The Jeff Smith Democrats…
In his quest to become Speaker in 2008, Jeff Smith picked up the support of 13 House Democrats who bucked the caucus and picked him over Billy McCoy. Here is a look at those 13 today.
Seven (a majority) are now Republicans: Sid Bondurant, Scott Bounds, Billy Nicholson (not running for re-election), Russ Nowell, Margaret Rogers, Bobby Shows, and most recently- Jeff Smith himself.
Two of the remaining Democrats are not running for re-election: Jack Gadd and Deryk Parker.
Two are Black Caucus members: Chuck Espy and Robert Johnson. Espy is unopposed in his re-election bid, while Johnson faces a primary challenger. While possibly less liberal than most LBC members, neither of these men were or are conservatives.
The last two: Mary Ann Stevens and Randall Patterson.
We have often referred to Mary Ann Stevens as the most conservative Democrat in the House on here. She’s certainly right up there. She represents a district with a BVAP that is simply too high to be elected as a Republican. She faces a slew of Democrats in the August primary. Whether or not they make her conservative voting record a key issue remains to be seen.
Randall Patterson is the last Democrat on here. He is running for re-election is his conservative district and faces a GOP challenger in November.
I was honored to have the 13 Democrats and ALL the Republicans vote for me in 2008.
I see many of the Democrats have since changed parties such as myself. I do see Mary
Ann Stevens and Randall Patterson are running again as Democrats. I think people
may be surprised at Democrats voting for a Republican for Speaker in 2012, conservative
Democrats are as “scarce as hen’s teeth” but the ones left will not (in my opinion) support
a Liberal Democrat for Speaker. Mississippi is very conservative and many Non-Republicans
see that. I am going to predict if conservative Dems are re-elected, more than one will change
parties the first year.
Jeff, welcome to the Republican party.