We have two stories this morning on how the possibility that Mississippi might elect a Black man to the Senate fits with the state’s history.
First, Layla A. Jones writes about the last Democratic senator to represent the state, John C. Stennis, a dixiecrat who was himself deeply involved in the state’s history of white supremacy. Mississippi hasn’t elected a Black senator since the 19th century.
Second, Josh Kovensky speaks with Dennis Dahmer, whose father, Vernon Dahmer, a Black activist in Forrest County, was murdered by the KKK for his efforts to help his community vote. Dennis describes what a Colom victory, secured by Black voters in the state and the backlash to the Supreme Court’s Callais decision, would mean for him.
