Mississippi Today
Gov. Tate Reeves sets lofty goals for Mississippi in inaugural address
Jonathan Tate Reeves, Mississippi’s 65th governor, took what is likely to be his final oath for statewide office Tuesday morning on a brisk, windy and overcast day on the south steps of the Mississippi State Capitol.
“I’d like to end this speech where I started: back 20 years ago when I first took this oath. As I have prepared for this day these last few weeks, it has been apparent to me that this is my last opportunity to do the thing I have most wanted to do my entire adult life,” said Reeves after being sworn in for his second term as governor and for a staggering total of six terms as a statewide officeholder. “And I know that I am not alone. I am surrounded by people in this Capitol, in both parties, who have chosen a path to make Mississippi better. And as I campaigned this year, I was struck by the fact that virtually everyone was driven by a desire to bring Mississippi up. We have all been placed in a position of great importance. We sit at a crossroads for our state.”
Full transcript: Gov. Tate Reeves’ 2024 inaugural address
When his second and final term as governor ends in January 2028, Reeves, who is 49 years old, could run again for a down-ticket statewide office, but that would be unusual and unlikely. Speaking to a joint session of the Mississippi Legislature, before other state officials and a sizable crowd of supporters and onlookers on the grounds of the Capitol, Reeves spoke as if he was beginning his final chapter as a statewide official in Mississippi.
“We have all been placed in a position of great importance. We sit at a crossroads for our state,” Reeves said. “We’ve been entrusted by our friends, peers and neighbors to make decisions that will impact many lives, not just today, but for many years to come. Let us take up this work with joy and determination. Let us come together and heal our differences. Let us all throw ourselves at the great mission. Let us be united by our mission to make Mississippi the home for all its sons and daughters forever.”
During the roughly 50-minute joint session, Reeves offered few specifics for his final term. Those will likely come later his month during his State of the State speech before another joint session of the Mississippi House and Senate. He spoke of familiar themes from his successful 2023 campaign, citing improvements he said have been made in education, economic development and health care.
But the governor did not address specific problems the state faces, such as the state’s lowest-in-the-nation per capita income, struggling health care system and health outcomes, including the nation’s highest infant mortality rate, or the struggling school districts sprinkled across the state.
“I really do believe that this is Mississippi’s time. We have an opportunity ahead of us that we must seize,” Reeves said during the about 20-minute speech. “But it will require that we be bold and ambitious. We must be bold in our reforms. We must be bold in winning new jobs and businesses. We must be bold in our commitment to principles. And we must be bold to build a brighter future for the state we all love.”
He promised significant economic development projects during his term.
The governor also spoke of the unity of Mississippi’s people, saying there was “no Black Mississippi or white Mississippi,” and that he was the governor of all Mississippians whether they voted for him or not.
Rep. Jeffrey Hulum, a Democrat from Gulfport, told Mississippi Today that he was optimistic to hear Reeves give a unifying speech about bringing the state together racially and politically, but he hopes the governor follows through with that promise over his next term.
“I appreciated the message about unity and coming together, but I hope his policies and actions line up with what he said today,” Hulum said.
There was speculation that because of the heavy rain the night before the event would be moved inside to the House chamber. But that would have prevented the use of the large podium constructed on the south steps, as is the custom, for a gubernatorial inauguration and would have prevented much of the pomp and circumstance, such as the discharge of the cannons recognizing the event.
Mississippi Today reporter Taylor Vance contributed to this report.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
An ad supporting Jenifer Branning finds imaginary liberals on the Mississippi Supreme Court
The Improve Mississippi PAC claims in advertising that the state Supreme Court “is in danger of being dominated by liberal justices” unless Jenifer Branning is elected in Tuesday’s runoff.
Improve Mississippi made the almost laughable claim in both radio commercials and mailers that were sent to homes in the court’s central district, where a runoff election will be held on Tuesday.
Improve Mississippi is an independent, third party political action committee created to aid state Sen. Jenifer Branning of Neshoba County in her efforts to defeat longtime Central District Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens of Copiah County.
The PAC should receive an award or at least be considered for an honor for best fiction writing.
At least seven current members of the nine-member Supreme Court would be shocked to know anyone considered them liberal.
