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READ: Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic kingmaker, throws full support behind Mike Espy in Senate race

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Congressman Bennie Thompson introduces Joe Biden during an event at Tougaloo College on March 8, 2020.

There’s an unwritten rule in Mississippi politics: If you’re a Democratic candidate and you want to win your election, you need the blessing of Congressman Bennie Thompson.

Thompson, described by a newspaper’s editorial board when he was first elected to Congress as “your best political friend and worst political enemy,” is the Democratic kingmaker of Mississippi. He’s the party’s most powerful figure, and for nearly three decades he’s been the lone representative of African Americans in the Blackest state in America.

Thompson, who in less than five decades rose from a small-town alderman to a powerful chairman in the U.S. House of Representatives, has real sway with Black voters. His allies say he doesn’t just serve as the congressman to the 2nd congressional district, where Black voters make up 61% of the electorate — he serves as the unofficial congressman to Black Mississippians across the state.

“If a resident on the Gulf Coast has a problem, they call the congressman’s office,” said Corey Wiggins, executive director of the Mississippi NAACP. “He has never turned away a chance to help Mississippians, regardless of whether they live in his district. He represents the entire state, and that’s how he’s always operated.”

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Trey Baker, left, Joe Biden, and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson attend New Hope Baptist Church on March 8, 2020.

That sway with Black voters is why Joe Biden, the former vice president who was working to shore up the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, called Thompson in March and asked him to host a campaign swing through the state. And it’s why Mike Espy, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in November, has hitched his 2020 wagon to the congressman.

It’s one thing to need Thompson’s public support, but it’s another thing to receive it. Two years ago, when Espy ran against appointed Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Thompson didn’t go to great lengths to publicly support him. There were some joint events and fundraising calls, but there weren’t many. Espy’s campaign ultimately fell short of key internal targets that year — most glaringly with Black voter turnout in Thompson’s district — and he lost by about 66,000 votes, or 7.5 points.

This year, as Espy faces Hyde-Smith in a 2018 rematch, is different. Thompson has thrown his complete support behind Espy, appearing with him at numerous public events, hosting Washington fundraisers for him, calling Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Espy’s behalf, and ensuring national Democratic Party brass included Espy in fundraising calls during the Democratic National Convention.

The two are working closely together in the final two weeks of the 2020 election to turn out as many Democratic voters as possible.

“There’s no daylight between Bennie Thompson and Mike Espy in this Nov. 3 election,” Thompson told Mississippi Today on Monday in an hour-long interview. “(Being Mississippi’s only Democrat) is too big a burden on my shoulders. I need help. Mike Espy has the expertise and the love for this state to get it done. So I wholeheartedly want him to come (to Washington) so I can share this disproportionate burden that I’m bearing on behalf of Democratic voters in the state of Mississippi.”

The working relationship between Thompson and Espy this year comes after their political careers, once seen in similar lights, diverged dramatically in the 1990s. In the late 80s and early 90s, Espy, a young congressman representing Mississippi’s 2nd congressional district, was seen as a rising star in the national Democratic Party.

Espy won elections by building coalitions between white and Black voters in the Delta. When former President Bill Clinton appointed Espy U.S. secretary of agriculture in 1993, several people ran in a special election to replace him.

One of the candidates was 45-year-old Bennie Thompson, whose political career was inspired by civil rights activism. He’d served as alderman and mayor of the town of Bolton, and later as a Hinds County supervisor. Thompson won that special election to replace Espy in Congress, and he has won 12 subsequent elections for the seat.

Espy, meanwhile, fell out of political limelight when he resigned as agriculture secretary in 1994 amid allegations of illegally accepting gifts. Though a federal jury acquitted Espy of all charges in 1998, he remained out of politics for close to 20 years, until he announced his bid in the 2018 Senate race.

Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America

Rep. Bennie Thompson speaks on the phone before a town hall about Delta flooding in Valley Park on April 5, 2019.

Now 72 years old, Thompson is the longest-serving member of Mississippi’s congressional delegation, and he has built a robust political network that touches every county of Mississippi. And this year, he’s using that network to revive Espy’s political career and send him to the U.S. Senate.

“Every time there’s an opportunity to work together, we do,” Thompson said. “We have a day planned on Election Day. There’ll be some areas of my district that I’ll tell him, ‘Mike, you don’t need to have your folk over here. We got your back. You need to go over to Meridian, or Tupelo or Biloxi or Hattiesburg, outside the second district.’ We will free him up from a resource standpoint and a manpower standpoint to work in other parts of the state.”

