Mississippi Today

Reeves, Presley make final campaign stops on the politically do-or-die Gulf Coast

Published

6 months ago

November 6, 2023

Welcome to The Homestretch, a daily blog featuring the most comprehensive coverage of the 2023 Mississippi governor's race. This page, curated by the Mississippi Today politics team, will feature the biggest storylines of the 2023 governor's race at 7 a.m. every day between now and the Nov. 7 election.

GULFPORT — The Mississippi Gulf Coast is one gubernatorial candidate's firewall of support, and it's where his opponent is dreaming of an upset.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley made final campaign pitches over the weekend to voters on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, one of the state's political battleground areas that could determine the outcome of Tuesday's election.

Presley wrapped up his final campaign event in Gulfport on Saturday night by speaking to a group of organized labor union members, some of whom have canvassed in the area for the Democratic candidate.

“He doesn't understand the struggles of average Mississippians,” Presley said of Reeves at the rally. “Not only does he not understand — he doesn't care.”

Presley sits at a major disadvantage in winning most of the areas on the Coast. He's a native and former mayor of Nettleton, a small town on the opposite end of the state, and he's never appeared on a ballot in south Mississippi.

But he told Mississippi Today that because his campaign has worked to build name ID and established a ground game in the area, he believes he can surprise people by picking off certain voting precincts.

“We're already beginning to see data that shows we're going to be extremely competitive down here,” Presley said on Saturday. “One of the things that I think Tate has shown in this campaign is he's kind of taken the Coast for granted as if somewhere they're just supposed to vote for him for some reason.”

It's unclear what Reeves' final pitch to coastal voters was. His campaign did not make Mississippi Today aware of his campaign events ahead of time, and his campaign spokesman did not respond to requests to report on his weekend campaign activities.

He posted on social media that he spoke at a Friday night event hosted by Pass Christian Mayor Jimmy Rafferty and visited with workers at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula.

Reeves, a Rankin County native, has used his 20 years in public office to strategically cultivate a relationship with leaders in the coastal counties.

During his two terms as lieutenant governor between 2012 and 2020, Reeves went out of his way to visit the Coast. Long eyeing an eventual run for the Governor's Mansion, he hosted several town halls and press conferences over those years, typically focused on funding opportunities for the region.

Since he started his term as governor in January 2020, however, the governor has doubled down on that focus, sprinkling the region with hundreds of millions in federal grants administered by state agencies that report to him. And Reeves tapped Frank Bordeaux, a longtime Gulf Coast resident, to lead the Mississippi Republican Party.

Hancock County Tax Assessor Jimmie Ladner told Mississippi Today earlier this year that Reeves recognized the political and economic importance of the area early on in his political career, which is something political and business leaders appreciated.

“I think when you boil it down to a nutshell of why I support Tate Reeves, just candidly, he recognizes the importance of the Coast, and he doesn't just recognize our importance every four years,” Ladner said. “And that's the key. He's here when we need him.”

While the coastal counties' results in statewide elections paint them as a conservative haven and a firewall for Reeves, Democrats think the region is ripe for creating political change.

Community activists, lawmakers and local elected officials told Mississippi Today the Coast's transient community contains a raft of Democratic voters that party leaders and statewide candidates often ignore because of its collective conservative tilt.

The communities that makeup Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties are more diverse than other areas of the state and home to thousands of union-paying jobs.

State and national Democrats appear to be taking notice and have worked this year use these factors to their advantage and shed more of a spotlight on the region.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison visited Gulfport in August and state party leaders have pledged to organize more strategically on the Coast in the future.

Democratic Rep. Jeffrey Hulum of Gulfport told Mississippi Today that Democrats on the Coast may be outnumbered, but there are still a large number of voters in Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties that could sway a statewide election.

“Look, people are fired up down here,” Hulum said. “My advice to anyone is to stop taking us for granted.”

Headlines From The Trail

Why the contrasting final messages from Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley make perfect sense

A close governor's race is nothing new for Tate Reeves. Can he repeat his 2019 closing?

Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley hear from voters one last time the weekend before Nov. 7 election

Brandon Presley's campaign donations outpace incumbent Gov. Reeves nearly two to one

Democrats seek upset in Mississippi governor's race

Why the governor's race in Mississippi is turning heads this year

Democrats on the verge of shock upset in Republican heartland

What We're Watching

1) This past Saturday was the deadline for absentee voting, and the number of ballots requested officially surpassed the number of ballots requested for 2019, according to data from the Secretary of State's office. In 2019, 58,142 absentee ballots were requested before the election. In 2023, 62,121 have been requested. It can often be tough to glean exact trends from absentee breakdowns, but it's safe to expect an analysis from Mississippi Today before Election Day.

2) It may be the very last thing any Mississippian wants to hear, but if Tuesday's election is as close as some predict, a winner might not be known that night. Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison breaks down this nightmare vote-counting scenario for us.

3) Could Presley's potential success have some effect for Democrats down ballot? Democrats are notably challenging all eight Republican incumbents. Most notably of the challengers, Democrat Greta Kemp Martin has waged a formidable campaign against Attorney General Lynn Fitch. Mississippi Today's Taylor Vance took a deep dive on Martin's platform.

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

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On this day in 1860

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1896

Published

9 hours 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.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=359301

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Mississippi Today

Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur

Published

1 day 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

1 day 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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