The Clarion-Ledger pointed to Blackmon’s experience in the Senate to choose her over Democratic challenger Jim Roberts for the Dem nod, and to take on Tuck in November. Sid Salter pointed out in his fairtime column correctly that Blackmon’s place on the ticket could help interest more black voters, which in turn could hurt Haley Barbour come November. He also pointed out that the black woman’s race (to be the first black elected statewide in Mississippi since Reconstruction, by the way) could “result in an awakening of the 70,000 additional rural white male votes that Republican Kirk Fordice was able to get to the polls in his 1995 re-election.” Presumably, all those presumably angry white guys would never think of voting for a qualified black woman as lieutenant governor. Talk about the bigotry of low expectations; maybe this year is the year that the state’s voters will start bucking, er, conventional political wisdom. Let’s hope.
Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.
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