Espy's final vote percentagewill be important guage of Missississpi's political changes. Keep in mind that Obama only received less than 10% of white votes.
3
It says a lot about the sorry state of representative governance in Mississippi that white Republicans own 5/6 of the Congressional delegation where African Americans are 3/8 of the population.
1
As candidate Doug Jones said "when you go around the country and you say you're from Alabama -there's not a lot of positive things that come up aside from college football." With Doug's election the national view of Alabama has changed for the better. The same thing will happen with Mississippi if the voters have the courage and foresight to make a break from the past.
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So right, John Ramsey! In my opinion America’s best hope is for the rise of a third party.
Although 95% of the candidates for whom I vote are Democrats (a sprinkling of Independents, Greens, etc.) I do NOT support the Democratic Party. In common with many massive institutions it is gridlocked by all the vital commitments between members. (“OK, we both favor measures A and B but we’ll prioritize efforts to pursue your favorite this time, mine next time.”) I think that DNC HAD to support HRC in her faltering campaign because she had supported Barack 8 years earlier.
Although the other Major party doesn’t flaunt its single goal: More power to us…the wealthiest (ergo the “best” and most successful, who will lead us all to the promised land) GOP members do follow their leaders.
Leaders of a new and successful Party will rise from among today’s many outspoken Progressives. No one appointed Bernie to be leader of a peaceful revolution; he pushed for one and people started following him. But he couldn’t prevail against both DNC and GOP.
If there are no other charismatic progressives who will attract enough followers to form a major party the entire country is doomed.
3
In the South, race remains the best indicator of one’s political leanings by far.
In 2012, Obama got 96% of the black vote in Mississippi while Mitt Romney got 90% of the white vote. The same thing happened in AL, SC, LA, GA, AR, OK, etc
4
As my grandfather said decades ago, 'Don't nothing beat a failure but a try'.
As I say now, 'old habits are hard to break'.
Mr. Espy's road might be hard to weather, but walking uphill is a battle all of itself.
Doesn't mean you will reach the top; Doesn't mean you won't neither.
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Mike Espy has been a public figure most of his adult life. If he is being held back, it is because of his record as much as his party affiliation. And describing Indianola as "tidy" is a stretch.
3
Recycled Clintonites simply need to retire. Get out of the way. Pack it in. Only then might a new, fresh, optimistic alternative arise, in Mississippi and elsewhere.
As long as the Democrats insist on Clintonism and its exhausting, never ending reappearance, they will lose. Mr. Espy included.
1
Yeah, we saw how well Bernie and his minions performed in the South
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That is so deep!
Glad you think so well of people running on their own qualifications and ideas, rather than automatically throwing them into a group that actually helped move this nation forward.
Good for you!
5
As a transplanted Californian, I have found politics in the Deep South very confusing. From what I can tell, at least in Alabama, the biggest problem is racial distrust. White voters don't trust black politicians and black voters don't trust white politicians. There's always a sense that people are looking out for and favoring people of their same race. That suspicion underlies everything. If you are turned down for a job or get fired, it's because of race — i.e. the person doing the hiring or firing looked first at your race and second at your qualifications. The assumption is that black politicians (a.k.a. Democrats) only look out for the interests of black voters; similarly, the assumption is that white politicians (a.k.a. Republicans) only look out for the interests of white voters. Thus you find very few people who will cross racial and party lines to vote. Intense gerrymandering only reinforces these assumptions and voting patterns. What so few seem to understand or are willing to see is that the interests of all of us transcend race. Poverty, education, joblessness (slightly different from poverty), and the environment affect white and black alike. Until we recognize our shared interests, Alabamians will continue to have a broken political system, substandard education, and a fractured society working against itself. Ditto Mississippi.
8
Many people here in Mississippi appreciate Mr. Espy and intend to vote for him. We see him as an advancement over what we have representing us in Washington now.
11
Mississippi remains the only state to fly the Confederate battle flag. In 2018, the KKK has littered my town with hate-filled flyers. Donald Trump’s MAGA themes openly promote misogyny, white supremacy, xenophobia, and economic inequality - most of my neighbors and colleagues love love love President Trump. A black Democrat, even one with the skilled political chops of Mike Espy, will not get elected in this state.
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The Democratic party has stopped trying to win elections in many places; Because. It. Is. Hard. Whereas, Republicans do not mind putting in $$ and labor for the likes of a Roy Moore or any number of unsavory candidates; as long as they have an "R" behind their names.
The Democratic party has simply gotten lazy and wants sure winners instead of working for a win.
7
I understand that Mississippi feels maligned. However, the fact that this article has been written at all demonstrates that MS hasn’t changed one iota since the Civil War. Thus, they are not disrespected. They are merely getting what they have earned: scorn.
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@Miguel Cernichiari
Your comment is lazy and uniformed. Please don't visit Mississippi, you might faint from cognitive dissonance.
1
@Miguel Cernichiari
Have you been here Miguel? I graduated from Central High in Jackson, Mississippi in 1971. My high school was 60% white, 40% black...and we all got along fine. What was the ratio in your high school??
1
@Barton Turner. Except for law school in DC and my parents time share in Hilton Head I have never been nor will I ever go south of NJ.
