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Jonathan Tate Reeves, Mississippi’s 65th governor, took what is likely to be his final oath for statewide office Tuesday morning on a brisk, windy and overcast day on the south steps of the Mississippi State Capitol.

“I’d like to end this speech where I started: back 20 years ago when I first took this oath. As I have prepared for this day these last few weeks, it has been apparent to me that this is my last opportunity to do the thing I have most wanted to do my entire adult life,” said Reeves after being sworn in for his second term as governor and for a staggering total of six terms as a statewide officeholder. “And I know that I am not alone. I am surrounded by people in this Capitol, in both parties, who have chosen a path to make Mississippi better. And as I campaigned this year, I was struck by the fact that virtually everyone was driven by a desire to bring Mississippi up. We have all been placed in a position of great importance. We sit at a crossroads for our state.”

Full transcript: Gov. Tate Reeves’ 2024 inaugural address

When his second and final term as governor ends in January 2028, Reeves, who is 49 years old, could run again for a down-ticket statewide office, but that would be unusual and unlikely. Speaking to a joint session of the Mississippi Legislature, before other state officials and a sizable crowd of supporters and onlookers on the grounds of the Capitol, Reeves spoke as if he was beginning his final chapter as a statewide official in Mississippi.

“We have all been placed in a position of great importance. We sit at a crossroads for our state,” Reeves said. “We’ve been entrusted by our friends, peers and neighbors to make decisions that will impact many lives, not just today, but for many years to come. Let us take up this work with joy and determination. Let us come together and heal our differences. Let us all throw ourselves at the great mission. Let us be united by our mission to make Mississippi the home for all its sons and daughters forever.”

During the roughly 50-minute joint session, Reeves offered few specifics for his final term. Those will likely come later his month during his State of the State speech before another joint session of the Mississippi House and Senate. He spoke of familiar themes from his successful 2023 campaign, citing improvements he said have been made in education, economic development and health care.

But the governor did not address specific problems the state faces, such as the state’s lowest-in-the-nation per capita income, struggling health care system and health outcomes, including the nation’s highest infant mortality rate, or the struggling school districts sprinkled across the state.

“I really do believe that this is Mississippi’s time. We have an opportunity ahead of us that we must seize,” Reeves said during the about 20-minute speech. “But it will require that we be bold and ambitious. We must be bold in our reforms. We must be bold in winning new jobs and businesses. We must be bold in our commitment to principles. And we must be bold to build a brighter future for the state we all love.”

He promised significant economic development projects during his term.

The governor also spoke of the unity of Mississippi’s people, saying there was “no Black Mississippi or white Mississippi,” and that he was the governor of all Mississippians whether they voted for him or not.

Rep. Jeffrey Hulum, a Democrat from Gulfport, told Mississippi Today that he was optimistic to hear Reeves give a unifying speech about bringing the state together racially and politically, but he hopes the governor follows through with that promise over his next term.

“I appreciated the message about unity and coming together, but I hope his policies and actions line up with what he said today,” Hulum said. 

There was speculation that because of the heavy rain the night before the event would be moved inside to the House chamber. But that would have prevented the use of the large podium constructed on the south steps, as is the custom, for a gubernatorial inauguration and would have prevented much of the pomp and circumstance, such as the discharge of the cannons recognizing the event.

Mississippi Today reporter Taylor Vance contributed to this report.

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Ty Pinkins, a civil rights lawyer and 2023 candidate for secretary of state, reiterated his intent on Monday to seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Roger Wicker. 

“I am running because I am concerned about the direction in which our country is going,” Pinkins said at the Mississippi State Capitol. “Families are struggling to make ends meet because life is more expensive for Mississippians.” 

Pinkins is an attorney, Army veteran and native of Rolling Fork. He spent some of the last several years aiding Black farmer workers in the Delta who were being paid less money for their work than white visa workers from South Africa doing the same jobs — a legal case that garnered national attention and spurred congressional hearings.

Pinkins unsuccessfully ran as the Democratic nominee for Secretary of State last year against Republican incumbent Michael Watson when Democratic candidate Shuwaski Young dropped out of the race because of health reasons.  

