Several years ago, while attending a conference at Ole Miss, I went for catfish at the Taylor Grocery Store with my mother, Dr. Cappy Ricks (a Jackson native, now living in Atlanta — many Northsiders have known Cappy’s sister Helen Rogers, and her late husband Nat, over time), Lynn Crosby Gammill and her daughter and son-in-law Jennifer and Kennard McKay of Hattiesburg, and the Food Critic for The Times-Picayune, Brett Anderson and his wife Natalie. During the course of dinner, I commented to Brett who was seated to my right, “You know, Brett, I have never asked what your family does, back in Minnesota.”
Brett responded, “Politics.”
The natural response was, “At what level?” Anticipating an answer, I figured midlevel; county supervisor; aiming neither high nor low.
Brett said, “Governor and senator.”
More than a little surprised by Brett’s response, I said, “State senator?”
“United States Senator.”
Upon returning to my suite at the Inn at Ole Miss, I looked at the internet and learned that Wendell Anderson was elected governor in November 1970. (Interestingly, his party’s nominee in 1966 was Sandy Keith, younger brother of longtime Jacksonian Janet Keith Shands).
Wendell Anderson was a wunderkind, expected to achieve greatness. He understood that education and economic development are symbiotic and successfully spearheaded the enactment of Education Reform legislation, in 1971, as did Gov. William Winter, here, in 1982. As a politician going places, Wendell Anderson was pictured on the cover of Time Magazine on August 13, 1973. He won reelection in November 1974.
Two years later, Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale was elected Jimmy Carter’s vice president. Mondale resigned. Wendell Anderson did the same with an agreement that his lieutenant governor would appoint Anderson to replace Mondale in the United States Senate, after ascending to the governorship. They were both defeated in the 1978 general election. It gets them every time.
Gov. Bryant was wise not to fall into the trap to which sycophants might have led him by leveraging elective office into a springboard for self-advancement. It would have appeared improper. If Wendell Anderson and others are predicate, history would not have judged Governor Bryant as it will by exiting on a positive note.
Gov. Bryant confronted countless choices as to who would best serve the State of Mississippi, the people of the Magnolia State, and his legacy as his appointment to the United States Senate. The right decision would reflect well upon him. An error would tarnish his record, irrevocably. No politician desires self-inflicted wounds derivative of inappropriate appointment.
The prospect did not make one envious of Gov. Bryant. The ideal appointment would be a credit to his historical legacy and electable thereafter.
Mississippi was the only state not to have sent a woman to the United States Senate or House of Representatives nor to have had a female governor.”
Cindy Hyde-Smith’s appointment to succeed Sen. Thad Cochran provided an electable replacement and burnished Gov. Bryant’s reputation; helping him should he mount a future political campaign.
Women are likely to support the junior senator in the November 2018 and 2020 elections, swing voters and committed Republican voters alike. Democratic women are unlikely to fight a female as fiercely as a male: They are proud to send a woman from the Magnolia State to Washington notwithstanding the desire for a Democrat.
Republican men are likely to support the incumbent senator, once she establishes her bona fides, and, the agricultural community, statewide and nationally, will seek her service in Washington well into the future.
Mississippians saw an African-American elected as our President 10 years ago. We now have a woman in the Mississippi Delegation to Washington. Additional milestones will follow during one’s lifetime.
Having been broadly commended for Cindy Hyde-Smith’s historic appointment, it would not be surprising to see Gov. Bryant use his remaining months in office to shape his legacy, positively, for posterity.
Jay Wiener is a Northsider.
