Democrat Gene Taylor is seeking his 10th consecutive term as Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District’s U.S. representative with Republican John McCay looking to oust the 20-year incumbent.
Candidates are running to represent the district with three of the four most heavily populated cities in the state: Gulfport, Biloxi and Hattiesburg. The 4th District is still suffering from the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Beau Gex, district director for Taylor, said the key issue on Taylor’s agenda at the moment is a multi peril insurance bill, which passed in the House of Representatives last year but not the Senate.
Coast residents are having a tough time battling insurance companies with the ongoing dilemma from Katrina as to whether damage to homes were caused by flood waters or wind, Gex said.
“The bill introduced by Gene [Taylor], if passed this time around, will cover wind damage on citizens’ federal flood insurance plans,” he said. “This bill will make it much more affordable for people to get wind coverage and stay down on the Coast.”
Republican John McCay of Gulfport is making his first run for public office with a low-budget grassroots campaign.
A captain in the Mississippi Air National Guard, McCay has served as chaplain in the Mississippi Air National Guard and has served in United Methodist Churches since 1994.
McCay could not be reached for comment at the time of publication, but conservative values are clearly a key focus for him.
“My strong convictions supporting issues such as pro-life, the Second Amendment, smaller government, fiscal responsibility, a balanced budget, lower taxes and hurricane Katrina recovery will steadily guide us into a more prosperous future. I promise to maintain my integrity and dignity as I serve the people of the 4th District,” McCay said in a letter posted on his official campaign Web site.
Taylor, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces, is pushing to have the next line of Navy destroyers built with nuclear power instead of diesel power, Gex said.
“In the world today with the violence occurring within the oil producing nations, it would be very easy for them to cut off our oil supply and potentially shut down part of our naval operations,” he said. “Having nuclear powered naval destroyers would eliminate that threat, and Gene Taylor is working diligently in the House to get that passed.”
MSU students who call the 4th Congressional District their home have viewed this race on the issues and not so much party affiliation.
Trace McGuire, senior management of construction and land development major and Gulfport resident, said he mainly votes Republican except when it comes to the 4th District race.
“Gene Taylor has always worked with the people of South Mississippi on his mind and shown a more conservative-Democrat side,” he said. “The experience he [Taylor] has working in Washington, D.C. for Coast residents is in a league of its own compared to other candidates.”
Long Beach resident and MSU student affairs graduate student Melissa Sharp said she hasn’t heard much about McCay and says for as long as she can remember the impact Taylor has had on the Coast shows.
“Even though we live in a staunchly Republican state, Gene Taylor continuously wins the 4th District on the Democrat ticket,” she said.
Sharp said the bipartisan way Taylor votes on issues is proof he works for his constituents and not his party.
Taylor voted against the recent Wall Street bailout bill mainly because he felt the bill would add to the already tremendous national debt with an unclear plan for distributing funds, Gex said.
Original publication date: 10/28/08.