Pinkins told reporters that his Senate campaign would center on bringing affordable health care solutions to Mississippi, ensuring children have equitable access to K-12 education, and working to provide economic development to all parts of the state. 

“We need an economy that works for all Mississippians,” Pinkins said. 

The Democratic candidate also declared his support for women to receive reproductive health care, including abortion, a procedure that is mostly banned in Mississippi since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

“That is a decision between a woman, her doctor and her religious leader,” Pinkins said. 

Pinkins is so far the only Democratic candidate to qualify for U.S. Senate. If Pinkins wins the Democratic primary, he will compete against the Republican nominee. Wicker faces at least two GOP challengers: state Rep. Dan Eubanks and Ghannon Burton. 

The last day for candidates to qualify for the Senate race is Jan. 12. Party primaries occur on March 12, and the general election will occur on Nov. 5. 

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Mississippi Today has announced a $300,000 commitment from the Pittman Family Foundation to support the mission-driven work of its nonprofit newsroom.

The donation of $100,000 a year for three years will bolster the reporting of Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom, ensuring that more investigations are brought to light, more Mississippians are reached through accountability reporting and more programs are hosted in communities across the state to bring readers closer to the reporting and the issues that impact them most. 

“Tom Pittman has been an indispensable partner on our Board since day one,” said Andrew Lack, founder and executive chairman of Deep South Today, the regional network of nonprofit newsrooms that includes Mississippi Today as well as Verite News in New Orleans. “Along with his brother Bob’s extraordinary friendship, thoughtfulness, and generosity over many years, they have been so crucial to our Mississippi journey and beyond.”

Brothers Bob and Tom Pittman are at the heart of the Pittman Family Foundation. As the sons of a Methodist minister, they grew up in various Mississippi towns and graduated from Brookhaven High School.

Bob went on to be a visionary in the world of technology, arts, and entertainment as the CEO and co-founder of MTV: Music Television; the former CEO of Six Flags Theme Parks and Century 21 Real Estate; the former president and chief operating officer of America Online, Inc. (AOL); is co-founder, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia; and served as chairman of the board of the New York Public Theater and of the poverty-fighting Robin Hood Foundation.

Tom was co-founder, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi after a 25-year career as newspaper editor in Tupelo and DeSoto Counties, has chaired the Mississippi Association of Grantmakers, and the Mississippi Press Association, serves on Entergy Mississippi’s advisory board and as a director of Southern Bancorp Community Partners and of Deep South Today.

“The Pittman Family Foundation is delighted to support Mississippi Today, which provides accurate, dependable and critically important information to its readers while furthering the cause of government accountability – for which it won a Pulitzer Prize,” said Tom Pittman.  “Mississippi Today enables Mississippians to make better decisions for themselves, their families and their communities, and its dedication to enhancing our state’s quality of life, from hospitals and universities to the arts, aligns closely with the mission of the Foundation.”

Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, the Mississippi Today newsroom has exposed corruption, provided critical information in times of crisis and broken down complicated issues such as health care and criminal justice so that everyday people, not just political wonks, can understand how policy impacts the lives of everyday Mississippians. Founded in 2016 as the state’s flagship nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom, Mississippi Today’s roots in Capitol coverage have grown to encompass a myriad of beats beyond politics and policy, including education, public health, justice, environment and equity.  

“The Pittman Family Foundation has been a cornerstone of Mississippi Today’s success,” said Mary Margaret White, Mississippi Today CEO and Executive Director. “Their sustaining support of our newsroom has been critical to our ability to grow our coverage and our newsroom. We are grateful for their belief in our mission, and their steadfast dedication to journalism and democracy.”

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The moment in legislative time when rank-and-file Mississippi lawmakers might have the most impact is during the opening weeks of a new four-year term when they adopt the rules that govern the House and Senate.

Granted, once the rules are adopted, they can be amended. But changing the rules after they are adopted is a burdensome process and not often undertaken. The time to have an impact is when the rules are first being voted on by the members.

