By Mike Espy
Hello from the road!
This morning we kicked off our “Momentum in Mississippi Tour” — a five-day bus trip across the entire state to touch every community before Election Day.
This is BIG TIME. We are building the biggest state-wide campaign Mississippi has ever seen, and bringing the new spirit of inclusiveness and diversity to every corner of the state. With your support (even just $10 here and there) we’ll keep building during these critical last six days.
Before we started rolling, I had to take a photo of our Momentum in Mississippi Tour bus. It’s not every day you see a bus with your own face on it. My team calls it the “Espy Express.”
Today, we’re visiting the Mississippi Delta: Belzoni, Grenada, and Greenwood. But first things first: A stop in my hometown of Yazoo City, a small, rural town of about 17,000. This visit was extra special because my daughter, Jamilla, and my grandbaby, Ryan, came along for the ride.
Here’s something I want to show you: My childhood home! Here we are standing outside it. My parents raised me and my six siblings here. Me and my twin sister, Michelle, were the youngest. As a teenager growing up during Jim Crow, all I wanted to do was leave Mississippi. But I came back and raised my own family here.
Then we stopped by Yazoo City High School. This was the all-white public high school in town, until 1968, when me and Michelle integrated it. We were 18 Black students among 800. When the school wouldn’t hire Black teachers, my sister and I led a walk out. Today I returned with my grandson as a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
There is a groundswell of momentum for our campaign to move Mississippi forward. Now, I want to bring that excitement to as many Mississippians as I can before voters head to the polls on Tuesday. That’s what our bus tour is all about.
As I have talked with all Mississippians — of all races, all genders, all political beliefs — I have felt the MOMENTUM in Mississippi for progress. Momentum for better health care. Momentum for better education. Momentum for better jobs right here at home for our children. There is momentum to move Mississippi forward.
We can write a new chapter for Mississippi. But we can only do it together — and we have only six days left to do it.
Together, we won’t go back to the Mississippi that WAS. Instead, we can leap decades forward to create the Mississippi that WILL BE.
So join me, vote for me, pray for me, support me, and I will be the best Senator Mississippi has ever had.
— Mike
P.S. Look who just woke up from a nap? I’ll be back in touch soon with more updates from the road.
