.

Jim Todd, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, announced his campaign for Davidson County General Sessions Judge yesterday. He is seeking the Division VI seat. Todd is a practicing attorney with nearly 30 years of courtroom experience. He served as a Davidson County prosecutor for 13 years, a defense attorney for 16 years and an environmental court magistrate for 10 years. He has served on the Juvenile Justice Reform Commission, where he was chair of the Juvenile Delinquency Reform Subcommittee, and was a member of the TBA’s Leadership Law Class of 2009. He earned his law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

Newport lawyer Mark Strange has announced his candidacy for Cocke County General Sessions Court judge. He will run in the May 2022 Republican Primary, the Newport Plain Talk reports. Stange, an Air Force veteran, spent much of his early career in law enforcement, including positions with the Newport and Gatlinburg police departments. While working in Gatlinburg, Strange attended, and then in 2014, graduated from the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law. Following law school, he joined the Fourth Judicial District Attorney General’s Office. He currently works out of the Cocke County office.

Memphis attorney Steve Mulroy announced yesterday that he will compete in the Democratic primary for Shelby County district attorney. The position is currently held by Amy Weirich, a Republican, who also has announced her reelection effort. Weirich has been in the post since 2011. According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Mulroy’s announcement included a “scathing indictment of Weirich's time in office.” Mulroy has been on the faculty of the University of Memphis School of Law since 2000, teaching constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, civil rights and election law. He is a former civil rights lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department and a former federal prosecutor. He also was a Shelby County commissioner from 2006 to 2014. Mulroy will face a primary challenge from attorney Linda Harris, an independent conflict resolution mediator and arbitrator who previously worked as federal judicial law clerk to the late U.S. District Court Judge Jerome Turner. Harris also worked as a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District, as a constitutional law and civil rights attorney in private practice and as a Memphis police officer.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has formally announced his plans to run for re-election, the Daily Memphian reports. Harris made the announcement in a 46-second video sent to supporters. If re-elected, Harris told the Daily Memphian that he hoped to “drive a community-wide conversation around community health care access and jobs,” including second chance and re-entry programs for people coming out of prison. Prior to winning the mayoral election in 2018, Harris served in the state Senate, representing the 29th District.

Cocke County General Sessions Court Judge Brad L. Davidson has announced he will run for re-election in the Republican primary, Johnson City Press reports. Davidson has been a general sessions judge in the Fourth Judicial District for the last seven years. Prior to his election to the bench, he was assistant public defender in the district — which covers Cocke, Grainger, Sevier and Jefferson counties — and an attorney in private practice for seven years. He also served as attorney for the Town of Parrottsville, Newport Housing Authority and National Bank of Tennessee. Davidson earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering, secured a master’s of business administration and worked in the chemical manufacturing industry for 17 years before graduating from DePaul University College of Law in 2002.

Former U.S. Attorney Sara Beth Myers has announced her campaign for Davidson County district attorney general, becoming DA Glenn Funk’s second challenger, the Nashville Post reports. Myers joins Danielle Nellis, a former prosecutor and judicial clerk, in challenging Funk, who has announced plans to seek a second term. Myers says she was inspired to go into law by her attorney father and into her current line of work through an internship at the DA’s office while in law school at Vanderbilt University. She spent almost four years as an assistant district attorney and two years as an assistant prosecutor in the state attorney general’s office before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She served there for five years focusing mainly on human trafficking and civil rights cases.

Hamilton County resident Kenny Morgan has announced his candidacy for the Third Congressional District seat, the Chattanoogan reports. Morgan served in the U.S. Army Health Services Command at Madigan Army Medical Center, worked at Tennessee Donors Services, Erlanger Medical Center, Hamilton Health Care System and the Family Resource Agency. The Third Congressional District seat has been held by Republican Chuck Fleischmann since 2010.

Former police officer, prosecuting attorney, and now assistant public defender Joseph “Joe” Lodato announced today that he is running for judge on the Hamilton County General Sessions Court, Fourth Division. Lodato worked for 12 years with the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and Morristown Police Department in New Jersey, as an assistant district attorney general in Knox County, and in private practice for six years before joining the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office. Lodato lives in Ooltewah. He is an avid outdoors enthusiast and cyclist, and the past president and current member/ride leader with the Chattanooga Bicycle Club. Learn more on his campaign's Facebook account.

Rutherford County senior judicial commissioner Jacob Flatt has announced he will be running as a Republican for Juvenile Court judge, WPLN reports. A Nashville School of Law graduate, Flatt became the county’s senior judicial commissioner in 2019. He was previously in private practice and is a former clerk for Rutherford County General Sessions Judge Ben Hall McFarlin Jr. Flatt’s campaign marks the first time in 20 years current Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott Davenport has been challenged for her seat.