Nov. 8, 2011 — Tonight was not a good night for the national Personhood USA movement that tried to push Initiative 26 in Mississippi. The opponents took some 60 percent of the vote by the time it was called as a loss. The JFP had a crazy busy night on Twitter (@jxnfreepress and #jxnfreepress) following the progress of 26, as well as voter ID (26) and the eminent domain limits (31). Voter ID passed as expected, and the eminent-domain limits passed. (The Jackson Free Press urged voters to reject personhood and voter ID and approve eminent domain limits—so we won two out of three.
On the statewide candidate front, there weren’t a lot of surprises with Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant taking the governor’s seat and Attorney General Jim Hood re-elected over weak challenger Steve Simpson. (We endorsed Hood, but not Bryant.) See the Twitter feeds for lots more campaign info and watch http://www.jfpdaily.com tomorrow for updates from our reporters, who were with a number of the campaigns tonight.
Good night, Mississippi. And good luck.
Previous Comments
…and you, Donna, through your written and spoken words, played a major role in defeating Prop. 26. The world was watching Mississippi and it was predicted that if there were any place in the country that this initiative would pass, “It will be in MS.” We proved them wrong! We have intelligent people here who understood the dept and scope of this poorly put together piece of trouble. Thanks again to you and to the voters who made this a WIN for WOMEN.
#165343 | Author: justjess | Date: Nov 9 2011
Thanks, Justjess. But my main job was to give all these fabulous women a forum. Cheers to them all!
#165344 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Nov 9 2011
I have to admit I was surprised to see that 26 was defeated, let alone by such a wide margin. I had cynically believed it would pass and we would end up being the butt of nationwide scorn (again). It shows that there are many intelligent, thoughtful people with a pro-life position who saw that this was a really bad idea.
#165345 | Author: Jeff Lucas | Date: Nov 9 2011
I have to agree with justjess. Last week’s JFP issue was highly informative and I shared it with many many people! It was like a guide to information that many just didn’t have access to. We forget that everyone isn’t on FB or Twitter and most are wondering the streets with NO knowledge at all about the goings-on. But thankfully, JFP is available on almost every corner of the city! It helped, trust me! So, congratulations to you and your staff for your diligence in this effort. I have to say that any and all people who voted NO yesterday contributed to this victory! It could have so easily gone down the wrong road. So I am very proud today of Mississippians for spreading the word, staying informed and most of all for showing up and showing out at the polls. (at least for i26 – we still got some work to do in other areas).
#165347 | Author: Queen601 | Date: Nov 9 2011
Thank you, Queen. The team really outdid themselves, including all the women and mamas (such as yourself) who provided columns, social media, etc. Now, I’m going to go figure out how a truck hit me last night without me noticing. These combined press day *and* Election Day Tuesdays are killers! The news team will have a slate of stories in http://www.jfpdaily.com today, all. Subscribe (free) if you haven’t already! (And if you do, you get invites to certain fabulous parties, hint, hint.)
#165348 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Nov 9 2011
