Portia Scott interjected when her friend didn’t want to talk about Jackson’s upcoming mayoral election as they waited for the annual Hal’s St. Paddy’s Parade to begin. 

“I’ve got something to say,” she declared: It’s time for a change in the city. 

A 26-year-old Willowood resident, Scott just wants the stoplights to work in her south Jackson neighborhood. She wants the city to stop giving her the “runaround” when she calls. And she wants to feel more confident in how her tax dollars are being spent than she does under Democratic Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s administration. 

“It’s not just Republicans, Democrats, we’re looking at independent people who actually can come into the city and transform it, because that is so important right now,” she said. “It’s not about race, Black or white, it’s about the integrity of the people.” 

Despite these strong feelings, and her efforts to make sure her friends are registered to vote, Scott doesn’t yet know who’s going to win her over in the April 1 primary election. While she follows TV news and plans to watch candidate interviews in more detail within the next week, she hasn’t been to a forum, because she doesn’t know how to find out about them. 

“They don’t really publicize it for the people,” she said. 

Many voters out at the parade Saturday felt similarly. Jackson needs new leadership, they said, but they don’t know who they want to lead it. And they haven’t had the time yet to get educated on the candidates. 

“I spend a lot of time at work,” said Dalisha Christon, a 31-year-old west Jackson resident who thinks the city needs to create more after-school programs for its youth. 

Plus, with 19 candidates on the ballot, Jackson voters who are trying to be informed face a daunting task this election season. There are 12 people running in the Democratic primary alone, which historically decides the city’s next mayor and is likely to go to a runoff on April 22.

“It’s so many candidates,” said Rickey Ellis, an employee at a medical supply warehouse. He was leaning against a black Nissan under the shade of a live oak tree.

What Jackson needs, Ellis said, is a mayor with experience. He’s liking state Sen. John Horhn, who’s represented the city in the state Legislature for more than 30 years, or Socrates Garrett, a longtime city and state subcontractor. 

But when it comes to Lumumba, Ellis said he thinks the mayor should’ve accomplished more in his eight years at the helm. 

“I hate crime,” Ellis said, adding that he wants to stop hearing nightly gunshots in his south Jackson neighborhood.  

Safety was a big issue for voters, along with the state of the city’s roads. Several brought up Lumumba’s recent bribery charges, to which he pleaded not guilty, as a reason they would not vote for him this cycle. 

“Yeah, we feel bamboozled,” exclaimed Jasmine Giles, who voted for Lumumba in 2017. “He’s out in the club, and we down here suffering.” 

Giles, a 30-year-old nurse who lives downtown but grew up in the Georgetown neighborhood, elaborated: Individually, many Jacksonians are doing well, earning money, taking care of their families and trying to avoid the negative traits of living here, such as the primarily interpersonal violence occurring across the city.

“Actually, we okay, but the picture that they draw of the city is a suffering picture to look at,” she said. “It’s a lot of murdering going on, it’s a lot of crime, the police could be doing a lot more than they’re doing.” 

Just after 7 p.m., hours after the parade concluded, a shooting near the parade route on Pearl and Lamar streets claimed the life of one individual, 21-year-old Cortez George, and injured eight others. Bailey Martin, a spokesperson for the Capitol Police, wrote in a text that the information she was able to provide is subject to change, because officers are continuing to investigate.

“It is believed that two groups of individuals were involved in a dispute that escalated for unknown reasons,” Martin wrote. “This shooting was not targeting parade goers, nor was it random.”

Cities across the state face the similar problems as Jackson, Giles said, but since it’s her home, she wants Jackson to thrive, which she added was also the state’s responsibility. That sentiment was echoed by other parade-goers who said the capital city’s problems are greatly the result of state leaders’ neglect, which one man said he believes is due to racism against its primarily Black population.

“We all have to experience our experiences,” Giles said. “But overall, people can obviously do a lot more. The mayor – not the mayor, but the governor, he could do way a lot more, but that’s a whole other conversation.” 

Jackson has never had a female mayor, and this race, dominated by men, suggests that won’t change any time soon. But there are two women on the ticket: Lillie Stewart-Robinson, an independent, and LaKeisha Crye, a Democrat. 

Lillyunna Robinson, a recent Belhaven University graduate, said she was considering voting for Crye after meeting her at Soulé Coffee in Fondren. During their conversation, Robinson said Crye was asking voters “did we even know she was running for mayor.” 

What does Robinson want to see changed in Jackson? 

“Man,” she said, drawing out the word. “Almost everything.” 

She wants to see more jobs for young people. And she thinks the city should offer more financial assistance for those who don’t have very much. 

Instead, Robinson feels like she mainly sees abandoned homes and people moving away. Other parade-goers Mississippi Today spoke to had grown up in Jackson but moved away to Clinton; Ridgeland; Dallas, Texas; and Georgia. 

“Jackson overall is kind of becoming a bare city,” Robinson said. 

For that, Scott has one explanation she wants the mayoral candidates to hear. 

“You wanna see Jackson grow, you wanna see Mississippi grow, you wanna keep the money here, you wanna keep your residents here,” she said. “But if you’re not really just out here putting in the work, I will go.” 

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