VICKSBURG, Miss.—Ty Pinkins was the only U.S. Senate candidate to appear at a Vicksburg, Mississippi, candidate forum on Oct. 29, just five days before Election Day. And the independent candidate is making clear that he has no intention of being an also-ran to U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Scott Colom.
He told the audience that “money in our politics” is corrupting elected officials and candidates who end up following orders from high-paying donors rather than their constituents.
“At the beginning of this campaign, I made a deliberate and conscious decision, and I would not accept money from millionaires, billionaires, corporate PACs or lobbyists,” Pinkins said when responding to a question about what he would do differently if elected and how he would hold himself accountable. “I do not own stock and I do not accept from organizations like AIPAC. I am the only candidate in this race that can say that honestly.”
Pinkins, who ran two years ago as a Democrat against U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, is now running as an independent, claiming both Democrats and Republicans have failed Mississippi. But his campaign has been criticized for its potential to spoil either a Hyde-Smith or Colom victory. Several people have commented on Pinkins’ campaign Facebook page asking him to drop out.
On Oct. 27, Pinkins addressed those concerns directly.
“TO THOSE CALLING ON ME TO DROP OUT OF THE U.S. SENATE RACE: NO. I WILL NOT WITHDRAW,” he wrote.
“I did not spend 21 years defending the constitutional rights of others only to be told that I should surrender those same rights myself,” said the U.S. Army veteran. “You have every right to support the candidate of your choice, just as I have every right to run for public office. And Mississippi voters have every right to decide for themselves.”
Pinkins joined several local candidates local to Vicksburg and Warren County at the Warren County Courthouse. A couple dozen people wrote questions on white index cards which would then be asked to the candidates.
The hosts of the event, which included some of the Divine 9 sororities and fraternities, as well as NAACP chapters, had invited candidates running for U.S. Senate, Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District, the Mississippi Court of Appeals, local chancery court judge, local circuit court judge, the Warren County court judge, Central District justice court judge, Vicksburg Warren School Board of Trustees Districts 3 and 4, and District 1 election commissioner.
Candidates were allowed two-minute opening and closing speeches. Kimberly Fisher, a soror of the Vicksburg alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., read over a dozen questions to candidates that attendees had written during the event. Candidates had a minute each to answer the questions.
U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson had sent a woman from his office to represent him at the event, but the event hosts prohibited her from speaking and answering questions because she was not the candidate on the ballot.
Justice Court and Chancery Court Candidates
Along with the federal elections, there are a number of local and county elections across Mississippi.
The three candidates for Warren County justice court judge for the Central District appeared, including Walter Lee Armstrong, John W. Minor Jr. and Linda Pampley Stevens. Justice court judges are responsible for hearing small civil issues and misdemeanor violations within their districts. They may also hold preliminary hearings and set bonds in felony cases.
Minor, who’s a retired master sergeant who served 30 years with the Mississippi Highway Patrol, said he would issue fairness and equity in all the cases in which he presides.
“I just want to be recognized as a judge in the community that people know they can trust,” Minor said on Oct. 29. “They know that when it comes to the courtroom, that they’ll be treated fairly, that both sides of their case will be heard and judgement won’t be judged because of who you are or who you know.”
Armstrong, the former Vicksburg police chief and the current interim Central District justice court judge, had a similar response, noting that judges are nonpartisan and bound by state statutes and the law.
“A judge should stay within those bound areas,” he told the forum. “We’re not above the law. I would make sure we are following those rules. We have treated everyone fairly, and we have given everyone an opportunity to be heard.”
Stevens, a former law enforcement officer with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, said her job as Central District justice court judge would come with transparency, respect and integrity for the families in whose cases she’s presiding over.
“People should not be treated differently because of their financial situation or the status that they have in the community,” she said. “I will assure that everyone who comes into the justice court system will be treated in that manner.”
Penny B. Lawson spoke on her campaign for chancery judge for the 9th Chancery Court District. Vicki Roach Barnes, incumbent chancery court judge, died on Sept. 27 in the midst of campaigning for reelection.
Lawson has served as municipal court judge pro-tempore for the City of Vicksburg since 2017 and municipal court judge in Port Gibson, Mississippi, since January 2025. She said judges “are ethically bound to follow the law.”
“And at law, you take the facts, you listen to the facts, then you take the law and apply it to those facts,” she said on Oct. 29. “You render a reasonable opinion based on that. And again, I, as other judges have said, it’s impartial. We can’t have favoritism. It should never be that.”
School Board Candidates
Two candidates for the Vicksburg Warren School Board of Trustees’ District 3 seat, Tim Reeves and incumbent James E. Stirgus Jr., attended the forum.
As the former editor and publisher of the Vicksburg Post, Reeves said he heavily respects Americans’ First Amendment rights, including citizens’ rights to call out school board members who are acting unethically.
“There needs to be a level of access that has been slowly withered away by the school board over these last few years,” he said on Oct. 29. “It’s become more difficult to access your elected leaders.”
Stirgus, who is the Vicksburg Warren School District School Board of Trustees president, said citizens and candidates alike should strive for accountability. He pointed to an example from the COVID-19 pandemic when the Vicksburg Warren School District was one of the few Title I districts in the state that had significant IT system upgrade before the pandemic.
“If we hadn’t gone out to other places, to trips, to see what was going on, when COVID hit, we were one of two schools in Mississippi that had computers,” Stirgus said.
Former District 4 Vicksburg Warren School District School Board of Trustees member Tawina Edwards Dotson attended the event, but her competitor, incumbent Linda Muirhead Patterson, did not.
Dotson said she aims for transparency and clear communication between the board, families, teachers and the Vicksburg community.
“I want to hear them out,” she told the audience. “I’m also going to be transparent, and I want to be held accountable. If it’s something I’m not doing, call me out. Feel free to dial up my number, hit me up on my email, feel free to call me out because it’s our duty to have accountability and transparency.”
Current 9th Circuit Court District Judge M. James “Jim” Chaney Jr. for District 9-2 and Toni Walker Terrett, who is the 9th Circuit District and Intervention Court judge running for District 9-1, also did not attend. Current Warren County Court and the Warren County Youth Court Judge Marcie Tanner Southerland also did not attend. None of
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