It is telling that the ads do not offer any examples of “liberal” Supreme Court opinions issued by the current majority. It is even more telling that there have been no ads by Improve Mississippi or any other group citing the liberal dissenting opinions written or joined by Kitchens.
Granted, it is fair and likely accurate to point out that Branning is more conservative than Kitchens. After all, Branning is considered one of the more conservative members of a supermajority Republican Mississippi Senate.
As a member of the Senate, for example, she voted against removing the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag, opposed Medicaid expansion and an equal pay bill for women.
And if she is elected to the state Supreme Court in Tuesday’s runoff election, she might be one of the panel’s more conservative members. But she will be surrounded by a Supreme Court bench full of conservatives.
A look at the history of the members of the Supreme Court might be helpful.
Chief Justice Michael Randolph originally was appointed to the court by Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who is credited with leading the effort to make the Republican Party dominant in Mississippi. Before Randolph was appointed by Barbour, he served a stint on the National Coal Council — appointed to the post by President Ronald Reagan who is considered an icon in the conservative movement.
Justices James Maxwell, Dawn Beam, David Ishee and Kenneth Griffis were appointed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant.
Only three members of the current court were not initially appointed to the Supreme Court by conservative Republican governors: Kitchens, Josiah Coleman and Robert Chamberlin. All three got their initial posts on the court by winning elections for full eight-year terms.
But Chamberlin, once a Republican state senator from Southaven, was appointed as a circuit court judge by Barbour before winning his Supreme Court post. And Coleman was endorsed in his election effort by both the Republican Party and by current Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who also contributed to his campaign.
Only Kitchens earned a spot on the court without either being appointed by a Republican governor or being endorsed by the state Republican Party.
The ninth member of the court is Leslie King, who, like Kitchens, is viewed as not as conservative as the other seven justices. King, former chief judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals, was originally appointed to the Supreme Court by Barbour, who to his credit made the appointment at least in part to ensure that a Black Mississippian remained on the nine-member court.
It should be noted that Beam was defeated on Nov. 5 by David Sullivan, a Gulf Coast municipal judge who has a local reputation for leaning conservative. Even if Sullivan is less conservative when he takes his new post in January, there still be six justices on the Supreme Court with strong conservative bonafides, not counting what happens in the Branning-Kitchens runoff.
Granted, Kitchens is next in line to serve as chief justice should Randolph, who has been on the court since 2004, step down. The longest tenured justice serves as the chief justice.
But to think that Kitchens as chief justice would be able to exert enough influence to force the other longtime conservative members of the court to start voting as liberals is even more fiction.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1968
Nov. 24, 1968
Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver fled the U.S. to avoid imprisonment on a parole violation. He wrote in “Soul on Ice”: “If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America.”
The Arkansas native began to be incarcerated when he was still in junior high and soon read about Malcolm X. He began writing his own essays, drawing the praise of Norman Mailer and others. That work helped him win parole in 1966. His “Soul on Ice” memoir, written from Folsom state prison, described his journey from selling marijuana to following Malcolm X. The book he wrote became a seminal work in Black literature, and he became a national figure.
Cleaver soon joined the Black Panther Party, serving as the minister of information. After a Panther shootout with police that left him injured, one Panther dead and two officers wounded, he jumped bail and fled the U.S. In 1977, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, he returned to the U.S. pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault and served 1,200 hours of community service.
From that point forward, “Mr. Cleaver metamorphosed into variously a born-again Christian, a follower of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a Mormon, a crack cocaine addict, a designer of men’s trousers featuring a codpiece and even, finally, a Republican,” The New York Times wrote in his 1998 obituary. His wife said he was suffering from mental illness and never recovered.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1867
Nov. 23, 1867
The Louisiana Constitutional Convention, composed of 49 White delegates and 49 Black delegates, met in New Orleans. The new constitution became the first in the state’s history to include a bill of rights.
The document gave property rights to married women, funded public education without segregated schools, provided full citizenship for Black Americans, and eliminated the Black Codes of 1865 and property qualifications for officeholders.
The voters ratified the constitution months later. Despite the document, prejudice and corruption continued to reign in Louisiana, and when Reconstruction ended, the constitution was replaced with one that helped restore the rule of white supremacy.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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