Mississippi Today
National Democrats promote five legislative races in MississippiĀ
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a national Democratic Party-affiliated organization that supports statehouse races, announced Wednesday that it is aiming to boost candidates competing in five Mississippi legislative races this fall.
āDemocrats in Republican-controlled states like Mississippi are on the front lines of standing up to the GOP's radical agenda,ā interim DLCC President Heather Williams said in a statement. āThese Democratic candidates are running to fight back against Republican extremism and ensure that all Mississippians are represented in their state legislature.ā
The five Democratic candidates the organization is supporting, all challenging Republican incumbents, are:
- Pam McKelvy Hamner (Senate District 2 in DeSoto County)
- Andre DeBerry (Senate District 10 in Union, Lafayette, Marshall and Tate counties)
- Donna Niewiaroski (House District 12 in Lafayette County)
- David Olds (House District 24 in DeSoto County)
- Annita Bonner (House District 86 in Wayne, Perry and Greene counties)
The five candidates are running in legislative districts that are currently represented by Republicans but are located in suburban areas or have districts with a higher percentage of Black voters and college-educated voters.
It's unclear exactly how much money the organization plans to invest in the races, but it's notable the group, for the first time, is promoting candidates in Mississippi, a state dominated by GOP politics. Republicans control the Legislature, holding supermajority control of both the House and Senate ā a reality that is unlikely to change in November.
Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor told Mississippi Today that it is encouraging to see that the DLCC is investing in Mississippi and believes it could be a step forward to flipping seats occupied by conservative lawmakers.
āMississippi should not be a state that national politics have given up on,ā Taylor said. āIn fact, we want to be sure we're becoming more and more attractive because of the infrastructure we're building here in Mississippi.ā
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=287326
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1961
MAY 14, 1961
On this Mother's Day, a group of Freedom Riders traveling by bus from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans arrived in Anniston, Alabama. A mob of white men led by a Klansman attacked the bus with baseball bats and iron pipes. They also slashed the tires.
After the attack ended, the hobbled bus pulled over, the mob hurled a firebomb into the bus, and someone cried out, āBurn them alive.ā The riders escaped as the bus burst into flames, only to be beaten with pipes by the mob.
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth organized several cars of Black citizens to rescue the injured Freedom Riders. The photograph of the Greyhound bus engulfed in flames, the black smoke filling the sky became an unforgettable image of the civil rights movement.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Reeves vetoes bills. Lawmakers wonāt return to challenge them
Gov. Tate Reeves has vetoed several bills passed by the Legislature, but lawmakers will not reconvene Tuesday to attempt to override them.
On Monday, the last day for him to address bills passed in the 2024 legislative session, the governor vetoed a bill transferring money between state agencies, and part of another similar transfer bill. He vetoed four bills restoring voting rights to people convicted of felonies. He let 16 such bills restoring voting rights pass.
Before legislators adjourned earlier this month, they set aside one day ā Tuesday — to possibly return for the purpose of overriding gubernatorial vetoes. When legislators provided themselves the option to return on Tuesday, there was a belief they would need to do so to take up an expected veto by Reeves of a bill to expand Medicaid to provide health care for the working poor. But late in the session, legislators could not reach a compromise on efforts to expand Medicaid and the measure died.
Reeves had also vetoed a bill late Friday.
Reeves said he vetoed Senate Bill 2180 because it required the Capitol Police Force to enforce ordinances of the city of Jackson. The Capitol Police Force has jurisdiction in all of the city and primary jurisdiction in a portion of the city known as the Capitol Complex Improvement District.
The governor said the bill might have prevented the Capitol Police from working with federal officials to detain undocumented immigrants.
But, according to language in the bill, it did not require the Capitol Police to enforce city ordinances, but said they may enforce the ordinances, such as to control loud noises.
The bill also removed the requirement that people get permission from Capitol Police officials to protest outside of state-owned buildings, such as the Governor's Mansion. A federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the requirement of a permit from Capitol Police for protests last year.
The bill also would have added another judge to hear misdemeanor cases in the Capitol Complex Improvement District.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1862
MAY 13, 1862
During the Civil War, Robert Smalls and other Black Americans who were enslaved commandeered an armed Confederate ship in Charleston. Wearing a straw hat to cover his face, Smalls disguised himself as a Confederate captain. His wife, Hannah, and members of other families joined them.
Smalls sailed safely through Confederate territory by using hand signals contained in the captain's code book, and when he and the 17 Black passengers landed in Union territory, they went from slavery to freedom. He became a hero in the North, helped convince Union leaders to permit Black soldiers to fight and became part of the war effort.
After the war ended, he returned to his native Beaufort, South Carolina, where he bought his former slaveholder's home (and allowed his widow to live there until her death). He served five terms in Congress, one of more than a dozen Black Americans to serve during Reconstruction. He also authored legislation that enabled South Carolina to have one of the nation's first free and compulsory public school systems and bought a building to use as a school for Black children.
After Reconstruction ended, however, white lawmakers passed laws to disenfranchise Black voters.
āMy race needs no special defense for the past history of them and this country,ā he said. āAll they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.ā
He survived slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction and the beginnings of Jim Crow. He died in 1915, the same year Hollywood's racist epic film, āBirth of a Nationā, was released.
A century later, his hometown of Beaufort opened the Reconstruction Era National Monument, which features a bust of Smalls ā the only known statue in the South of any of the pioneering congressmen of Reconstruction. In 2004, the U.S. named a ship after Smalls. It was the first Army ship named after a Black American. A highway into Beaufort now bears his name.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=358129
-
SuperTalk FM6 days ago
Mississippi governor approves bill allowing electronic search warrants
-
Mississippi News6 days ago
Strong storms late Wednesday night – Home – WCBI TV
-
Mississippi News5 days ago
Louisville names street after a former high school
-
SuperTalk FM1 day ago
Martin Lawrence making 3 stops in Mississippi on comedy tour
-
SuperTalk FM6 days ago
$30 million RV park coming to Natchez features amphitheater, pickle ball courts, and more
-
Mississippi News6 days ago
Crews close Jackson street due to large sinkhole
-
Mississippi News5 days ago
Man arrested for allegedly breaking into home, robbing owner
-
Mississippi Today4 days ago
Lawmakers may have to return to Capitol May 14 to override Gov. Tate Reevesā potential vetoes