Rural Mississippians, as I wrote last week, will have a big say in the August Republican primary runoffs. Politicians who ignore their plight may be in for a big surprise.
Take, for example, Tippah County on the northern border of the state. Republican voter turnout in the first primary was up 4,809, a 732% gain. A key issue in Tippah County appears to be delay after delay to four-lane Highway 15.
The future economic growth of Ripley could depend upon completion of the project, Mayor Chris Marsalis told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. "I know of three (businesses) that passed on our initial location because access to a four-lane highway was too far away," Marsalis said. His sentiment was echoed by Doug Martin, the mayor of Blue Mountain.
Ashley Furniture chairman Ron Wanek said, "Highway 15 is long overdue to be improved," calling it hazardous, challenging, and dangerous.
Lack of funding for highways in Mississippi is why the project has been delayed, said Mike Tagert, the outgoing northern district transportation commissioner. "You've got to pay for the system that you want to build and maintain," he told the newspaper. He added that the fairest and most equitable way to do that "is through a fuel tax increase."
Of the two candidates in the GOP runoff for governor, only Bill Waller has shown a willingness to do that, proposing to offset an increase in fuel taxes by reducing personal income taxes. His opponent Tate Reeves continues to reject any increase out of hand.
Similar stories can be found in rural counties with struggling hospitals, teacher shortages, and mental health challenges. Waller has put forth ideas to address these issues while Reeves has not.
Interestingly, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor Delbert Hosemann also favors addressing these issues. Hosemann has said he is committed to the construction and maintenance of our roads and bridges, wants to reform Medicaid to ensure all Mississippians have access to affordable, quality healthcare and mental health care, and wants to increase teacher pay to deal with the teacher shortage. Hosemann hopes to pay for much of this from savings generated by "running the government better."
Of course, these are not the only issues facing rural counties: decreasing population, particularly from the loss of young people, while the proportion of elderly residents continues to surge; opioid addiction coupled with increased drug abuse and suicides; and physician shortages now coupled with nursing shortages are among the other issues causing rural distress.
If Republicans choose candidates unwilling to do what it takes to tackle rural issues, Democrats are ready to jump in.
Jim Hood wants to expand Medicaid to strengthen rural emergency care and provide more rural mental health care, raise teacher pay to deal with the teacher shortage, raise the gas tax to fix and build new roads and bridges, and force opioid manufacturers to help pay for opioid addiction treatment.
Jay Hughes, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, wants to expand Medicaid to increase healthy outcomes and save medical jobs in rural areas, increase teacher pay to deal with the teacher shortage, and favors construction and maintenance of our roads and bridges.
Will rural voters weigh in on these issues?
The real question is when, on August 27th for Republican solutions or on November 5th for Democratic solutions.
Crawford is a syndicate columnist from Meridian.
29 comments:
The GOP will not need to “address” them...they will swing out for Trump, no question. The Dems are just too weird and scary for Maw and Paw.
Rural Republican voters will vote against their own interest if the candidates know how to associate their opponent's progressive measures with "Washington liberals" and "Obama". It's what's called "Mississippi values" and it's as strong as ever, no matter the actual needs of the voters. It works.
Wait, now he wants us to raise taxes to build bigger highways Ripley and Blue Mountain in the name of "growth"?
That's the pandora's box of this gas tax discussion. We can't maintain what we have.
I'd be ok with a small tax on gas to maintain the roads we have but I'm not ok expanding Obamacare nor am I ok raising taxes and then letting the legislature eat steak dinners for 3 months while entertaining ideas about where the money will be spent. We'll end up with every pork barrel road to BF Mississippi and no improvements to the roads we already have.
Remind me where the lottery money is supposed to go?
And educate me why it takes a year to implement a lottery? Its not like we are inventing the lottery, we are just offering what has been available for years and years in other states.
With a Waller v. Hood race, MS wins either way. Tate will "retire" comfortably with his millions in "donations" received prior to the deadline of the new rule. Sounds like an "everybody wins" outcome!
This election does not hinge on Ripley or Blue Mountain.
Tate rolls.
There’s a lot of regulars on this blog who claim to be conservative. But raising taxes and expanding Medicaid are far from conservative.
When was the lottery passed? It was about a year ago wasn’t it? How much money has passed hands over that period? How hard could it be?
I would be all for an increase in gas tax if I could be convinced that the money now being spent by MDOT was being spent wisely. I have seen too many projects statewide that I did not consider to be necessary in light of the fact that there are highways and bridges in such bad condition.
3:18 How did we get taxes and medicaid in the first place? Maybe we should let it be "every man for himself", then we would have true conservatism. Any tax is a tax increase. No gov'ment except the military. How else can we claim to be real conservatives?
Girrard Gibbert needs to finish the job he was given before fishing for another one.
How much pothole money have we lost over the last 10 months while we figure out how to do a lottery?
Rural Mississippi is far more concerned with eliminating gay wedding cakes than they are roads and bridges. Just watch.
4:18, quite a stretch
I voted for Tate. But with McDaniel’s endorsement I going to Waller. Just too much crazy for me. I will never forgive nor forget that dude!
If Crawford was a real journalist and not a liberal political hack, he may have mentioned in his article that BOTH Mayor Marsalis and Mayor Martin have publicly endorsed Tate Reeves and are two of the hardest working members of Team Tate.
But, of course, that information does not get the reader to the point of hating Tate - which is Crawford’s only goal!