Thompson said he’s worked hard for Espy this year because the campaign has operated at a more sophisticated level than it did in 2018. Espy’s path to victory, Thompson says, is clear.

“I think he’s going to win because he retooled his campaign from two years ago,” Thompson said. “He’s targeted the voters that he’s trying to touch, those infrequent voters are coming based on the targeting that went with it. We now have a seasoned campaign staff based on certain expertise they didn’t have two years ago. And he’s raised the necessary money to have a credible campaign.”

For 40 years, Republican Sen. Thad Cochran held the state’s Senate seat that is up for grabs in November. Thompson and Cochran, though serving in opposing parties, maintained a close working relationship, regularly meeting and discussing how they could champion legislation that would help Mississippians.

Thompson, who speaks fondly of the late senator and his legacy for Mississippi, said Hyde-Smith hasn’t adequately continued Cochran’s ability to help Mississippi’s most vulnerable.

“Thad Cochran set a high bar. As you know, on his perch (as Senate appropriations chairman), he procured more resources for the state of Mississippi than any other senator in the country,” Thompson said. “You have to temper that with the fact that for every dollar we send to Washington, we get three dollars back. So basically we are dependent on the largesse of the federal government. And if, for whatever reason, we have a person who doesn’t understand that, I don’t care how proud you are, you’re still a representative of a state that’s poor.”

He continued: “I wish her well, but the bar is real high for her to succeed. And unless she changes her trajectory, she will have a tough ticket in Washington.”

As is the case across the nation, race is a central theme of the 2020 Mississippi Senate campaign. Espy, who has acknowledged he needs near record African American turnout to win in November, has focused his campaign on race. He’s been more intentional in 2020 than he was in 2018 about discussing his upbringing in racially polarized Mississippi: how he integrated his high school, how his grandfather founded the state’s first Black hospital, and how he’s worked his political career to build coalitions of different races and political bents.

Hyde-Smith, meanwhile, has made several gaffes when discussing race, including saying on the 2018 campaign trail she would “be on the front row” of “a public hanging” with a supporter. 

Thompson, in the Mississippi Today interview, said Hyde-Smith lacks “a sensitivity to African Americans.”

“I think you are the sum total of your experiences,” Thompson said. “If your lot in life has been around a specific group of people, and you’ve been void of African Americans, then that’s who you are. And so while some say you might be prone to gaffes, that’s really who you are. Fortunately, that’s not Mississippi. You can’t talk about hanging and not understand the history of hangings or lynchings in this state and how that’s not, in the eyes of most Black people and a lot of white people, something you brag on. And so I think that sensitivity to issues of race with Cindy Hyde-Smith is just not there.”

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Mike Espy attends New Hope Baptist Church, Sunday, March 8, 2020. Espy endorsed Joe Biden for president.

Thompson is well aware that Mississippi has never elected an African American in a statewide election. Mike Espy would not only be the first Black senator from Mississippi elected by popular vote, he would be just the eleventh Black senator in the nation’s history. The congressman, who calls himself “an eternal optimist,” said he believes Mississippians are ready to take that historic step on Nov. 3.

“He can elevate the standard, he can help break the glass ceiling of African American elected officials in this state,” Thompson said. “He would be unique. He was the first African American elected to the House since Reconstruction, and he’ll be the first African American elected to the Senate since Reconstruction. So we’ll have a twofer in Mike Espy.”

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

President Donald Trump embraces Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith during a campaign rally at BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo, Miss., Friday, November 1, 2019.

President Donald Trump, who helped Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith win her seat in a 2018 special election with three visits to Mississippi, on Wednesday tweeted his endorsement of her.

“(Hyde-Smith) delivers for Mississippi!” Trump tweeted. “She helped us Cut your Taxes, Secure our Border, and Defend the Second Amendment. Cindy’s opponent, Mike Espy, is a Corrupt Politician who will Raise your Taxes and Open your Borders! Vote for Cindy!”

Senator @CindyHydeSmith delivers for Mississippi! She helped us Cut your Taxes, Secure our Border, and Defend the Second Amendment. Cindy’s opponent, Mike Espy, is a Corrupt Politician who will Raise your Taxes and Open your Borders! Vote for Cindy! #MSSEN https://t.co/8YzRzj3ngC

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2020

A Trump campaign visit to Mississippi, considered “safely red” by most politicos for both Trump and Hyde-Smith’s re-election, is unlikely this cycle, with Trump’s campaign focusing on larger swing states.

