It’s hardly a secret that Mississippi is a one-party state. Republicans hold every state-wide elected office and a supermajority in both chambers of the Mississippi legislature.
Essentially, there is no viable Democratic Party on the state level.
It’s time for Mississippians who fear the excess of one-party rule to vote like it.
On Tuesday, both parties will hold their primary races for U.S. Representative in all four of the state’s congressional districts. Most of the Golden Triangle is located in District 1, where Trent Kelly is running his fourth full term. A portion of Oktibbeha County is located in District 3, where Michael Guest is running for his third term.
Both are Republicans and the outcome of the primary race is likely to determine who will represent us in Congress, since whoever wins the GOP primary will be an overwhelming favorite in the November general election, facing Democrats with little funding or name recognition.
So, in our one-party state, the decision on who represents us in Congress will, for all intents and purposes, be decided Tuesday. If you want to cast a meaningful ballot, voting in Tuesday’s GOP primary is your only shot.
Our state holds open primaries — Mississippi voters do not register as members of a party — so even if you identify with one party you can vote in the primary of the other.
No matter the outcome, a conservative Republican (pardon the redundancy) will be sent to Washington. We should expect nothing more, nothing less. It reflects the will of the people.
That’s not to say that all conservative Republicans are cut from the same cloth, however. Nor does it mean that the conservative Republicans we send to Congress should not be accountable.
Above all else, that is why — given the practical reality of the situation — those who identify as Democrats or Independents should vote in Tuesday’s GOP primary.
Both Michael Guest and Trent Kelly have proven unworthy of reelection because they have failed to represent the interests of all the people in their districts, be they Republicans, Democrats, Independents or Third-Party supporters.
I have no issue with either Guest or Kelly voting with their party on most legislation. But there are instances where both have made party loyalty a higher priority than the welfare of the people they were elected to represent.
As recently noted, both Guest and Kelly voted against legislation that would have capped insulin costs at $35 per unit, despite the fact Mississippi has the highest poverty rates in the nation and that our state is second only to West Virginia in the percentage of residents who suffer from diabetes (14.7 percent). Throw in the fact that 1 in 5 Mississippians have no health insurance and you should immediately understand the implications. Insulin prices have doubled during the past five years even though demand has remained relatively flat.
It is unconscionable for Kelly and Guest to have voted against this measure.
Likewise, both Guest and Kelly voted against legislation to prevent oil companies from price-gouging as gas prices explode. Oil companies are recording record profits at a time when Mississippians are paying as much as $4.20 per gallon for gas. Kelly and Guest voted against holding oil companies from exploiting their constituents.
Both Guest and Kelly, also voted against certifying the results on the 2020 Presidential Election even as mobs attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, the day the election was certified. Kelly and Guest, both former district attorneys, knew there was no legal basis for overturning that vote. That, too, was a disservice to their constituents.
For good measure, Kelly also voted against restoring the Violence Against Women Act, which had lapsed in 2018, even though statistics show that 39.7 percent of Mississippi women experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes.
I don’t know if Kelly’s primary opponent, Mark Strauss, or either of Guest’s primary opponents (Thomas Griffin or Michael Cassidy) will prove to be any more extreme in their partisanship than they are.
What I do know, however, is there are times when the interests of constituents are at odds with party ideology. In those cases, we expect our representatives to serve our needs and interests.
Guest and Kelly have repeatedly failed that test.
Tuesday should be a day of reckoning for both.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected]
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected]
