Mississippi Today

Could Gov. Tate Reeves benefit again from Trump legal woes?

Published

10 months ago

August 6, 2023

If history is an indicator, Gov. Tate Reeves' reelection campaign might have gotten a major boost this past week: new federal criminal charges filed against former President Donald Trump.

Those charges could fire up the legion of Mississippi Trump voters to go to the polls to support the Republican Reeves later this year, just as the congressional impeachment of Trump got them to flock to the polls four years ago.

It looks as though Reeves already is trying to take advantage of the Trump indictment to get voters to the polls this November for his reelection effort against Democrat Brandon Presley.

“The Biden administration's attempts to interfere in the election by weaponizing law enforcement are corrupt and wrong,” Reeves wrote this week on social media. “They have proven they will do anything to get Donald Trump, and trample ethics, the rule of law, and our national unity to do it.”

There was a belief by many, including those on the 2019 gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Jim Hood, that the decision by U.S. House Democrats to launch an official impeachment inquiry of then-President Trump played a key role in tilting Mississippi's governor's election to Reeves.

In 2019, Reeves was endorsed by Trump. And perhaps more importantly, Trump held a massive rally for Reeves on the Friday night before the November 2019 general election in Tupelo — the center of the key battleground area of northeast Mississippi. The day before that rally, House Democrats began the official impeachment inquiry.

Reeves might have won regardless of Trump. After all, he was the favorite to win in Republican friendly Mississippi. But on that Friday night rally in Tupelo, the focus was not on electing Tate Reeves because of his political skills or policies. Instead, it was on Trump and encouraging Republican voters to send a message to House Democrats.

“We can't reelect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday night, but we can do the next best thing: elect Tate Reeves governor,” U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker told the raucous crowd that night.

If an impeachment inquiry spurred Mississippians to go to the polls to vote for the Republican gubernatorial nominee, imagine what two sets of federal indictments — plus state charges in New York and the likelihood of facing more state charges in Georgia — could do.

Trump, of course, was indicted earlier on charges related to the mishandling and concealing of classified documents after he left office. And perhaps the charges leveled last week will have the most impact on many Mississippi voters. Those charges relate to his effort to use his position as president and the power of the U.S. Department of Justice and other groups to overthrow the 2020 election, when he was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden.

Criminal charges against Trump related to the 2020 election and attempts to overthrow it, no doubt, will fire up many voters who remain convinced that the election was stolen despite no evidence to support that theory.

In 2019, during the campaign rally in Tupelo, Trump urged Mississippians “to send a signal (about his impeachment) by sending a terrific new Republican governor to Jackson.”

Days before the 2019 election, a Mason-Dixon poll said Reeves had a narrow 46%-43% advantage.

“In this close race, President Donald Trump could be the deciding factor,” the Mason-Dixon pollsters wrote. “Trump remains popular in Mississippi and efforts by congressional Democrats to impeach him are opposed by a significant majority of state voters.”

The poll said the impeachment inquiry was opposed by a 56% to 34% margin in Mississippi.

Hood campaign staffers said privately after the election that their internal polling showed the Democrat holding a slight lead throughout 2019. Hood's internal polling also showed that he was viewed more favorably than Reeves. But a key is that the internal poll consistently showed that Trump was more favorable than the Mississippi politicians, including outgoing Gov. Phil Bryant.

As the impeachment inquiry intensified during the final days of the Mississippi gubernatorial campaign, Hood staffers said they could feel the election slipping away.

On that Friday night in Tupelo's BancorpSouth Coliseum, the momentum for Reeves and the anger over the impeachment inquiry seemed palpable. And on Election Day, Reeves convincingly won the Tupelo area that was viewed as a Hood stronghold, helping to propel Reeves to a 5-point victory statewide.

This year, Democrat Brandon Presley, already facing difficult odds against an incumbent governor with a sizable fundraising advantage, has to hope Mississippi voters are not as angry this year about Donald Trump's legal woes.

For whatever it is worth, Trump also campaigned for the Republican candidates for governor in the other two states with gubernatorial elections in 2019, Kentucky and Louisiana.

In both those states, the Democrat won.

That is the history that may give Presley a glimmer of hope, but the Trump factor could loom large in Mississippi.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1896

Published

1 day ago

May 18, 2024

Staff Editor

MAY 18, 1896

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the “separate but equal” doctrine that remained in place until 1954.

In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “separate but equal” rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.

“In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,” he wrote. “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law … takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=359301

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Mississippi Today

Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur

Published

2 days ago

May 17, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Vickie King – 2024-05-17 11:53:33

Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…

“I gotta get out of these woods.”

She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.

“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”

A variety of soaps created by Renada Stovall. Stovall is a chemist who creates all natural skin and hair care products using natural ingredients.

In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.

Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.

Renada Stovall, owner of Nadabutter, selling her all-natural soaps and balms at the Clinton Main Street Market: Spring into Green, in April of this year.

Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.

“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”

Soap mixture is poured into a mold to cure. Once cured, the block with be cut into bars of soap.

Renada Stovall, making cold process soap at her home.

Renada Stovall adds a vibrant gold to her soap mixture.

Tumeric soap created by Nadabutter owner, Renada Stovall.

Soap infused with honey. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1954

Published

2 days ago

May 17, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-05-17 07:00:00

MAY 17, 1954

Ella J. Rice talks to one of her pupils, all of them white, in a third grade classroom of Draper Elementary School in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 1954. This was the first day of non-segregated schools for teachers and students. Rice was the only Black teacher in the school. Credit: AP photo

In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.

The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.

In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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