Hyde-Smith’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s endorsement, but she tweeted Wednesday, “Thank you for your support @realdonaldtrump!”

Hyde-Smith has been one of Trump’s staunchest allies in the Senate, unwaveringly supporting most of his policies and defending him during impeachment hearings. Hyde-Smith has done little in person, open to the public campaigning in Mississippi this cycle, and her Democratic challenger, former U.S. Rep Mike Espy has raised millions more than her in campaign donations. But the Hyde-Smith campaign is banking on proxy support from Trump’s popularity in Mississippi and an electorate that has voted Republican in most federal elections for the last 30 years.

Trump’s endorsement of Hyde-Smith was part of a string of 11 endorsement tweets he made on Wednesday afternoon, including Republican congressional candidates Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota, Jim Oberweis of Illinois, Eric Esshaki of Michigan and Jim Marchant of Nevada.

Also on Wednesday, Hyde-Smith’s Democratic challenger Mike Espy was endorsed by former President Barack Obama. Hyde-Smith responded to this on Twitter, saying, “A vote for Mike Espy is a vote for failed Obama policies. It’s that simple.”

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Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today / Report for America

Mike Espy speaks to reporters at New Horizon Church in Jackson on Nov. 14, 2018.

WASHINGTON — Democratic Senate candidate Mike Espy is officially coming out in favor of the state’s medical marijuana legalization initiative, telling Mississippi Today that he believes sick patients should be entitled to what amounts to medicine.

“I support Initiative 65 because it provides a well-regulated treatment option to those that need it,” Espy said in an emailed statement. “Medical marijuana can provide relief for many Mississippians who suffer from nausea during chemotherapy, arthritis, the effects of autoimmune illnesses, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, anxiety, and many other conditions.”

The comment marks Espy’s first confirmation to a news organization about the reasons he is in favor of Initiative 65 since its supporters gathered enough signatures and submitted it September 2019 to be on the ballot this November. Espy is using a four-to-one cash advantage to try to unseat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and become the first Democratic senator since 1989.

Hyde-Smith’s campaign did not reply to a request seeking comment on her stance on medical marijuana. Hyde-Smith, though, told WJTV on Oct. 16 that she opposes Initiative 65 and that regulation of marijuana should be left up to the federal government.

“We need, first of all, something that the (Mississippi) Legislature can control,” she said. “And if cities and municipalities don’t want that in their communities, they need to have some local control over that, as well. So I do oppose what is on the ballot right now.”

Espy’s support of the program could provide a small boost to his campaign, which likely needs to attract any and all voting blocs to win in November. A recent poll had him within the margin of error in the rematch against Hyde-Smith. But gauging just how much support he could gain from moving on a single issue is difficult this year because of national trends — and especially in Mississippi, where several other initiatives are on the ballot this election.

Nationwide, there is some thought and research backing up the idea that Democratic candidates can increase youth turnout by using marijuana as a wedge issue, but the data is far from definitive. Medical marijuana, in particular, has enjoyed increasingly bipartisan support nationwide. And in Mississippi, some libertarian and right-leaning groups have backed Initiative 65 since its inception, so there’s no guarantee any turnout bump would bring only Democrats to the polls.

Mississippi voters are also being asked to approve a new state flag design, which would for the first time in more than 126 years not include the Confederate emblem. Another ballot initiative would do away with a state-level electoral college. And there is the small matter of who will be president, too.

National issues like the presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic, along with local issues like the medical marijuana initiative, the flag and the effort to repeal what critics have called a Jim Crow-era statewide election rule are all working in unison to motivate young people to turn out, said Kendall Witmer, the Espy campaign’s communications director.

READ MORE: Medical marijuana will be on the November ballot, but it’ll be confusing.

Jarrius Adams, president of the Young Democrats of Mississippi, said he has been pushing Initiative 65, but a lot of people he meets don’t even know one measure is on the ballot, let alone two. He said he has also been pitching Initiative 65 as just the first step, telling voters that if they want to see marijuana legalized outright in the next few years, they have to start here. But it has been a hard sell, he conceded.

“There hasn’t been as much buzz,” he said. “I’m sure if it was legalizing marijuana that would be a whole different story, but yes, for sure, medical marijuana has been a challenge to get folks out for that sole reason.”

