Former Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton has been sworn in as the new Mayor of Memphis.

Former Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton was sworn in as Memphis Mayor on Monday at a City Hall ceremony. Wharton thanked his wife Ruby for her support during his campaign, along with his 93-year-old mother.

Wharton said, "the people of Memphis tell him their hopes for the city and the call for unity echoes loudest". "The desire for me is to help bring an end to the rancor and divisiveness that has too often...defined our politics and clogged the engine of our forward progress," he said.

One of Wharton's first meetings as Memphis' new mayor was with Police Director Larry Godwin. Wharton often said during his campaign that "it would be inappropriate to promise or deny anyone a job", that said, Wharton was asked several times during the campaign whether he would keep Godwin on the job. Candidate Wharton never committed either way on the issue.

A C Wharton is the first newly elected mayor of Memphis in nearly twenty years.