Legislators will have an opportunity to have such an impact in the coming days when the rules are adopted by the full House and Senate for the new four-year term. But members almost assuredly will not take advantage of that opportunity and instead meekly approve the rules spoon fed to them by leaders.

Sure, discussions of the legislative rules fall into the category of being nerdish or an inside baseball type endeavor, but the joint rules can make a difference — a difference, for example, in how much money is appropriated to educate Mississippi’s children or to provide public health services.

In 2012, the Mississippi Legislature approved at the behest of the two new presiding officers, House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a rule that prevented the rank-and-file legislator from having impact on their most important duty: funding state government.

The joint rule first adopted in 2012 prohibits a member from adding money in one area, such as for health care, without specifying another agency or program from which the money would be taken. Legislators say the rule is designed to prevent fiscal irresponsibility. They argue it prevents lawmakers from just offering a popular proposal to provide a teacher pay raise, for example, without specifying how to fund the pay raise.

On the surface that sounds good. But importantly, the rule specifies that the money must be taken from a budget that is still before the chamber where the proposal is offered to increase funding for a specific agency. And that is a big deal considering that no more than half of the state’s budget bills are before a chamber at any particular time.

Even more restrictive is the fact that lawmakers also cannot access state surplus funds to propose adding extra money to an agency or a program. So, in other words, a legislator looking to offer an amendment to the full chamber to increase the money going to a program does not have all state revenue available in making the proposal.

And remember, in recent years, thanks to the national economic conditions and the billions of dollars in federal COVID-relief funds, the state has had an unprecedented surplus. Going into the 2024 legislative session, the state will have at least $2 billion in surplus funds — most likely a lot more, but the rank-and-file legislator has virtually no say in how those funds are spent.

Perhaps it is a bad idea to tap into the surplus funds, but it is reasonable to assume legislators elected by the people to fund state government should be able to vote on whether to spend some of those funds.

But under the 2012 rule, members cannot, for instance, offer an amendment to spend some of those surplus funds to fund a program to deal with the nation’s worst infant mortality rate or to deal with the nation’s highest diabetes rates or worst heart disease rate or to address any of the litany of other areas where an argument could be made that an extra financial effort is needed to improve the state’s standing.

The rule requires a legislator to specify that the money would come from education, for example, to provide additional funds to combat infant mortality. A legislator cannot offer an amendment to use a small portion of the state surplus funds for such an amendment.

The result of the rule is that the budget is prepared by a handful of appropriators under the leadership of the presiding officers, and the rank-and-file members simply rubber stamp those budget bills when they reach the floor.

Perhaps one of the great mysteries of the Mississippi Legislature is why members so willingly relinquish their most important duty. Maybe it is just because they do not want to have the responsibility of making tough decisions.

Or perhaps rank-and-file members are reluctant to oppose the leadership by trying to change such restrictive rules. They would rather vote with the leadership, and then tell their constituents they are part of the leadership making those pivotal decisions, when in reality they have little real impact on perhaps the most important function of the Mississippi Legislature: funding state government.

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Jan. 7, 1891 

Noted author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, was born in Alabama. Her father later became mayor of Eatonville, Florida — one of the few incorporated all-black towns in the U.S. 

Hurston wrote four novels and dozens of short stories and essays. She is best known for her 1937 novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” now regarded as a seminal work in African-American literature and female literature. 

Her mother told her children to “jump at de sun!” she wrote. “We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground!” 

In the novel, the main character says, “If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keer if you die at dusk. It’s so many people never seen de light at all.” 

That same year, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship to conduct research on those who lived in Jamaica and Haiti. 

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry,” she said. “It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.”

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“Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?”

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Attorney General Lynn Fitch no longer represents State Auditor Shad White in two defamation cases after determining his upcoming book about the welfare scandal would cast her office in a negative light.

Fitch learned about White’s tell-all, “Mississippi Swindle: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America,” while representing him in two defamation lawsuits brought by Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre and James Thomas, a University of Mississippi sociology professor.