In 2012, Colorado and Washington saw massive youth voter increases when they had legalization initiatives on the ballot. But candidates this year looking to rev up Democrats need say little more than “President Donald Trump,” according to marijuana experts.

“One would think that, on the Democratic side, there would be more enthusiasm, and there probably is. However, this particular election, we are seeing huge amounts of Democratic enthusiasm, which is probably, you know, hatred of Trump,” said Nathaniel Gurien, a cannabis expert who works in the marijuana banking sector. “So, the question is, is cannabis going to increase the number of people who show up who are Democratic? I would be inclined to think no because they are going to show up anyway.”

But in Mississippi, pro- and anti-Initiative 65 advertising blitzes have ramped up in the state. And what limited polling does exist around the issue shows it is vastly popular, with a poll from California-based FM3 research showing in the summer that more than 80% of Mississippi voters support medical marijuana in principle.

READ MORE: Mississippi medical marijuana rhetoric intensifies as November vote approaches.

Although the “Yes on Initiative 65” tag has been part of the Mississippi Democratic Party platform this year, and, according to Espy’s campaign, has appeared on some of his door hangers and other campaign literature since last month, the former congressman had not publicly outlined his rationale for supporting the measure.

The comment shared with Mississippi Today this week shows an evolution in Espy’s public stance on the issue over the last two years. In September 2018, just a month ahead of a special election for the Senate seat he lost to Hyde-Smith, the former U.S. secretary of agriculture said he was open to looking at medical marijuana as something like a cold hard cash crop.

“We need more revenue in Mississippi. So just like legalized betting, I’d be open to reviewing the facts and the economic estimates of what that would bring to the state’s coffers,” Espy told the Jackson Free Press at the time.

But he also expressed some concern about safety for people who do use marijuana, echoing a common argument opponents of the issue have deployed.

“There are a lot of studies out there about how if you are under the influence it still impairs your ability,” he said. “I would just have to know if it was safe and if it was a financial benefit to the state.”

That hesitation no longer seemed to exist in his public stance shared this week. Espy appears now to view medical marijuana as first and foremost a healthcare issue. And his spokeswoman noted that although few in the press have asked where he stands on the issue, he has been having one-on-one talks with constituents about his support for Initiative 65 all cycle.

“If you have an illness or a disorder in Mississippi, I firmly believe you should be able to get the same safe treatment, under a doctor’s orders, in Mississippi, that you can get in many other states,” Espy said in the statement.

Espy’s stance in favor of the initiative makes him one of the few Senate candidates in a close race in a state where a marijuana-related ballot measure is up for a vote this year to firmly back the measure.

Two other close races that will decide the future of the Senate are happening in states where marijuana is up for a vote. Granted, Arizona and Montana are voting on whether to legalize adult-use marijuana after having already had functional medical marijuana programs. But in both cases, the Democratic Senate candidates have been either silent or tepid in their endorsements. 

In Mississippi, other Democrats have remained mum on the issue. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who is the state’s only Democrat in Washington, said in September that he would just as soon stay away from the issue, adding, “I’m leaving it up to the public.”

As an exception, Antonia Eliason, a University of Mississippi School of Law professor who is running against GOP Rep. Trent Kelly in the state’s first congressional district, has framed it as a criminal justice issue. She told Mississippi Today, unprompted, in a candidate questionnaire that she wants to “legalize cannabis and release those incarcerated on cannabis-related charges.”

Some trepidation on the part of politicians could be chalked up to the fact that there are diminishing returns for supporting what is, in Mississippi’s case, an initiative legalizing medical marijuana for people with serious conditions, not legal access for adults. John Hudak, an expert on marijuana at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution, said when he has observed increased excitement on the ground among young people, it has been for legalizing marijuana outright.

“That is not the case necessarily for medical initiatives,” Hudak said. “Medical cannabis—given that it has such ubiquitous support and is not something that drives liberals in a disproportionate way relative to conservatives—is unlikely to see similar youth effects.”

That may explain Mississippi medical marijuana proponents’ strategy to play both sides. Just this week, the Trump campaign Director Michael J. Glassner sent a cease and desist letter to Jamie Grantham, spokeswoman for Mississippians for Compassionate Care, objecting to fliers asking voters to “‘JOIN PRESIDENT TRUMP’ in supporting legalization of medical marijuana in Mississippi.”

