![]() ![]() When he first won his congressional seat in 1992, he did it with only 85 percent of the black vote and 11 percent of the white vote. In a September MSNBC interview, Espy pointed out that he’s achieved as much in the past. To win, not only would he need 95 percent of African-Americans to vote for him at Obama’s turnout levels, but Espy would also need one 1 of 4 white voters on his side. He says often that it runs through the black community, but he also understands that attracting black voters alone is not enough. For all of the demographic prognosticating about the increasing power of the Hispanic vote and glib democratic posturing about how African-Americans are a “firewall,” few seem to have taken notice of the untapped political power that lies in the heavily African-American Democratic base of Mississippi.Įspy, the first African-American secretary of agriculture and a former representative from Mississippi’s 2nd District, sees a path to victory. Reconstruction-era politics are an unlikely hook for contemporary Senate chances, but there is a more recent reason to be hopeful: Barack Obama won over 43 percent of Mississippi voters in 2008, the best showing for a Democrat in the modern era since Jimmy Carter won 48 percent of the vote in 1980. ![]() Of the 10 black senators ever elected in American history, the first two were elected by the Magnolia State - both in the decade following the Civil War, before senators were directly elected by voter. At 37 percent, no state has a higher proportion of African-American residents - or black senators over time. With 35 Senate seats and 435 House seats hanging in the balance, national focus has understandably been reserved for those races that seem to be most “winnable.” It’s reasonable to be pessimistic about red states, and given the conservative politics of the deep South, it’s particularly hard to be sanguine about Mississippi.īut Mississippi is not just red. Deval Patrick, David Baria’s race against 11-year incumbent Roger Wicker is so under-covered, the title of a recent local news article described the race as the state’s “ other” Senate campaign.Ī double Senate race has only happened 55 times in American history, but the twin Mississippi races still can’t break the news cycle. Polls from early October showed Espy and Hyde-Smith in a dead heat, but she’s been polling about 10 points ahead of Espy since a visit from President Donald Trump, who rallied for her in Mississippi on October 3.īut unlike Espy, who has benefited from high-profile media coverage and visits from national figures like Sen. If none of the candidates gets 50 percent of the vote, the top two go into a runoff election, in which Hyde-Smith is heavily favored. Mike Espy’s candidacy has gotten some national attention - largely because he’s competing in an exciting three-way “jungle” primary against establishment Republican candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith, who replaced Thad Cochran on an interim basis when he stepped down in April, and Chris McDaniel, a tea party candidate who has benefited from millions of dollars of independent expenditures from right-wing PACs. There are two Senate seats up for grabs in Mississippi on November 6. ![]()
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