Memphis Mayor Paul Young's Template for Democrats in the Age of Trump

0:00Paul Young:A model for how cooperation between Democrats and Republicans can work for the people of this great country in the age of Donald Trump. A conversation with Memphis Mayor Paul Young right now. This country was stone cold dead. Good day from Newsweek headquarters at the top of the World Trade Center here in New York City. I am Carlo Versano and this is The 1600. So the news has been rather bad lately. Unsettling, anxiety producing perhaps, at least for me. We've been trying to spend a little bit of time here on the show highlighting some things in some places where things are working, where stuff is working, right?

0:34Paul Young:Where what we can learn from the people who are doing the work and really trying to make this country better, whether that means making our community safer, making our kids more equipped to enter the world. Last week we talked to Nick Kristof at the New York Times about his reporting related to the states in the Deep South and the miracle, the education miracle that's happening there, what those states are doing to get their kids ready for the world and what blue states like ours can do to learn from them. So we're going to keep the theme going today. I have with me here in the studio here in New York, Mayor Paul Young of Memphis, Tennessee, a great American city that is seeing something of a little bit of a rebirth or a little bit of a renaissance, at least some very encouraging signs in its fight against crime, as well as its strategy of working with this Trump administration.

1:20Paul Young:Mayor, thank you so much.

1:21Carlo Versano:Thank you for having me. Honored to be here with you. Thanks.

1:23Paul Young:I really appreciate it. I really appreciate you coming all the way over here. So you're two years and change into your first term. Two years and some change.

1:31Carlo Versano:It's been an interesting journey, but, you know, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

1:34Paul Young:Well, so I want to talk about the journey, but I want to first I want to talk about crime first. During your mayoral bid, you promised a, quote, pandemic like response to dealing with crime. And I want to read a couple of these crime statistics that we have. These are based on the latest available numbers. Homicide rates in the city of Memphis, which includes gun homicides. They were down by 30 percent in the city in 2024, which was your first year in office. 2025, last year, there were 235 homicides. That's compared to 301 in 2024 and 399 in 2023. The overall crime was down in the city 41 % last year compared to the year prior.

2:14Paul Young:Your chief of police told the city council that the trend is continuing into this year, the first couple months of this year. Those are some real declines. That's incredible. My question is, what's behind the turnaround?

2:26Carlo Versano:I mean, it's a lot of real work. You know, when I came into office, we were coming out of some heavy, heavy times. You mentioned the homicide numbers, 400 homicides in 2023, the year before I became mayor. And when we came in, we said that we were going to take an aggressive approach, an approach where we're working with everyone. We brought in leaders from the state. We brought in community organizations and organizers and our police department, law enforcement entities. And we started executing the plan. And the plan was let's be aggressive and strategic. We know that there are a few individuals that drive most of the crime in our communities, and that's similar across this country.

3:10Carlo Versano:And so we tried to be more intentional using data to identify who were the ones that were really driving the crime and then going after them. And at the same time, focusing on working with those nonprofits, grassroots organizations to help us with the intervention and prevention. If we see someone headed down the wrong path, we shouldn't just wait until we have to address them on the law enforcement side. We have to engage them now. And that's what our nonprofit partners has helped us with. And I think that it's reaping benefits for us. We set out a goal of reducing crime 10 percent year over year for four years such that we would get to a 40 percent reduction in four years.

3:49Carlo Versano:And thanks to all of our efforts, we were able to do it in two. It's amazing.

3:53Paul Young:And it reminds me of, I believe the mayor of Baltimore has a similar strategy, and he's talked about sort of like it's all of the above, right? It's not just about policing. It's not just about community outreach. It's not just about technology. You've got to get everybody on the same page, and that appears to be what you're doing.

4:09Carlo Versano:Mayor Baltimore and many of us, many of the mayors, we're using a similar approach. A lot of people go into their corners and they argue and say it's just law enforcement or it's just addressing root causes. And the reality is that it's both. It's both and. And we have to do both of those things aggressively and strategically to get the results that our communities deserve.

4:33Paul Young:So, Mayor, you've also been, Memphis has been at the center, I don't know if I'd say the center, but it's certainly been involved in President Trump's federal immigration crackdown. It's a very heavily Democratic city, right? We haven't really seen protests in Memphis in the way that we have in other Democratic cities like Minneapolis. I know that there have surely been protests, and you can speak to that. There has not been significant violence. ICE has not shot any civilians in your city, to my knowledge at least. Why do you think that is? What are you guys doing right?

