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Gov. Tate Reeves defeats Brandon Presley to secure final term as governor

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Gov. Tate Reeves defeats Brandon Presley to secure final term as governor

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves was reelected Tuesday, defeating Democratic challenger Brandon Presley in a tight race that political experts around the country had closely eyed for weeks as a potential upset.

But Reeves held Presley off, winning 52% to 46%, according to results at 11:30 p.m.. Third-party candidate Gwendolyn Gray, an independent, garnered about 2%. The governor’s margin of victory is expected to shrink slightly as tens of thousands of votes were still uncounted in Hinds County, which experienced major election problems on Tuesday.

RESULTS: Mississippi’s general election 2023

Reeves, the 49-year-old who previously served two terms as lieutenant governor and two terms as state treasurer, will serve a second and final four-year term as governor beginning in January 2024. He will be the first person in Mississippi elected to both two terms as lieutenant governor and two terms as governor.

โ€œThis victory sure is sweet,โ€ Reeves told cheering supporters at his watch party in Flowood. โ€œYou know, we all now know what it means in a state like Mississippi when you stand up to the national liberals and you stand up to Joe Biden. They threw everything they had at Mississippi โ€” $13 million they threw at Mississippi. But you know what? Mississippi did not bend, Mississippi did not break, Mississippi is not for sale.”

In Jackson, many of Presley’s supporters left his watch party before the race was officially called. But at 10:45 p.m. Presley announced to dozens of attendees that he’d conceded the race to Reeves.

โ€œTonight’s a setback, but we’re not going to lose hope because this campaign elevated issues that had to be talked about in Mississippi,โ€ Presley said. โ€œMedicaid will be expanded at some point and you will have played a role in that.

โ€œThis campaign’s been tough โ€ฆ but I think we’ve seen the best of Mississippi through it. It’s been worth it to elevate these important issues.โ€

Democratic gubernatorial challenger Brandon Presley, with wife Katelyn by his side, concedes the race for governor before his supporters at his watch party held at the Faulkner Hotel in Jackson, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi

For weeks, Republican political operatives publicly fretted over Reeves’ ability to enthuse the GOP voter base. In the closing days of the campaign, Republican elected swarmed the airwaves with pleas for turnout. And notably, less than a week from Tuesday, the Reeves campaign rolled out a video endorsement from former that aired constantly on TV across the state.

In conservative pockets of the state on Election Day, Reeves matched or came close to matching the margins he earned four years ago against Democratic challenger Jim Hood. In Jones County, for instance, Reeves earned 66% of the vote against Presley. Four years ago, he earned 65% there.

And Presley did not make up enough of those Reeves margins with any other key demographic or locale. Presley hoped to perform better than Hood’s 2019 campaign in northeast Mississippi, but Reeves held his ground there from four years ago.

Presley also hoped to inspire outstanding turnout from Black Mississippians. Black Mississippians did turn out in droves in some majority-minority counties, in higher numbers in 2023 than in 2019. But without more white voter support for Presley, his gains with Black voters were not enough to offset Reeves’ .

Reeves, in particular, swamped Presley on the Gulf Coast โ€” a region of the state that has long served as the governor’s political firewall. Presley did not, as he’d hoped, make gains in the three coastal counties relative to Hood four years ago.

Perhaps one of the happiest people at Reeves’ party on Tuesday night was former Gov. Haley Barbour, who was mingling among the crowd with a glass of ice-cold bourbon in his hand and a bright smile on his face.

The former two-term governor told that Reeves won reelection because he’s โ€œdone a good jobโ€ leading the state through natural disasters and the COVID-19 virus while promoting his office’s work on economic .

โ€œI sometimes say that his wife Elee has got more of a politician’s personality than he does,โ€ Barbour said. โ€œBut he’s got a record that is mighty good to on.โ€

While Reeves avoided the upset, he underperformed relative to his seven fellow statewide Republican incumbents. All seven other GOP statewide incumbents won with at least 59% of the vote against their Democratic challengers.

And Presley, when all the votes are counted, will have gotten closer than any Democratic gubernatorial nominee since 1999 to defeating a Republican nominee.

Reeves, for his part, spent much of his victory speech on Tuesday night decrying national liberals, his in-state detractors and the press. He ended his speech with a more hopeful look toward the future.

