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901.726.5725 momentumnonprofit.org We help Mid-South nonprofits succeed. After Kelsey

Whoever succeeds the indicted GOP state senator will likely have a di erent legislative style.

One looks for potential shi s in political direction. One case where that is sure to happen is with state Senate District 31, whose seatholder up to now has been Brian Kelsey, the erstwhile “Stunt Baby of Germantown,” who evolved from a prankster as minority member of the last Democratic-dominated House to a saboteur of the state constitution as a GOP senator in a supermajority Republican General Assembly, sponsoring an endless series of hyperpartisan constitutional amendments. ough an engaging sort personally, Kelsey has been a take-noprisoners type as a legislator, and his easy way with the machinations of the GOP’s extremist fringe was no doubt useful to him in a cutting-edge career that now, alas, has le him bleeding on the battle eld — indicted for campaign nance violations and compelled to drop out of his re-election race while he prepares a legal defense.

Kelsey’s would-be successors in the Republican primary are wholly di erent types — all Republican regulars but all more at home in a bipartisan environment. at is certainly the case with Brent Taylor, who recently resigned as chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission and seeks state service as a way of crowning a career that has included signi cant stints on the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission.

Taylor, who once had an uncanny resemblance to the TV character Pee-wee Herman, has matured into a statesmanlike presence who had stabilizing roles as an elective politician and on the Election Commission. So far, Taylor, who recently sold o an extensive funeral-home business, is the only Republican who has actually led for the Senate position. And he is said to have the support of U.S. senators

Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty. Paul Boyd, who served two terms as Probate Court clerk a er winning election to that o ce in the Republican sweep year of 2010, has toiled dependably in the GOP’s ranks for decades and, as an African American, brings a bit of outreach to a party that, to mince no words, needs it. PHOTO: JACKSON BAKER

Brent Taylor exiting the SCEC

Naser Fazlullah, an engaging and near-omnipresent gure among local

Republicans, is a native of Bangladesh who has been in charge of the party’s outreach e orts overall. Well-liked and uncontroversial, he is likely to end up instead on the ballot for GOP state committeeman. And there is Brandon Toney, a political newcomer without much of an established pedigree in GOP ranks. Four years ago, Democrat Gabby

Salinas came close to ousting Kelsey in a much-watched race. During her successful run for the Shelby County

Democratic chairmanship last year,

Salinas more or less committed to not being a candidate for elective o ce this year. But Ruby Powell-Dennis, who was a strong runner-up to Salinas in the 2020 Democratic primary for the

House District 97 seat, has basically been running hard for the District 31

Senate seat for some time and must be reckoned with in a district with purplish tendencies.