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Republican, Democratic operatives on high alert for first governor’s race runoff in state history

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Welcome to The Homestretch, a daily blog featuring the most comprehensive coverage of the 2023 Mississippi governor’s race. This page, curated by the Mississippi Today politics team, will feature the biggest storylines of the 2023 governor’s race at 7 a.m. every day between now and the Nov. 7 election.

It’s the prevailing question in Mississippi political circles: Can incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves earn over 50% of the vote on Nov. 7 to avoid a runoff with Democratic challenger Brandon Presley?

Because of a recent change in the Mississippi Constitution, the governor’s race could be decided by a runoff for the first time in the state’s 206-year history.

Recent polling indicates Reeves leads Presley by single digits, but several polls suggest it will be a struggle for him to break the 50% mark. If he doesn’t, the two candidates will face a runoff on Nov. 28, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

Over the weekend, Republican and Democratic operatives in Mississippi were openly speculating about the runoff possibility with other politicos, according to several sources across the state. Both campaigns, according to the sources, are said to be preparing for the possibility of a three-week November sprint to the runoff election.

If you’re curious about why the runoff is a possibility this year, Mississippi Today political reporter Taylor Vance provided us with a deep dive. It involves the elimination of a Jim Crow era law and the curious independent candidacy of Gwendolyn Gray.

Gray recently dropped out of the race and endorsed Presley, but her exit came so late in the race that ballots were already printed with her name on them. That means any votes for her will count, and her presence could send the state into an unprecedented political spectacle.

Three weeks — the time between today and the Nov. 7 election — is a lifetime in politics. Three more weeks for a potential runoff feels like an eternity.

Headlines From The Trail

Listen: The wildest week (so far) of the 2023 governor’s race

Watch: Gov. Tate Reeves sits down with WLOX-TV in Biloxi

Gov. Tate Reeves, needing to shore up right-wing turnout, attends closed-door meeting with concerned conservatives

At Jackson State homecoming, Brandon Presley pledges to advocate for Mississippi HBCUs

MPB to broadcast Nov. 1 debate between Reeves and Presley

Democrat Brandon Presley outraises GOP Gov. Tate Reeves in home stretch

Welfare scandal defendant sues Gov. Tate Reeves, claims he’s protecting himself and political allies

Could protest votes throw governor’s race into runoff?

What We’re Watching

1) Tate Reeves is working to shore up support from the most conservative bloc of Republican Party voters, many of whom have been less than thrilled with his leadership during his first term. He continues to pan the national Democrats, even firing off a tweet late Saturday night about Louisiana Governor-elect Jeff Landry’s decisive victory over “the far left policies of the national Democratic Party.”

2) Brandon Presley, meanwhile, is working to shore up support from Black Democrats, many of whom have felt ignored or burned in the past by white Democratic candidates like Presley. He campaigned at the Jackson State homecoming game on Saturday, and he also spent time over the weekend at events with Reps. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.

3) Reeves last week began airing a new TV ad that touts his solution to the state’s hospital crisis — an issue he’s been largely silent on for months, even as Presley has made it a pillar of his campaign. Mississippi Today’s Devna Bose fact-checked some of Reeves’ claims about his own role in health care policy decisions.

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

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=296727

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1946

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-23 07:00:00

Dec. 23, 1946

Chuck Cooper Credit: Wikipedia

University of Tennessee refused to play a basketball game with Duquesne University, because they had a Black player, Chuck Cooper. Despite their refusal, the all-American player and U.S. Navy veteran went on to become the first Black player to participate in a college basketball game south of the Mason-Dixon line. Cooper became the first Black player ever drafted in the NBA — drafted by the Boston Celtics. He went on to be admitted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

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

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Mississippi Today

Podcast: Ray Higgins: PERS needs both extra cash and benefit changes for future employees

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-23 06:30:00

Mississippi Today’s Bobby Harrison talks with Ray Higgins, executive director of the Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System, about proposed changes in pension benefits for future employees and what is needed to protect the system for current employees and retirees. Higgins also stresses the importance of the massive system to the Mississippi economy.

READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs

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

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Mississippi Today

‘Bringing mental health into the spaces where moms already are’: UMMC program takes off

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mississippitoday.org – Sophia Paffenroth – 2024-12-23 06:00:00

A program aimed at increasing access to mental health services for mothers has taken off at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. 

