Mississippi Today
Gov. Tate Reeves, challenger Brandon Presley continue to debate over debates
After months of ignoring his challenger's request for debates, incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves announced he has agreed to a televised debate on Nov. 1 — six days before the Nov. 7 general election.
But it's unclear whether Democratic challenger Brandon Presley, who has vowed to debate Reeves “any time, anywhere” will agree to the match Reeves now proposes. Presley in a statement said he's still planning on “debating five times in October in every media market in the state,” even if he has to “bring an empty chair to those debates if Tate Reeves is too scared to show up.”
Presley's campaign on Wednesday did not immediately respond to the question of whether Presley would do the Nov. 1 debate.
“Tate Reeves is hiding from Mississippians because he can't defend his role in the largest public corruption scandal in state history or why your community hospital is on the brink of closure,” Presley's statement said. “Mississippians deserve to hear from both candidates for governor because of the serious challenges our state faces — and that's why I've accepted five debates.”
Presley has for months accused Reeves of dodging, but recently Reeves said he would participate in “debates” — plural. In his social media post on Wednesday, Reeves referred to Nov. 1 as “the first gubernatorial debate.” But it is unclear if there would be time to schedule others in the final days before the election.
READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves went weeks without agreeing to debate Brandon Presley
When asked if the campaign had agreed to others, Reeves' campaign issued a statement that said, “We received an official debate invitation from WAPT on Monday, and accepted it today.”
Reeves' social media post Wednesday on said: “Pleased to announce that the first Gubernatorial debate will be on November 1st at 7:00 PM on WAPT! I'm looking forward to talking about our record on jobs and schools, and dispelling the lies funded by out-of-state liberals.”
Presley has for months called on Reeves to debate him. Presley has proposed five debates and had accepted debate invitations including ones from WJTV in Jackson for Oct. 13 and TV stations across the state owned by Gray Television for Oct. 26.
The Presley campaign recently aired an ad with bloodhounds searching for the governor and accusing Reeves of hiding from Mississippians and dodging debate.
Reeves has recently said he looks forward to debating Presley and dispelling lies.
Conventional wisdom is debates would be most likely to help a challenger such as Presley, trailing the incumbent in campaign cash and name recognition.
Every Mississippi gubernatorial election since at least 1987, with the exception of one, has seen candidate debates — and in most cases multiple debates. In 2015, incumbent Gov. Phil Bryant did not debate his Democratic opponent Robert Gray.
READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves says he'll have ‘debates' with challenger Brandon Presley
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1892
MAY 21, 1892
Crusading journalist Ida B. Wells published a column exposing the lynchings of African-American men and denouncing claims that the lynchings were meant to protect white women.
Her anti-lynching campaign came after a mob killed three of her friends, who had reportedly opened a grocery store that competed with a white-owned store in Memphis.
Upset by Wells' writings, a white mob destroyed her presses and threatened to kill her if she ever published again. She left Memphis for Chicago, but she continued to expose lynchings, calling for national legislation to make lynching a crime.
In 1898, she took her protest to the White House.
“Nowhere in the civilized world save the United States of America do men, possessing all civil and political power, go out in bands of 50 and 5,000 to hunt down, shoot, hang or burn to death a single individual, unarmed and absolutely powerless,” she wrote. “We refuse to believe this country, so powerful to defend its citizens abroad, is unable to protect its citizens at home.”
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, which opened in 2018, features a reflection space in honor of her.
Congress finally passed an anti-lyncing law in the 2021-22 session. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act defines lynching as a federal hate crime.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1961
MAY 20, 1961
A white mob of more than 300, including Klansmen, attacked Freedom Riders at the Greyhound Bus Station in Montgomery, Alabama. Future Congressman John Lewis was among them.
“An angry mob came out of nowhere, hundreds of people, with bricks and balls, chains,” Lewis recalled.
After beating on the riders, the mob turned on reporters and then Justice Department official John Seigenthaler, who was beaten unconscious and left in the street after helping two riders.
“Then they turned on my colleagues and started beating us and beat us so severely, we were left bloodied and unconscious in the streets of Montgomery,” Lewis recalled.
As the mob headed his way, Freedom Rider James Zwerg said he asked for God to be with him, and “I felt absolutely surrounded by love. I knew that whether I lived or died, I was going to be OK.”
The mob beat him so badly that his suit was soaked in blood.
“There was nothing particularly heroic in what I did,” he said. “If you want to talk about heroism, consider the Black man who probably saved my life. This man in coveralls, just off of work, happened to walk by as my beating was going on and said ‘Stop beating that kid. If you want to beat someone, beat me.' And they did. He was still unconscious when I left the hospital.”
To quell the violence, Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent in 450 federal marshals.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Podcast: The controversial day that Robert Kennedy came to the University of Mississippi
Retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Edward Ellington talks with Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender about former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy's speech at the University of Mississippi less than four years after the riots that occurred after the integration of the school. Ellington, who at the time headed the Ole Miss Speaker's Bureau as a law school student, recalls the controversy leading up to the speech.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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