Please go to your calendar right now and mark Tuesday, August 8, with a reminder to VOTE. That’s the date of Mississippi’s primary election for legislative and statewide offices – a critical day for Mississippi’s public schools.
Because most of Mississippi’s legislative districts overwhelmingly favor one party or the other, many General Election races are not competitive – often, the winner is chosen in the primary. BUT, while the party represented in a given legislative seat may not change, the level of support for public schools can, as you proved so well in 2019. In the last statewide election, there were numerous examples of primary voters ousting an unsupportive legislator in favor of one who campaigned on a pro-public-school platform.
Those votes paid off with significant increases in teacher pay, pre-k funding, and school district budgets, and the defeat of countless bills that were hostile to public education. It is absolutely essential that we re-elect those legislators who support our public schools and replace those who don’t.
There are many pro-public-school candidates running in both party primaries, and you can read where each candidate stands on important education issues on our Candidate Q&A website.
If there are candidates in your district who haven’t yet responded to our questionnaire, they can submit their responses online here, and we will get them posted.
If you will be out of town on August 8 or otherwise unable to vote, be sure to vote absentee in your Circuit Clerk’s office now.
Our Election Toolkit will make it quick and easy for you to help elect a pro-public-school Legislature. Please share it and our Candidate Q&A site with your friends across the state, and let’s make this the best election yet for Mississippi’s public schools. Our kids are counting on us, and together, we’ve got this!
