[3] Raised by a single mother, Herenton was encouraged at a young age to pursue his dreams of becoming a Golden Gloves boxer.

During Herenton's 12-year tenure as MCS superintendent, ambitious programs aimed at creating opportunities and services to disadvantaged youth, as well as expanding teacher freedoms, were implemented.

[7] However, he was mired in controversy after accusations of sexual harassment from a female teacher surfaced in 1988, leading to his divorce, an admission of an affair, and an out-of-court settlement.

[8] In April 1991, more than 3000 predominantly African-American citizens of Memphis gathered in the Mid-South Coliseum and selected Herenton as the consensus candidate for the 1991 mayoral election.

This move angered many politicians in the city, including Councilwoman Carol Chumney, who had run for mayor of Memphis in the October 2007 election.

[14] Herenton said that he only ran for re-election in 2007 to protect the city of Memphis from the other main candidates, Herman Morris and Councilwoman Carol Chumney.

In April 2009, Herenton formed an exploratory committee to run in the 2010 US Congressional Election for the 9th District of Tennessee, presumably intending to challenge incumbent Steve Cohen in the Democratic primary.

[19] In 2010, Herenton announced that he would run against Congressman Steve Cohen in the Democratic Primary for Tennessee's 9th congressional district—a majority African-American and heavily Democratic-leaning district.

Herenton's campaign manager, Sidney Chism, who is African American, told the New York Times that the Memphis-area congressional seat held by Cohen, who is Jewish, "was set aside for people who look like me.

[26] Herenton placed third with 22% of the vote, behind Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, Paul Young, who was elected mayor.