If candidates vying for Congress want our vote, they need to ask for it

Published 2:09 pm Wednesday, March 11, 2020

In the event you did not take part in Tuesday’s presidential primary elections in Mississippi, don’t worry, you were not alone.

As is usually the case when there is little effort by the candidates to get voters to go vote, there was little interest on the part of the voters to get out and vote. While it is a shame it works that way, it’s the truth.

While the presidential nominations at the top of the ticket drew the most attention, there were down-ticket races that had a much larger impact on the day-to-day lives of those of us who live in Warren County.

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The unfortunate thing is, those candidates who sought the office apparently failed to remember Warren County existed.

In the race for the Democrat and Republican nominations for Congress, we were already familiar with U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson’s amnesia of Warren County, but apparently those who were seeking to unseat him followed suit.

We could only find one instance where a candidate — either Republican or Democrat — campaigned in Warren County and they happened to make a visit on the Monday before the election.

It is true Warren County is not the largest county within Thompson’s congressional district when it comes to population, but if asked, if encouraged, voters in Warren County could surely help re-elect or elect the next congressman whoever they might be.

And even if we did not have the voting power that we do, we are still a part of the district and deserve attention.

Forgive us if we chuckled a bit as we traveled across the county over the past few days and noticed Thompson signs popping up in a few yards. It was the most we’ve seen of the congressman in quite a while, but at least his signs were here.

The other candidates apparently forgot about Warren County when it came to signs.

When it comes to representation at the federal level, Warren County has long been buoyed by its relationships with the state’s U.S. Senators. That is not enough.

We need a representative in the U.S. House who fights for our interests, who knows our issues and at least knows where we are located on the map.

It is our hope that those candidates vying for the Republican nomination for Congress in the March 31 primary — and those later in November’s general election — visit, listen to our residents and ask for our vote.

When you want our vote, simply being asked for it is not too much to receive in return.