Democratic Party of the State of Mississippi

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Democratic Party of the State of Mississippi




Party Chairman	Wayne Dowdy of Pike County

Headquarters	832 North Congress Street, Jackson, Mississippi

Political ideology	American Conservatism\|Populism Modern American Liberalism
Political position	Centrist
National affiliation	Democratic Party
Color(s)	Yellow (representing the state's many "Yellow Dog Democrats"), Blue

Web Site	http://www.msdemocrats.net/

The Democratic Party of the State of Mississippi is the local branch of the Democratic Party in the state of Mississippi.

The party has members in all eighty-two counties of the state - each county having an executive committee and officers. The state executive committee is elected by congressional districts - twenty from each district.

A new state exeuctive committee was elected in 2008 at the four Congressional District Conventions and the State Democratic Convention. A new set of party officers will be elected at the first meeting of this Executive Committee.

The former officers of the Executive Committee were Wayne Dowdy of McComb (chairperson), Carnellia Fondren of Oxford (vice-chairperson), Claude McInnis of Jackson (executive vice-chairperson), state Rep. Bryant W. Clark of Pickens (secretary), Audrey Seals of Natchez (treasurer), and state Rep. Earle S. Banks of Jackson (Parliamentarian). Chairman Dowdy has said that he is not running as the Party's chairman again, and, indeed, is not even on the newly elected Executive Committee.

Mississippi presently has two representatives to the Democratic National Committee: Everett Sanders of Natchez and Johnnie Patton of Jackson. These positions, unlike the officers, are elected every four years at the State Democratic Convention. Both of these DNC members were re-elected at the Convention in 2008.

Past Party chairpersons have included Rickey Cole of Ovette, Jon Levingston of Clarksdale, and Johnnie Walls of Greenwood.

Of the Democratic nominees for statewide office, only Attorney General Jim Hood won in 2007, although the Party continued to dominate the House of Representatives as well as many races decided locally. The Party also gained control of the State Senate.

In 2007, the state's other nominees for statewide offices were John Arthur Eaves of Madison (Governor), Jamie Franks of Mooreville (Lieutenant Governor), Rob Smith of Richland (Secretary of State), Shawn O'Hara of Hattiesburg (State Treasurer), Gary Anderson of Jackson (originally from Byhalia) (Commissioner of Insurance), Mike Sumrall of Mt. Olive (State Auditor), and Rickey Cole of Ovette (Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce). These candidates were nominated on August 7, 2007.

On March 12, the state held its Presidential Primary, which Barack Obama won decisively. The number of voters in this primary election was higher than any cast in a Presidential Primary. ^[1].

There are three elected Democrats in the U. S. House of Representatives: Rep. Travis Childers of Booneville from Mississippi's 1st congressional district, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Bolton from the Second Congressional District and Rep. Gene Taylor of Bay St. Louis of the Fourth Congressional District.

The party is partly supported by the "Yellow Dog Democrats," who contribute to the party on a yearly or monthly basis.

The current executive director of the party is Keelan Sanders. Past executive directors have included Amy Harris, Morgan Shands, and Alice Skelton.

The party has several auxiliary organizations, including the Mississippi Federation of Democratic Women and the Young Democrats of Mississippi. The state's older citizens are being organized to form the Senior Democrats of Mississippi.

Since the death of executive member Eva Noblin of Paluski, and up until the State Democratic Convention in June 2008, the only remaining member of the executive committee who was also a member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's executive committee was Ike Brown of Macon (originally from Madison County). Mr. Brown lost two election opportunities - one at the congressional district convention and another at the State Convention - to serve on the state executive committee.