Adding to some of the malaise around the issue, legalizing medical marijuana has been obfuscated by the presence of two competing ballot initiatives up for a vote: Initiative 65, added by virtue of voters signing a ballot petition, and a more restrictive measure, 65A, that was added by the Legislature. The second measure would limit smoking of medical marijuana to terminally ill patients and give the state Legislature more control over how to implement a medical program.

Daniel Newhauser is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, National Journal, Politico, Roll Call, VICE News and several other publications. He can be found on Twitter @dnewhauser.

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Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/ Report for America

Students from Barack H. Obama Magnet School  in Jackson cheer for Mike Espy after a town hall on Nov. 15, 2018.

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Democratic Mississippi U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy on Wednesday, and the Espy campaign announced Obama’s endorsement message will be broadcast statewide in a radio advertisement.

“Mike Espy has a great chance to win this election for the Senate and keep Mississippi moving forward,” Obama said in his endorsement statement. “You were finally able to change the flag. Now, you can change your senator, too. Mike Espy for Senate and Joe Biden for President. It’s your time to be heard.”

barackobama.com

Former President Barack Obama

Obama encouraged Mississippians to make a plan to vote, check their polling place and bring identification.

Espy in a statement said: “I am honored to have the endorsement of the 44th president of the United States of America. President Barack Obama governed with dignity and effectiveness. He is remembered and will continue to be remembered as a very good president.”

Espy had already been endorsed by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. In two recent rounds of endorsements of more than 100 Democratic candidates across the country, Obama had failed to endorse Espy, which Espy has chalked up to oversight on the part of Obama’s staff.

A hallmark of Espy’s 2020 campaign strategy is to get nearly 100,000 Black Mississippi voters who have not turned out since Obama’s first presidential win in 2008 to vote on Nov. 3.

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Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today

Rogers McClellan votes during the 2018 Mississippi Primary Election at Christ United Methodist Church on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.

Mississippians who vote by mail will be notified of problems with their ballots and given an opportunity to correct them under a new rule adopted by Secretary of State Michael Watson after a federal lawsuit was filed against him.

The federal lawsuit, which was filed in August and sought to expand early voting opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, was dismissed Tuesday by U.S. Judge Daniel Jordan III. But before the lawsuit was dismissed, Watson, who oversees state elections and was a defendant in the suit, adopted the rule.

Voters must receive correspondence from election officials about problems with the signature verification on the absentee ballot, and the voter will have 10 days to correct it. The voter should be provided an “absentee cure form” to correct the problem.

In addition to the absentee rule, election officials must provide curbside voting opportunities for people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or who have been exposed to the coronavirus.

“We are pleased that Mississippi has adopted procedures that will protect voters from having their ballots arbitrarily rejected,” said Jennifer Nwachukwu, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “Just because a record number of voters in Mississippi will vote by mail this year does not mean there needs to be a record number of disenfranchised voters. This is a key victory in protecting the integrity of our election and ensuring the voice of the people is heard.”

READ MORE: Mississippi is poised to break absentee voting record in 2020 election.

A news release from the groups filing the lawsuit — the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Southern Poverty Law Center and others — said they anticipate the changes imposed by Watson to remain in effect after the pandemic is over.

Two lawsuits have been filed this year in efforts to expand early voting opportunities in the state for people who want to avoid crowded precincts on Election Day. The lawsuits have not been successful in ensuring all Mississippians can vote early.

The Legislature amended state law earlier this year, ensuring that people under a physician-imposed quarantine because of the coronavirus or people who are caretakers for those under a quarantine could vote early. But, according to the Democracy Initiative, Mississippi is the only state not to allow all voters to vote early during the pandemic.

READ MORE: “Practices aimed to suppress the vote”: Mississippi is the only state without early voting for all during pandemic.

Under state law, Mississippians can vote early in most cases only if they are elderly, away from home on Election Day or disabled. Mississippi is the only state to mandate that a mail-in ballot and an application for a mail-in ballot be notarized.

State officials, including Gov. Tate Reeves, have maintained that people will be able to vote safely at the polls on Nov. 3.

Watson’s office has said the wearing of masks “will be strongly encouraged” but not mandated at the polls, and the poll workers will wear masks and other personal protection equipment. In addition, sanitizer will be available at the polls as well as special pens or styli to sign in and mark the ballot.

“These will be the cleanest and safest precincts Mississippi voters have ever seen,” Watson said earlier this year.

Watson’s office did not immediately respond to the announcement from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center about the election changes he had imposed.

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