The program, called CHAMP4Moms, is an extension of an existing program called CHAMP – which stands for Child Access to Mental Health and Psychiatry. The goal is to make it easier for moms to reach mental health resources during a phase when some may need it the most and have the least time. 

CHAMP4Moms offers a direct phone line that health providers can call if they are caring for a pregnant woman or new mother they believe may have unaddressed mental health issues. On the line, health providers can speak directly to a reproductive psychiatrist who can guide them on how to screen, diagnose and treat mothers. That means that moms don’t have to go out of their way to find a psychiatrist, and health care providers who don’t have extensive training in psychiatry can still help these women. 

“Basically, we’re trying to bring mental health into the spaces where moms already are,” explained Calandrea Taylor, the program manager. “Because of the low workforce that we have in the state, it’s a lot to try to fill the state with mental health providers. But what we do is bring the mental health practice to you and where mothers are. And we’re hoping that that reduces stigma.”

Launched in 2023, the program has had a slow lift off, Taylor said. But the phone line is up and running, as the team continues to make additions to the program – including a website with resources that Taylor expects will go live next year. 

To fill the role of medical director, UMMC brought in a California-based reproductive psychiatrist, Dr. Emily Dossett. Dossett, who grew up in Mississippi and still has family in the state, says it has been rewarding to come full circle and serve her home state – which suffers a dearth of mental health providers and has no reproductive psychiatrists

“I love it. It’s really satisfying to take the experience I’ve been able to pull together over the past 20 years practicing medicine and then apply it to a place I love,” Dossett said. “I feel like I understand the people I work with, I relate to them, I like hearing where they’re from and being able to picture it … That piece of it has really been very much a joy.”

As medical director, Dossett is able to educate maternal health providers on mental health issues. But she’s also an affiliate professor at UMMC, which she says allows her to train up the next generation of psychiatrists on the importance of maternal and reproductive psychiatry – an often-overlooked aspect in the field. 

If people think of reproductive mental health at all, they likely think of postpartum depression, Dossett said. But reproductive psychiatry is far more encompassing than just the postpartum time period – and includes many more conditions than just depression. 

“Most reproductive psychiatrists work with pregnant and postpartum people, but there’s also work to be done around people who have issues connected to their menstrual cycle or perimenopause,” she explained. “… There’s depression, certainly. But we actually see more anxiety, which comes in lots of different forms – it can be panic disorder, general anxiety, OCD.”

Tackling mental health in this population doesn’t just improve people’s quality of life. It can be lifesaving – and has the potential to mitigate some of the state’s worst health metrics.

Mental health disorders are the leading cause of pregnancy-related death, which is defined by the Centers for Disease Control as any death up to a year postpartum that is caused by or worsened by pregnancy. 

In Mississippi, 80% of pregnancy-related deaths between 2016 and 2020 were deemed preventable, according to the latest Mississippi Maternal Mortality Report.

Mississippi is not alone in this, Dossett said. Historically, mental health has not been taken seriously in the western world, for a number of reasons – including stigma and a somewhat arbitrary division between mind and body, Dossett explained.

“You see commercials on TV of happy pregnant ladies. You see magazines of celebrities and their baby bumps, and everybody is super happy. And so, if you don’t feel that way, there’s this tremendous amount of shame … But another part of it is medicine and the way that our health system is set up, it’s just classically divided between physical and mental health.”

Dossett encourages women to tell their doctor about any challenges they’re facing – even if they seem normal.

“There are a lot of people who have significant symptoms, but they think it’s normal,” Dossett said. “They don’t know that there’s a difference between the sort of normal adjustment that people have after having a baby – and it is a huge adjustment – and symptoms that get in the way of their ability to connect or bond with the baby, or their ability to eat or sleep, or take care of their other children or eventually go to work.”

She also encourages health care providers to develop a basic understanding of mental health issues and to ask patients questions about their mood, thoughts and feelings. 

CHAMP4Moms is a resource Dossett hopes providers will take advantage of – but she also hopes they will shape and inform the program in its inaugural year. 

“We’re available, we’re open for calls, we’re open for feedback and suggestions, we’re open for collaboration,” she said. “We want this to be something that can hopefully really move the needle on perinatal mental health and substance use in the state – and I think it can.”

Providers can call the CHAMP main line at 601-984-2080 for resources and referral options throughout the state. 

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

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