Getting people to hate Tate is a laudable goal, whoever does it...that fish-faced fool must never be elected! Please, please, Mr. Waller, campaign harder!
This Republican will vote against the old machine of Butler Snow, Phil Bryant Barbour and Tater. Watch Phil will be well rewarded for his allegiance to Butler Snow with a big job there.
Somebody on here is obsessed with the lottery...but they raise a good point. The whole road and bridge thing was supposedly fixed in a special session last year. Now Hood and Waller are both back on the gas tax like nothing ever happened.
That's how democrats work.
Anyone who thinks the proceeds from the lottery are going to enough is dreaming.
The biggest complaint I hear from those in rural areas is no WIFI or fast internet connections. Indeed, it seems that there's no rhyme or reason to who has service and who doesn't . Dead zones are too common as provider areas don't truly abut.
One friend said they couldn't run the wiring to the house as it sat too far from the road. She asked if she could pay the difference in her distance and that of her neighbor and was told there was no way to do that. ?????
Another was told the tower is " too far away".
And, these same excuses existed for satellite ( not trees) but weak signals so no point in coming out to do the work.
So, many are stuck with " dial up" for any semblance of internet connection.
The lottery proceeds WILL be enough IF the current state spending is NOT reduced. For instance, say the state is spending $5 on roads and bridges now. When the lottery proceeds come in it amounts to $3. Then the state reduces the state spending to $2, the lottery funds $3, and spending continues on road and bridges at $5. This is EXACTLY what happened to education spending when the casinos came in and they said the money was to go to education. It did, but they reduced the current state funding. Question is, WHERE DID THAT $3 THAT THE STATE DIVERTED GO TO? That's the $64 question. How much did the state spend on education back in 1990? What is the current spending on roads and bridges now?
Rural Mississippians, as I wrote last week, will have a big say in the August Republican primary runoffs. Politicians who ignore their plight may be in for a big surprise.
Take, for example, Tippah County on the northern border of the state.
~~~~~
A key issue in Tippah County appears to be delay after delay to four-lane Highway 15.
~~~~~
Lack of funding for highways in Mississippi is why the project has been delayed, said Mike Tagert, the outgoing northern district transportation commissioner.
~~~~~
He added that the fairest and most equitable way to do that "is through a fuel tax increase."
Of the two candidates in the GOP runoff for governor, only Bill Waller has shown a willingness to do that, proposing to offset an increase in fuel taxes by reducing personal income taxes. His opponent Tate Reeves continues to reject any increase out of hand.
** Tippah County **
100% Precincts Reporting
CANDIDATE votes Pct.
Tate Reeves 3,026 55.36%
Bill Waller 1,481 27.09%
Robert Foster 959 17.54%
Reeves's agenda is obvious: (1) keep Mississippi at 50th in everything good and 1st in everything bad so that only the "chosen few" who made political contributions to Reeves receive all of the benefits and (2) continue the no compromise politics where you are the enemy if you don't agree 100% with Reeves.
Only a fool would vote for Tate Reeves.
That sorry sack of potatoes is the Mississippi version of Sam Brownback and Bobby Jindal.
He has 16 years of experience f*cking over Mississippians.
As Treasurer he hedged a lot of the state's money in terrible mutual funds during the market crash. Mississippians were not aware of that, because many don't know what the treasurer does to begin with, so he started way back when with the parrot rhetoric and he got a promotion to Lt. Governor.
As Lt. Governor presiding over the Senate, the Rankin version of Kim Jung Un wasn't letting ANYTHING come out of committee. Even turning down stimulus money that would have benefitted the state's infrastructure.
People do not get caught up in the tax cuts passed under his watch as being fiscally conservative and we are racking in the dough because of them. If it were for the legislature legalizing sports gambling at the last minute, this state would be in the red right now.
It's a short term fix, until Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee gets the legislation passed to offer sports gambling in their states, that's when you will see the revenues from that drop-off.
Mississippi needs a lot of sh*t fixed and Tate Reeves is definitely not the one to fix it, because he's already had 16 years in public office to make a difference!
Get him the f*ck out of there and get someone in there that will make a damn difference.
Thank you 8:41. How does this guy get paid to write articles like this? It took me 1 minute on google to find the Tippah County results you posted, and which completely contradict Crawford's thesis. I am actually in favor increasing the gas tax and am open to discussing a medicaid expansion, but obviously the Tippah County voters don't have the priorities Crawford imputes to them.
9:21 Yes, but you need to join the "chosen few". Isn't that the Americ ah ....Mississippi dream? Or would you rather be a peon?
@ 12:01 PM, should Reeves's campaign theme song be "Rednecks" by Randy Newman?
Bill, Tate Reeves won the votes in most of our state's rural counties. He's even used it in an ad because it was so obvious. Waller's support draws heavily from Hinds, Rankin, Madison -- those who are in or benefit directly from government. So, the idea that Tate Reeves has to gain cred with rural voters simply isn't supported by numbers. Not saying that Tate Reeves is universally loved by rural voters or all voters, but it's hard to see how Reeves has some sort of deficit to make up with Rural voters when that seems to be one of his biggest cores of support. The truth of the matter is Waller is AT BEST a very moderate Republican. Arguments that he's a liberal may be laughed at by folks in Fondren, but not by conservative voters in most parts of Mississippi, especially rural counties. I
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