Democratic Candidate Michael Ted Evans is running for the Third Congressional District seat. That seat has been filled by Congressman Gregg Harper for the last 10 years.
Evans originally began public service as a firefighter for 20 years in Philadelphia, until he and his wife managed a poultry farm.
While Evans is a Democrat, he said he’s never treated someone different based on a party affiliation. As a firefighter he served anyone who needed help regardless of if they were a Democrat, Republican or something else. He gave an illustration of a conversation with a woman while on the campaign trail of how he may be running as a Democrat, but he’s not about taking guns and is pro-life.
The story progressed with the woman expressing concern that her sons couldn’t find jobs because “Mexican’s were taking them all.” Evans argued that the jobs these Mexican’s were taking were not the types of jobs college educated American’s want.
“Folks we have to realize that our farmers in the state of Mississippi have to have immigrants. If you want a clean motel room you have to have immigrants to clean… I’m for securing the boarder, and legalizing and getting things right so they can become citizens,” said Evans.
While he began the speech thanking Harper for his service, towards the end he turned the tide when he urged voters to send someone else that cared about the “whole” district to Washington (insinuating that Harper only made strides from a particular area). Those comments were late addressed by Harper who was “disappointed.”
He went so far as to call the leaders of the Third District the “Mafia of Rankin County.” If elected Evans said he isn’t only going to do things for those in Rankin County living on the “tater-tot expressway,” but that he would take care of everyone in the district.
Sarah Ulmer
