POINT-COUNTERPOINT: Collins’ defeat taught a painful lesson
The Aug. 4 primaries provided many opportunities for changing our representatives in our state government. If there are citizens who feel that established incumbents cannot be defeated, and if these citizens feel that American democracy has become so corrupt that common citizens have no chance to challenge the status quo, then they need to talk to new Senator-elect Chad McMahan from Guntown. A few months ago McMahan stepped forward to say that he was going to challenge popular Sen. Nancy Collins. Few at the time thought that a well-financed incumbent who was also running in a special election for the U.S. House of Representatives would be vulnerable. In fact, Collins had won the seat vacated by the late Alan Nunnelee’s election to the U.S. Congress. Before Nunnelee the state senate seat was held by now U.S. Senator Roger Wicker. Power and prestige seemed hard to challenge and there were people in Jackson who did not want Collins to lose her seat. Someone else even qualified as a holder to run for the state senate seat if Collins actually won the congressional race so that Chad McMahan would not become our next state senator.
Ed Holliday
Daily Journal
8/9/15
Magnolia Tribune