5:02Carlo Versano:Well, first I will say the way that the federal government entered Memphis is different than some of those other cities. In some of those other cities, we're seeing immigration pushes that are strictly focused on immigration solely. Their entrance into Memphis was around violent crime. And so at the time in which they were coming, the biggest concern at that time was the National Guard. Not just us. How it would show up in our community. And I made the decision to work strategically to align those federal agencies with the things that really are pain points for our community. There is nobody from any demographic background in our community that will say we don't have any issue with crime.

5:49Carlo Versano:Sure. And so I knew that the more we could focus their efforts on violent crime, the thing that really is impacting the lives of most Memphians, then the better the results could be. And so we began integrating those federal teams into our strategy with our law enforcement partners. We have a fugitive task force, a warrant squad. We have an organized crime unit, a multi-agency gang unit. And we began working with those entities like FBI, DEA, ATF. It also includes HSI. They began Homeland Security investigation of which ICE is one of the entities. They began working with those teams. And when they first came in, there was a lot more immigration that was taking place.

6:42Carlo Versano:But as we began to focus them on executing the warrants and doing the things to drive down violent crime, we saw less of the focus on immigration and more focus on the things that we really, really want them to focus on.

6:54Paul Young:That's really interesting. So you were essentially able to focus the federal enforcement in a way that they perhaps were not coming in thinking they were going to do.

7:07Carlo Versano:Well, so they did come in under the premise. It was similar to how they went into D.C. Sure. Very similar entrance into the community. They came with a Memphis Safe Task Force that was intended to be focused on reducing violent crime. And so we began thinking about what are the strategies that we're already doing? Because remember, when they came in September 2025, we had already reduced violent crime by 25 percent. And so we knew some of the things we were doing were already working. And so my goal was to make sure that as they came, they didn't just start another initiative that was not dialed into the strategies that we were already implementing and seeing results.

7:50Carlo Versano:And so it was important for me to make sure that our chief of police was there and that we were helping to drive where their focus was going to be.

8:00Paul Young:So, yes, so you mentioned September. That's when Trump announced the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis to address crime, as you noted. And you spoke out against that initially, but you said you were going to make the most of it. And I want to read a quote that you gave to the media back then. This is last September. I do not support the National Guard. However, they are the governors. It's not the mayor's call. The mayor doesn't have authority to stop them. And so my goal is to make sure that as they come, that I have an opportunity to work with them to strategize on how they engage in this community, end quote.

8:29That strikes me as pretty reasonable.

8:32Paul Young:Did you get any pushback from that, from the community?

8:34Carlo Versano:Yeah, of course. I mean, people have different feelings about all of the politics that's happening around us. But as mayor, I have to be very practical. I have to control the things that I can control and influence the things that I can't necessarily directly control. And my goal in this instance was to use influence to determine how this showed up in our community. For instance, when I mentioned when we first got into this, the biggest concern was the National Guard and how they will show up. When I think about the National Guard and Memphis, the time that I remember hearing about growing up that the National Guard was in our city was after Dr.

9:11Carlo Versano:King was assassinated. And those don't invoke positive memories. in one of America's largest majority African American cities in the nation. It was important to me to make sure that as these individuals show up, it wasn't done in an intimidating way. And so we were able to work with the Tennessee National Guard with regards to how they rolled around in our community. Instead of them bringing tanks and armored vehicles, we asked them to move around in something differently. And so they chose to move their people around in transit vans, something that's less intimidating. We asked them not to bring the big, long, military-like guns and walking around in our community because that's very intimidating.

10:02Carlo Versano:And they listen to you. They listen. And so instead they use sidearms and they're walking around in areas where they coordinate with our police department daily on where they're going to be. instead of them walking around residential areas. They're focused on parks, commercial corridors, places where there are already a number of people. And it has made them feel less intimidating to the broader community and more a part of like a strategic goal of security and safety for our city.

10:35Paul Young:I want to talk to you about the task force in a minute because obviously that's a big part of it. But this is fascinating to me, right? So you've taken a very different posture than some of the other, you know, Blue City mayors. Brandon Johnson in Chicago, I'm thinking of he called the National Guard deployment in his city a, quote, military occupation. And regardless of whether or not you think that's true, in my belief is that when you talk like that, you inflame somebody like Trump. And you inflame a federal government that is, you know, perhaps going to deliver some sort of retribution if you're not, you know, if you're out there sort of like tweaking them that way.

11:10Paul Young:He instructed Chicago police not to cooperate with the federal troops. That's diametrically opposed to what you just told me. Just talk a little bit about how you've tried to thread this needle, not just with your constituents, but also the federal government, as we mentioned, and your governor, Bill Lee, who is a Republican.

11:27Carlo Versano:Yeah. I mean, shout out to Brandon Johnson. I know Brandon, him and I were in class together through Bloomberg, and a great guy doing great things for the city of Chicago. and we talk very often, I think it's important to think about the circumstances as it exists for each particular community. I am in a different position. I mean, we have a Republican governor who I also have a good relationship with, but he's on a whole different side of the aisle. And I understand that my posture can directly impact the resources that my city is able to receive. Right. That's just being practical. And in Chicago's case, it's different.

