Posted on 01/02/2008 2:47:09 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
Gov. Haley Barbour said he'll have 60 days from Monday to call a special election to fill Sen. Roger Wicker's vacated House seat.
The candidates will have another 60 days to campaign before the election.
Southaven Mayor Greg Davis said he filed papers Monday to run for the seat Wicker has vacated. He served in the state House of Representatives before becoming mayor of Southaven.
"I've been wanting to get back to the legislative arena and this seems like a good opportunity," Davis said.
Former Tupelo Mayor Glenn McCullough, also a member of the GOP, has also been named as a possible contender.
Across the aisle, state Reps. Jamie Franks and Steve Holland have been rumored to have an interest in the seat.
Franks made an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor this year. Holland is chairman of two key committees in the House -- Public Health and Human Services Committee.
(Excerpt) Read more at gulflive.com ...
Given that there are very few RINO’s in Mississippi, look for local Republicans to support candidates on the basis of geography, not politics. It will likely be a contest between the Memphis suburbs and the Tupelo area.
Greg Davis is my mayor.
http://www.southaven.org/page.cfm?pid=13&sid=12
“Another very important issue facing not only Southaven, but also our nation is that of illegal immigration. My office has written a draft ordinance that would enable our city to deter the hiring and housing of illegal immigrants by businesses and proprietors. As a city, we do not have the power to deport; however, there may be tools available for our code enforcement, working along side our law enforcement, to ensure that businesses and proprietors are in full compliance with our nation’s immigration laws. Illegal immigration is a very serious issue. A country must be able to secure its own borders and the City of Southaven stands ready to address this issue in a proactive way, rather than sit back and be reactive to this ever-increasing problem. Our intent is clearly not to punish those here legally; rather we will investigate situations where the legality of a worker or a tenant is in question. Upon passage of our ordinance, the City of Southaven will hold those who either employee illegal aliens or provide residency to them accountable for their actions. The City of Southaven will not be a safe-haven for illegal aliens.”
Mayor Davis
I’d think McCullough would be the “Establishment” choice because of his prior federal appointment. Not to say he’s necessarily a bad choice. I don’t know about his positions.
In elections that take place in districts where seniority is valued and incumbents are reelected with little fuss regardless of the political climate, the voting usually breaks for the hometown candidate. That has often been the case in The South. Roger Wicker was elected as a Tupelo-based candidate, and I predict that the locals want to keep one of their own. And I don’t rule out that the voters in the Memphis suburbs, which are in the northwestern corner of the district, may believe that they are ignored in political matters and want to do something about it.
Greg Davis sounds like he’d be good on the issues. I don’t know where McCullough stands, though I’d expect him to be conservative, as well. However, if Davis is the nominee and the Rodent nominee is from the Tupelo area, the general election could become competitive.
I hope the GOP contenders don’t become too aggressive toward each other. MS Republicans have a history of waging bitter primaries that enable Rodents to win GOP leaning districts. Remember Ronnie Shows and Gene Taylor.
I was looking at that the other day, and I concluded that if Taylor had faced Larkin Smith’s widow in the special, Taylor still probably would’ve won (his widow did run a year later and got only 19% (!) in the general election, an absolutely horrible showing for a Republican nominee, and she was fairly well funded).
In the case of the old 4th, Ronnie Shows won a seat that had generally preferred Democrats (although Thad Cochran and the extremely troubled Jon Hinson had won in the ‘70s). Had Mike Parker not switched parties, that equation probably wouldn’t have changed (with the exception of his last race in ‘96 and until the district was eliminated in 2002, the last Republican to win over 50% was Hinson in 1978). Of course, Shows’ ‘98 opponent had the last laugh. Delbert Hosemann was just elected in November the first GOP Secretary of State since Reconstruction.
How is Davis? I thought the “common knowledge” was that Flowers (about whom I have heard nothing but good) was the Desoto county golden boy for this seat when it opened up.
I’ve only heard good thing about McCullough too. I think whoever wins - and I don’t get the impression either of them will run a cutthroat campaign against his GOP opponent - it will be super easy to rally behind them against the ‘rat.
and all the more so if the Rat in question is Steve Holland.
Well he keeps the trash pickups regular and keeps the street clean. I dealt with him by email a couple of time about some four wheeler driving here in my neighborhood. He got more patrols here.
I really don’t want to see Davis leave the Southaven area...purely for selfish reasons. He’s been very good for Southaven and I would be very concerned about who would replace him as mayor if he were to win the Senate seat. I guess I shouldn’t think that way and since he is going to run for that seat I will vote for him. Still, I’m concerned about who would replace him.
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