The book, which is slated to be released in August 2024, became an issue in Favre’s defamation suit against White last month. A Dec. 29 filing in Hinds County Circuit Court from Favre’s counsel argued that “Mississippi Swindle” is proof White intended to defame Favre when he criticized the quarterback in media appearances. 

“White’s publication of this book — in which it is apparent he will continue his outrageous defamation campaign against Favre — provides even further confirmation that, when, as alleged in the complaint, White appeared on national and international media outlets to defame Favre, he was in no way acting within the scope of his official duties but instead to advance his personal political ambitions and, in the case of the book, make money,” the filing reads. 

Fitch’s office responded on Jan. 2 and asked the court to grant White’s motion to dismiss. 

But three days later, Fitch’s office sent White a letter notifying him of a conflict of interest, which Mississippi Today obtained from the auditor’s office. After reading an advanced copy of “Mississippi Swindle” and finding it contained multiple statements that called the integrity of the Attorney General into question, Fitch’s office decided it could no longer represent him. 

“As a fellow statewide elected official, the Attorney General must reserve the right to refute these statements publicly in due course,” the Jan. 5 letter reads. “This dynamic obviously creates a divergence of interests between you and the Attorney General that impedes her ability to further discharge her duties as your counsel in the pending personal defamation actions.” 

The letter further states Fitch’s office had previously advised White that any legal matters stemming from the publication of “Mississippi Swindle” would fall outside the scope of his office, so he would need to retain separate counsel. 

By Friday evening, White had already appointed in-office counsel to represent him in both defamation suits because, he wrote on social media, his statements were made as part of his office’s investigations into the welfare scandal and Thomas’ participation in a two-day event called a “Scholar Strike.”

Thomas’ case has seen no movement since a Hinds County Circuit Court judge denied White’s motion to dismiss in 2022. White had argued that as a state executive officer, he is entitled to a legal doctrine known as “absolute immunity” — the complete protection from liability for actions committed in the course of his official duties.

Debbee Hancock, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, wrote in a statement that Fitch’s representation in White’s defamation cases was “discretionary” and that Fitch would continue to work with the auditor’s office on other cases, including those arising from the welfare scandal. 

“We will continue to pursue our TANF civil suit with our partners at the Department of Human Services as well as any criminal wrongdoing that may come from our investigation, to the extent we can do so without stepping on the criminal case the Auditor chose to take to the District Attorney and U.S. Attorney for prosecution,” Hancock wrote. 

Hancock added that Michelle Williams, Fitch’s chief of staff, said she would not specify the statements in the book that question the attorney general’s integrity as Williams is “bound by the rules of professional conduct.”

According to a blurb for “Mississippi Swindle” on the publisher’s website, the book “reveals a lack of cooperation and outright opposition to the investigation by prosecutors, legislators and other powerful figures that was almost as maddening as the theft itself.”

Both Fitch and White have previously discussed with advisers the possibility of running for Mississippi governor. The next statewide election cycle is 2027.

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Jan. 6, 2021 

Amanda Gorman was trying to finish her poem on national unity when scenes burst upon the television of insurrectionists attacking the U.S. Capitol. 

The 22-year-old stayed up late, writing new lines into the night. Two weeks later, she became the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, joining a prestigious group that included Maya Angelou and Robert Frost. But few faced as difficult a task, searching for unity amid violence, a deadly pandemic and polarizing partisanship. 

She described herself as a “skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother,” who can dream of being president one day, “only to find herself reciting for one.” 

She shared the words she wrote in the wake of the nation’s first attack on the Capitol in more than two centuries:

“We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation

rather than share it

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy

And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

It can never be permanently defeated.”

In the wake of the attack that resulted in five deaths and injuries to 138 officers, she penned that the nation would endure:

Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn’t broken

but simply unfinished

She reminded those present that “history has its eyes on us” and that this nation will indeed rise again:

“We will rebuild, reconcile and recover

And every known nook of our nation and

Every corner called our country,

Our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,

Battered and beautiful…

For there is always light,

If only we’re brave enough to see it

If only we’re brave enough to be it”

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