12:09Carlo Versano:They're in a blue state. And so they can afford to take a different posture. And so not that there's no risk because on either side there's risk. My goal was to think about for Memphis, what is the best way to get the result that we need? And I think being practical about the ways that we can use this for the benefit of the residents of the city is really important for the mayor. There are many other voices that are voicing a lot of things as we look at our national dialogue and debates. And I think it's important for them to make their voices heard and debate all of those issues. My goal is to execute on the ground.

12:53Carlo Versano:I have Memphians that could care less about our politics. They don't care about whether the resources come from the Republicans or the Democrats or independents. They just need food on their table. They just need jobs. They just need housing. They need opportunities. And my goal, and they need safety. And my goal is to make sure that as mayor, I'm doing all that I can to deliver that.

13:16Paul Young:I mean, this is common sense politics. And we've talked a lot about it on the show and in the newsletter. are, you know, I've heard from so many, you know, readers and viewers who have just been like, where are the common sense politicians in this country? Like they're mayors. Well, they are mayors, right? And I think some of them are governors, but I think that they are mayors to a large degree. And I think that's because mayors understand that you got to execute for your for your constituents, or you're not going to get reelected. Yeah, I mean, you know,

13:42Carlo Versano:when I think about and I said this in my state of the city, but, you know, I think about since I've been in office, the conversations I've had with mothers who have lost their child. We had a convening where my mom, who was a pastor, had over 300 mothers who had lost their loved one and couldn't find the person that had killed them. So we brought in the police department and Chief Davis and her team came and they met with each of those mothers to give updates on the cases. But when you hear that pain, you understand that there's a dual reality that's going on. We want to make sure that our communities have safe interactions with law enforcement.

14:27Carlo Versano:We also got to make sure that we're going after the bad guys that are causing harm to our city. And so my goal is to make sure that we continue to focus on those things, that we do it in a fair and just way, and that we get results. And that makes space for us to address some of those root causes. Root causes like housing, which is something that we're really making a big push on now. We're looking to have 10 ,000 housing units developed in our city by 2030. We're making way for workforce development and training. We're trying to get 5 ,000 jobs, career jobs for young people by 2030. We're making way for entertainment and music, the things that has made Memphis special and different for many years.

15:14Carlo Versano:Right, the culture. The culture of the city. We need to lean into those things for more opportunities. But it's hard to do it when you have this narrative around public safety that is kind of overwhelming the psyche and the narrative about our city.

15:31Paul Young:Yeah. So you alluded to this, and I just wanted to spend one more minute on it. But this is this is my theory. And this is sort of my theory for the blueprint that I think that Memphis could be for other cities. You tell me if I'm wrong, but you're a Democratic mayor in a Democratic city in a ruby red state. Right. So that gives you sort of this opportunity that a lot of Democratic mayors like Mayor Johnson in Chicago, like our mayor here in New York. But because that they are in a blue state, you can deflect criticism from from the Democratic base in a way that they can't. Right. Because you aren't locked into this sort of like dynamic of escalation that we've seen in places like Chicago, Minneapolis, even here in New York.

16:09Paul Young:So I'm not that's not really a question to you, but I wanted to use it as a jumping off point for you to talk a little bit about your working relationship with Governor Lee, who, again, is a Republican. He's not really a MAGA Republican. He strikes me as more of a common sense guy, not not as much as a sort of like, you know, political guy. But tell me a little bit how you guys work together.

16:31Carlo Versano:Oh, we've been working together and, you know, he's been super supportive of some of the efforts that we've been doing to revitalize our downtown area and make it more strong and safe. He's put in his budget for this year, this year right now, as we're going through our legislative session, which ends in another month or two. He included$80 million for the city of Memphis specifically to focus on public safety. 50 million would go towards strengthening our downtown area and the area around our entertainment district. Another 15 million will go towards what we call focus deterrence, where we're working with those organizations that are doing intervention and prevention in the lives of young people.

17:15Carlo Versano:Another 15 million will go towards that goal of getting 5 ,000 people trained for work career jobs through workforce development. So he's been very supportive of the things that I think are going to turn the dial for our great city. And it's an important relationship that I think it's good for your mayor to be able to call the governor and get resources that the community desperately needs. I think the state understands that in order for our state to maximize its potential, we must maximize the potential of Memphis. Nashville is doing great. Their economy is clicking on many levels. Memphis is doing well.

17:59Carlo Versano:I mean, we're seeing some great economic wins, but I think there's more room for opportunity there, and I think the state understands that as well.