Jim Herring looks at Miss. Congressional races
As we approach November, 2010, the nation’s attention is beginning to turn to the Congressional elections which will take place on November 2nd. Here in Mississippi, two of our four Congressional seats are being hotly contested – both presently held by Democrats. In Mississippi’s First Congressional District, Travis Childers, the Blue Dog incumbent who was elected two years ago to replace Republican Roger Wicker after Wicker was appointed to the United States Senate, is facing a strong challenge from Republican State Senator Alan Nunnelee. Childers is a former Chancery Court Clerk, a powerful position in county government in Mississippi, and he hails from rural Prentiss County, near Tennessee in the extreme northeast corner of the State and in the foothills of Appalachia. Nunnelee comes from the more urban and Republican-leaning City of Tupelo, which is located just south of Prentiss County and also in the northeastern portion of the Congressional District.
Childers is a friend and associate of the Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, Billy McCoy, who also is a native of Prentiss County. Childers is also the logical heir of longtime former First District Congressman and populist Jamie Whitten, who was known for “bringing home the bacon” for his constituents while at the same time attacking the “left-wingers” in Washington. Nunnelee, on the other hand, is a fiscal conservative who has served effectively as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee in the Mississippi Legislature during trying economic times; and, in cooperation with Governor Haley Barbour and Lt. Governor Phil Bryant, has helped the State balance its budget and preserve its rainy-day fund while at the same time preserved and increased Medicaid payments for the needy and enacted increased spending for education. Just as important, Nunnelee apparently has a united Republican Party behind him as he approaches the general election and has received the endorsements of his two opponents in the Republican Primary, who he defeated without a run-off after a spirited primary election contest. Mississippi Republicans will recall that Childers, the Democrat, won the Congressional seat to replace Wicker two years ago, after a bitter Republican Primary in which the Republican nominee failed to receive the endorsement of his defeated Republican opponent.
Jim Herring Blog
7/6/10
