JACKSON — The 2006 2nd Congressional District race is shaping up to be one of the more politically schizophrenic exercises in the state’s history.

In the hotly contested Democratic primary, there’s incumbent 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson. At age 58, Thompson’s 38 continuous years in public office ranks him as Mississippi’s senior black political figure.

He served 12 years in municipal government in Bolton, 13 years as a Hinds County supervisor and has held a seat in Congress since winning a special election in 1993.

Thompson is currently the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, a high-profile position with the emphasis on terrorism and the committee’s influence over disaster-relief agencies in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The toughest opponent facing Thompson in the primary is two-term state Rep. Chuck Espy, D-Clarksdale. Espy, 30, is the scion of one of Mississippi’s most influential black political families.

His father, Henry Espy, is the longtime mayor of Clarksdale. Thompson defeated Espy’s father in the 1993 special congressional election that first sent him to Congress as successor to Espy’s uncle, Mike Espy, who in 1987 became the first African-American to be elected to Congress from Mississippi since Reconstruction. Mike Espy was appointed by President Clinton as the nation’s first black secretary of agriculture in 1993.

Perennial candidate Dorothy “Dot” Benford of Jackson will also be on the Democratic primary ballot with Thompson and Espy.

On the Republican side, the Democratic nominee will meet Mayor Yvonne Brown, R-Tchula. Brown’s husband was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the post in 2000.

The race sets up some rather interesting dynamics.

Forces loyal to Thompson in the state’s Democratic Party recently filed a federal lawsuit that seeks to end Mississippi’s open-primary system, which allows crossover voting in primary elections. Mississippi voters do not register by party.

Democrats say the lawsuit seeks to protect their primaries from Republican intervention. Republicans have scoffed at the lawsuit as a ploy to protect Thompson’s political turf from Espy, who has attracted political and financial support from 2nd District residents who normally support Republicans.

But longtime state Republican leader Clarke Reed of Greenville has been emphatic that Mississippi Republicans are backing Brown, not Espy — saying that Brown would stand a better chance in a general election showdown with Thompson than with Espy.

Plus, Reed said electing a “more moderate Democrat like Espy doesn’t do anything to help the Republicans, so why would we want that?”

Mayor Brown is an excellent candidate and a fine person. But the district was gerrymandered to benefit Thompson during congressional redistricting. It’s highly unlikely that any Republican could win in the 2nd District against him.

But Espy continues to draw crossover support in his bid to unseat Thompson. The Democratic lawsuit to close the state’s open primaries has created a backlash in the Delta among voters who resent being coerced toward partisan voter registration.

The dynamics shape up like this: Who’s the “real” Democrat? And can a Republican really win?

Reed, admirably loyal to his party, is misreading the tea leaves in this race. Thompson’s greatest vulnerability is in the primary against Espy, not in the general election.

Sid Salter of Forest is Perspective editor of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson. Contact him at

(601) 961-7084 or

ssalter@clarionledger.com.