It is not a presidential election and US congress is not on the line. There is not even a state governor running. Those elections are very well publicized. It is also not an election for anybody's local sheriff or school board member. Those local and county elections are close to home and get a lot of notice. The election in Mississippi tomorrow is a special election to fill a vacant seat in the state legislature.
Big elections involving presidents and governors get attention and local elections do too, but for some reason that middle level is one people, other than the candidates and their mothers' do not seem to care about. This being a special election doubles the apathy. Special elections with only a single race on a ballot is hard to draw voters to and a well financed and well connected candidate can round up his own contacts and take elections like that one.
I was actually one of the 5 candidates running for that vacant seat so I have some special insight into that race. I have a business to run and did not put in the effort it takes to hang with the establishment insiders and did not make it to the run off. The turn out on July 10 was pitiful and I suspect the run off tomorrow will be worse. It really is a shame that such a tiny group of voters can win a special election and create an incumbent who becomes intrenched the day he swears in.
Let me give you some back ground for this race. We have a situation here in Mississippi that is closely watched nation wide. This race is a little part of that whole situation. It started when RINO Thad Cochran was too sick to even campaign but segregates promoted him and he was elected to another term in the US senate. Soon after winning he resigned and our RINO governor appointed a Democrat to replace him until a special election could be held. The Democrat he sent to the senate was the state Commissioner of Ag and Commerce so that appointment left another vacancy to appoint someone to. Our formerly respected "Republican" governor moved one of the most solid conservative representatives out of the state legislature and caused another opening. That opening in the state house of representatives is what this special election is about. Next year there will be a race for Ag and Commerce and in November this year there is the special election for US senate. (I will have a lot more to say later about that special election for US senate. For now all I will say is the name Chris McDaniel).
Here is that special insight I learned from being inside this one. In a special election all candidates have to run as independents. All 5 in this race have either run for other things as Republicans or have appointed positions in the GOP. That fact plus the fact that the vote was in the summer made it feel like a primary race but it was actually a general election.
The establishment wing of the party fielded 3 candidates but rallied around just one to make sure they had one of their own in the run off. The conservatives fielded 2 and I was one of them. I saw that the other conservative had a much better shot so I kept my powder dry. The run off is between an establishment Republican and a Conservative Republican. Now the establishment wing is doing exactly as predicted and dumping tons of cash into a race to serve only a single session in the legislature. They really want to replace the conservative that the governor pulled out with one of their own. Here is the problem that the establishment faces. The conservatives are also unified and the conservative candidate is rich enough to self finance his own campaign. To top that off he actually has connections. This race is getting exciting but it is a shame that nobody will actually vote in it.
If you are in that one district in Mississippi vote for Hayes Patrick. He is the conservative remaining in the race. Also remember his name because that young man is destined for something big some day.
I live in that district and voted for Cliff. Now that Cliff recommends Hayes I will vote for him tomorrow.
You are correct that very small groups can take advantage of voter apathy. It usually works in favor of the establishment swamp but is a tool we conservatives could use if we knew we could.
The totals are in. In an area as large as a state legislative district, a total of only 2703 votes were casted. The establishment candidate beat the conservative candidate by 63 votes. If you are one of the 63 people who live in that district and "wished" the conservative would win but did not vote, his loss is your fault.