1
Mississippi is--and has always been--a Democratic state. The Magnolia State hated Abraham Lincoln because, as a Republican, he was anti-slavery. When Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965), Mississippi shed its allegiance to the Democratic Party by switching, in 1968, to the Republican Party. It's all a matter of race. If a majority of white Mississippians were honest, they'd admit it: "we're not really Republicans. We're racists and we vote Republican because of what a (white) Democratic president tried to force upon us 50+ years ago: integration."
It's as simple as that. I have no idea who they think they're fooling. And the same goes for the rest of the South.
33
I hope Mississippi's residents rally around the highly qualified Mr. Espy. If enough voters show up at the polls -- with IDs in hand (as that's now required) -- there's a chance he could become the state's next senator.
http://www.brennancenter.org/new-voting-restrictions-america
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Good God, get behind the guy!
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The Republican Party persistently promotes a concerted campaign accentuating the blemished image of an otherwise idyllic world which in fact disadvantages Mississippians – black and white – while covertly and subtly resorting to code words and dog whistles reminiscent of racial internecine and racial privilege. Mr. Espy’s campaign is both courageous and necessary to transform the image of the state to reflect a positively productive environment encouraging involvement and participation by all Mississippians. Steeped in experience with the multi faceted aspects of agriculture, substantial hands on experience with state and local communities addressing agricultural issues, Espy brings to the table the know how and the mental attitude of just how to get things done in Washington. He is the image of the New South that overshadows the memories of Jim Crow. LBJ's Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 count. The changing demographics of 2018 are different from the Jim Crow era, with many more diverse individuals of colour, immigrants, and persons of different religious faiths locating to Mississippi and other parts of the Deep South. The tendency of these new individuals is progressive, and that is the constituency that of Espy. The GOP will play the race card and take a page from the 1968 Southern Strategy play book to appeal to white Mississippians that they are better than anyone else. Espy can win, though, with positive electoral involvement. Race matters.
20
From an Alabamian: Thank god for Mississippi.
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@RS
From a Mississippian: Roy Moore.
3
It is a 3-way Special, Open Election between Espy [D] and Hyde-Smith [R] and McDaniel [R]. Thus, Espy has a good chance to win, though he is imperfect, as all of us.
Hyde-Smith is an unknown, bland, Trump-shoe-shiner - who will lose 35-50% of Trump-Republicans to McDaniel.
McDaniel is a sadly-resurrected version of Theodore Bilbo, the King of All Race-baiters.
Espy can win, even if McDaniel takes only 25-30% from Hyde-Smith and Espy gets 90% of the minorities' votes and 15-18% of the non-minorities' votes.
Mississippians are not surviving the Trump era - nor surviving the want-for-better that Trump "sold" and was not delivered.
Thus, such dissatisfaction runs deep and strong here, though not as strong as the rest of the country.Why? Because -most Mississippians have lived with want for 150 years - and do not complain as they can and should at the ballot box.
It is a toss-up.
36
@Lux Y. Veritas I wish Espy the best of luck and would love to see him win, but the state is Mississippi. Group think is very very strong here and it is very difficult to acknowledge that one is not in the majority party. In my childhood it was the Democratic Party and of course everyone was for the New Deal which gave us social security and rural electrification. These days those federal programs are still appreciated and, of course, not called socialistic. That is because Republicans are against socialism (whatever that is) and Democrats in their opinion are socialistic and too far left. The state became Republican as the national party beginning with Nixon followed a Southern strategy which was really against the Civil Rights Act. Somehow that old association between the Republican Party against the civil rights of African Americans inspires allegiance to the party, although the party has moved on (at least until Donald Trump came along). Espy has a real uphill battle and I wish him and his supporters all the best.
14
Espy has a reasonable chance of winning.
His old district in the Mississippi Delta was designed as a majority-minority district. In the mid-1980s, these counties had the fewest number of persuadable voters in all of Mississippi. People voted along strict party lines, and especially in elections for congress. Espy won due to a remarkably good and low-profile turnout machine, which in some years included a visiting governor from Arkansas and an upstart community organizer from Chicago on his way to Harvard Law.
All indicators now are that the GOP will keep the senate and out-perform expectations in the house. Given that scenario, there will be less interest in the race. The GOP candidate will need a compelling issue to turn out the vote, and Mike Espy knows how to not give the opposition that issue.
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@Real D B Cooper
"His old district in the Mississippi Delta was designed as a majority-minority district."
You mean 'gerrymandered'. And it's the reason Mississippi has the most elected black officials (statewide) in the country.
3
@Mr. Slater Civil Rights policy during the 1970s was that majority-minority congressional districts conformed to law. States subject to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 began creating these districts with the 1980 Census redistricting.
Mike is one of the younger and more studious of the five Espy brothers, but they're all very likeable and accessible to people.
2
Sadly, I don't see much of a chance for him unless the black vote come out and even then, no. The state ranks near the bottom in quality of life numbers like education, health care etc.. Yes, states do change, but I'm afraid that Mississippi still has a ways to go.
22
Mississippi could easily send a black Senator to Washington.
All he would need is the GOP nomination....
16