Citizens United and 16 state political parties — including the Tennessee Republican Party — on Thursday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of improperly assuming control of Biden campaign funds after he withdrew from the presidential race. The Tennessee Lookout reports that the complaint is asking the FEC’s six-person commission — split evenly between Democrats and Republicans — to “immediately initiate enforcement proceedings to prevent Harris from using her ill-gotten gains for her campaign in the little time remaining between now and the November general election.” A Harris campaign spokesperson said in a statement that the complaint had no merit; the FEC declined to comment.

Democrats in state District 19, which covers part of Knox County, are hoping to challenge Rep. Dave Wright, R-Corryton, by supporting the write-in candidacy of Michael Leon Daugherty on the Aug. 1 ballot, Knox News reports. Daugherty did not get on the ballot by the filing deadline, so he will need 5% of voters (about 2,200 people) to write in his name during the primary in order to be included on the general election ballot in November. Daugherty, a retired civics teacher, told the news outlet that elected officials must to do more to provide adequate health care, pass sensible gun safety laws, increase the minimum wage, support those suffering from addiction and protect public education.

The Daily Memphian looks at three races that will be on the ballot for Aug. 1 primary in Shelby County. In state House District 96, five Democratic candidates will face off. They are Eric Dunn, Telisa Franklin, Gabby Salinas, Orrden Williams and David Winston. In House District 97, Republican incumbent John Gillespie faces a primary challenge from Christina Oppenhuizen. And in state Senate District 30, incumbent Sen. Sara Kyle faces a Democratic primary challenge from Erika Stotts Pearson. Read more about each of the races from the paper.

Voters in Knox County will choose a criminal court judge and law director on Aug. 1. Judge Hector Sanchez is running unopposed for a second term as Division II criminal court judge. He was appointed in 2022 to serve the remainder of former Judge Kyle Hixon's term. In the race for county law director, attorney Jackson Fenner is challenging incumbent David Buuck. Read more about the candidates from Knox News.

The Knoxville Bar Association (KBA) has released the results of a member poll regarding the candidates for three area judicial seats: Knox County law director, Knox County Criminal Court Division II judge and one Tennessee Supreme Court justice who is being considered for retention. The KBA’s nonpartisan Judicial Committee oversees the survey. Local attorneys — 300 in this case — anonymously rate candidates as either strongly recommended, recommended, not recommended, strongly not recommended or no knowledge. The Knox County General Election is Aug. 1, with early voting running from July 12-27. Read more in a release from the group.

The only countywide race on the Shelby County Aug. 1 ballot will one between Lisa Arnold and Tami Sawyer, who are seeking to be the next General Sessions Court clerk. Early voting in the race will begin July 12. Arnold, who is running as a Republican, is making her first bid for public office. She has been a bail bondsman and bounty hunter for Liberty Bail Bonding since retiring as a supervisor in the clerk’s office in 2014. Democratic nominee Tami Sawyer is a former Shelby County Commissioner who, before being elected to the commission in 2018, ran unsuccessfully for the state House. She also finished third in the 2019 Memphis mayor’s race. Read more about their races in the Daily Memphian or their responses to questions from the paper.

Rhea Clift and Justin Gee are both running to fill the remaining six years of the current eight-year term of Germantown Municipal Court judge. Raymond Clift Jr., Rhea’s father, retired from the bench in 2022. Kevin Patterson, appointed to the interim position, is not seeking election. According to the Daily Memphian, Clift and Gee both applied for the interim post before Patterson was ultimately appointed. Clift began her prosecuting career 33 years ago with the Shelby County District Attorney’s office. In 2000 she became a prosecutor in Bartlett and in 2020 she became the suburb’s chief prosecutor. She is also a prosecutor in Millington City Court. Gee has 18 years of experience as a defense attorney and has been with the law firm of Wagerman Katzman for 19 years. He specializes in seizures of property but also works on many criminal cases. Early voting runs from July 12 to 27. Election Day is Aug, 1.

School psychologist Heather McClendon is running as a Democratic candidate to represent District 30 in the Tennessee House of Representatives. She is challenging incumbent Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes, R-East Ridge, who has served in the role since November 2018. McClendon says she was motivated to run after passage of a state law requiring third graders to meet certain requirements to progress to fourth grade. The Times Fress Press has more on her candidacy.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti will not issue an opinion as to whether Donald Trump should remain on the state's presidential election ballot. The Tennessee Lookout reports that in a letter to Rep. Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville (who requested a formal legal opinion after Trump was convicted on felony charges in New York), Skrmetti said that after careful consideration, his office cannot opine based on a state law dealing with election eligibility. “The Attorney General’s statutory authority is limited to providing ‘written legal opinions’ on matters submitted by officials ‘in the discharge of their official duties.’” Skrmetti’s office notes, “And Tennessee’s election officials — not individual members of the General Assembly — enforce (the state law) in specific factual scenarios.” Dixie said in a statement he is “disappointed” but “not surprised” by the response.

The five city charter amendments that were supposed to be on Memphis voters' Aug. 1 ballot are being moved to November, the Daily Memphian reports. Shelby County Elections Coordinator Linda Phillips said she did not receive the text of the ballot questions — including a multi-part question on gun control and one that would mandate a mayoral candidate live in the city for two years — by the deadline for them to be included on the August ballot. City Council Chief Administrative Officer Brooke Hyman told the paper that the referendums have been moved to November to give the public more time to learn about the proposals.