โ€œI know that over these 20 years, I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve never stopped to earn your trust,โ€ Reeves said. โ€œI promise you going forward I’ll work hard. I commit that I’ll stand firm, and I’ll do everything in my power to rally our fellow Mississippians โ€ฆ I want you all to know I value your trust. I’m humbled by your support. And I’m fired up for the next four years.โ€

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

Mississippi Todayโ€™s NewsMatch Campaign is Here: Support Journalism that Strengthens Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Mary Margaret White – 2024-11-01 12:34:00

High-quality journalism like ours depends on reader support; without it, we simply couldn’t exist. That’s why we’re proud to join the NewsMatch movement, a national initiative aimed at raising $50 million for nonprofit newsrooms that serve communities like ours here in Mississippi, where access to reliable information has often been limited.

In a time when trusted journalists and media sources are disappearing, we believe the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without on-the-ground, trustworthy reporting, civic engagement suffers, accountability falters and corruption often goes unaddressed. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here at we act as watchdogs, holding those in power accountable, and as storytellers, giving a platform to voices that have been ignored for too long. And we’re committed to keeping our stories free for everyone because information should be accessible when it’s needed most.

Why NewsMatch and Why Now?

This year’s NewsMatch campaign runs from November 1 through December 31, giving us a special to make each dollar you give go even further. Through matching funds provided by local foundations like the Maddox Foundation, and national funders like the MacArthur Foundation, the Rural Partner Fund and the Hewlett Foundation, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar up to $1,000. Plus, if 100 new donors join us, we’ll unlock an additional $2,000 in funding, bringing us even closer to our goal. Boiled down: your donation goes four times as far.

Every dollar raised strengthens our ability to serve you with fact-based journalism on issues that impact your everyday โ€”whether it’s covering local election issues or reporting on decisions affecting schools, safety and economic growth in Mississippi. Your support makes it possible for us to stay rooted in the community, offering nuanced perspectives that help understand and engage with what’s happening around them.

Special Event: โ€œFreedom of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impactโ€

As part of the campaign, we’re to host a special virtual , โ€œ of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact.โ€ Join Deep South Today newsrooms Mississippi and Verite News, along with national experts on press freedom, for an in-depth discussion on the unique challenges facing journalists in the Deep South. This one-hour session will explore the critical role local newsrooms play in holding power accountable, highlighting recent restrictions on press freedom such as Louisiana’s โ€œ25-foot ,โ€ which affects journalists’ ability to report vital news.

We’ll examine what’s at stake if local newsrooms lose press freedoms and will discuss how you, as members of the public, can help protect it. This event is open to Mississippi Today and Verite News members as a special thank-you for supporting local journalism and standing with us in this mission. Donate today to RSVP!

How You Can Help

Make Your Gift Today

Together, let’s ensure Mississippi has the robust, independent journalism it needs to thrive. Your support fuels our ability to expose the truth, elevate marginalized stories and build a more informed Mississippi.

Thank you for believing in the power of journalism to strengthen the communities we loveโ€”not only during election season but year-round. With your help, we’ll keep Mississippi informed, engaged and connected for generations to .

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Hinds County loses fight over control of jail

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mississippitoday.org – Mina Corpuz – 2024-11-01 12:57:00

The sheriff and Board of Supervisors have lost an appeal to prevent control of its jail by a court-appointed receiver and an injunction that orders the county to address unconstitutional conditions in the facility.   

Two members from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with decisions by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves to appoint a receiver to oversee day-to-day jail operations and keep parts of a previous consent decree in place to fix constitutional violations, a failure to protect detainees from harm. 

However, the appeals court called the new injunction โ€œoverly broadโ€ in one area and is asking Reeves to reevaluate the scope of the receivership.

The injunction retained provisions relating to sexual assault, but the appeals court found the provisions were tied to general risk of violence at the jail, rather than specific concerns about the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The court reversed those points of the injunction and remanded them to the district court so the provisions can be

The court also found that the receiver should not have authority over budgeting and staff salaries for the Raymond Detention Center, which could be seen as โ€œfederal intrusion into RDC’s budgetโ€ โ€“ especially if the receivership has no end date. 

Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Robert Graham was not immediately available for comment Friday. Sheriff Tyree Jones declined to comment because he has not yet read the entire court opinion.ย 

In 2016, the Department of Justice sued Hinds County alleging a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conditions in four of its detention facilities. The county and DOJ entered a consent decree with stipulated changes to make for the jail system, which people facing trial. 

