The position of Mississippi’s speaker of the House may be up for grabs next year.
Longtime Mississippi legislator Billy McCoy said he’s unsure whether he’ll seek re-election in 2007. At 63, the Prentiss County native isn’t showing any signs of slowing down and says he’s passionate about issues relevant not only to the state’s blue-collar workforce but to students as well.
“I feel that I have a fire in the belly working where I can with the citizens of northeast Mississippi, and I feel the same way about the entire state,” McCoy said. “I know that pretty soon I will need to make an announcement, but I have spent a proper amount of time reflecting.”
McCoy (D-Rienzi) was elected to the speaker’s position in 2003, winning a 65 percent majority against newcomer George Waddell, a Republican from Marietta. Though Waddell lost the election, he provided the first opposition to McCoy’s elected position in 20 years.
Stennis Institute director Marty Wiseman said the 2003 election gave McCoy the fight of his life after 20 years without a competitor.
“I think, of course, McCoy was squarely targeted by Republican forces to try and overturn that seat,” Wiseman said. “It was a well-financed campaign, and Waddell was fairly known in the district.”
Speculation abounds that Waddell’s attempt to thwart McCoy’s reputation may now allow other contenders to run against McCoy in the 2007 election.
“It very well may open the gate for future competitors by him getting that percentage of the vote, but [it] will take a well-financed campaign to beat McCoy,” senior political science major Clay Taylor said. “He has a lot of pull and a lot of backing, especially with his being speaker of the House.”
Mississippi has a history of electing incumbents, and McCoy’s election record should get him re-elected to his district without a problem, Taylor said. The resources needed for someone to run against the first-term speaker would be immense, however.
“It would take a campaign financed with the caliber of Haley Barbour’s [gubernatorial] campaign to beat him,” Taylor said.
Winning his district doesn’t necessarily mean McCoy would be elected speaker of the House. The two elections are separate.
Wiseman said he thinks the speaker’s greatest strength is his continued stance on public education.
“He has been a champion of public education from top to bottom and remained so,” Wiseman said. “He will particularly be known for his educational efforts for the rural region.”
“We’ve been able to do as much as we could with K-12, and I think we’ve done well for them,” McCoy said. “Community colleges and universities, not so much.”
Taylor said he thinks there may be another theory as to why McCoy has been elected so many times.
“Someone like McCoy may be a social conservative and still run as a Democrat because Mississippi has a competitive two-party system,” Taylor said. “Today, the Democratic Party is very much associated with the liberal agenda, gay rights and what-not.”
Older Mississippians see Democrats as the ones who got them out of the Depression, and that’s who they vote for, he said.
“Amy Tuck got into office and switched parties,” Taylor said. “It’s not uncommon in Mississippi politics. People still tend to vote Democrat in local elections.”
McCoy said he and the House still have a lot of work to do if he decides to run.
“I’ve served only one term, and I feel like we still have an awful lot to do,” McCoy said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity, and I’ve enjoyed it immensely.”
The 27-year legislator is expected to make his campaign announcement sometime this year.