โ€œBut the decree did not resolve the dispute; to the contrary, a yearslong battle ensued in the district court as to whether and to what extent the County was complying with the consent decree,โ€ the appeals court wrote.  

This prompted Reeves to hold the county in contempt of court twice in 2022. 

The county argued it was doing its best to comply with the consent decree and spending millions to fix the jail. One of the they offered was building a new jail, which is now under construction in

The county had a to further prove itself during three weeks of hearings held in February 2022. Focuses included the of seven detainees in 2021 from assaults and suicide and issues with staffing, contraband, old and use of force. 

Seeing partial compliance by the county, in April 2022 Reeves dismissed the consent decree and issued a new, shorter injunction focused on the jail and removed some provisions from the decree.

But Reeves didn’t see improvement from there. In July 2022, he ordered receivership and wrote that it was needed because of an ongoing risk of unconstitutional harm to jail detainees and staff. 

The county pushed back against federal oversight and filed an appeal, arguing that there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that there are current and ongoing constitutional violations at the jail and that the county has acted with deliberate indifference. 

Days before the appointed receiver was set to take control of the jail at the beginning of 2023, the 5th Circuit Court ordered a stay to halt that receiver’s work. The new injunction ordered by Reeves was also stayed, and a three-person jail monitoring team that had been in place for years also was ordered to stop work. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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2 out of 5 child care teachers make so little they need public assistance tosupport their families

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mississippitoday.org – Jackie Mader, The Hechinger – 2024-11-01 08:49:00

This story about child care wages was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit,
independent organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger’s early childhood newsletter.

Caring for during their first few years is a complex and critical job: A child’s
brain develops more in the first five years than at any other point in . Yet in America,
individuals engaged in this crucial role are paid less than animal caretakers and
dressing room attendants.

That’s a major finding of one of two new reports on the dismal treatment of child care
workers. Together, the reports offer a distressing picture of how child care staff are
faring economically, including the troubling changes low wages have caused to the
workforce.

Early childhood workers nationally earn a median wage of $13.07 per hour, resulting in
poverty-level earnings for 13 percent of such educators, according to the first report, the
Early Childhood Workforce Index 2024. Released earlier this month by the Center for
the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, the annual
report also found:

? 43 percent of families of early educators rely on public assistance like
food stamps and .

? Pay inequity exists within these low wages: Black early childhood
educators earn about $8,000 less per year than their white peers. The
same pay gap exists between early educators who work with infants and
toddlers and those who work with preschoolers, who have more
opportunities to work in school districts that pay higher wages.

? Wages for early educators are rising more slowly than wages in other
industries, including fast food and retail.

In part due to these conditions, the industry is losing some of its highest-educated
workers, according to a second new report, by Chris M. Herbst, a professor at Arizona
University’s School of Public Affairs. That study compares the pay of child care
workers with that of workers in other lower-income professions, including cooks and
retail workers; it finds child care workers are the tenth lowest-paid occupation out of
around 750 in the . The report also looks at the โ€˜relative quality’ of child care
staff, as defined by math and literacy scores and education level. Higher-educated
workers, Herbst suggests, are being siphoned off by higher-paying jobs.

That’s led to a โ€œbit of a spiralโ€ in terms of how child care work is perceived, and
contributes to the persistent low wages, he said in an interview. Some additional
findings from Herbst’s study:

? Higher-educated women increasingly find employment in the child care
industry to be less attractive. The share of workers in the child care
industry with a bachelor’s degree barely budged over the past few
decades, increasing by only 0.3 percent. In contrast, the share of those in
the industry who have 12 years of schooling but no high school degree,
quadrupled.

? Median numeracy and literacy scores for female child care workers
(who are the majority of the industry staff) fall at the 35 th and 36 th
percentiles respectively, to all female workers. Improving these
scores is important, Herbst says, considering the importance of education
in the early years, when children experience rapid brain .

This doesn’t mean child care staff with lower education levels can’t be good early
educators. Patience, communication skills and a commitment to working with young
children also matter greatly, Herbst writes. However, higher education levels may mean
staff have a stronger background not only in English and math but also in topics like
behavior modification and special education, which are sometimes left out of
certification programs for child care teachers.

You can read Herbst’s full report here, and the 2024 workforce index here.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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