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Jeramey Anderson Is Running For Congress In Mississippi And Touching People Disengaged From Political Process

Jeramey Anderson Is Running For Congress In Mississippi And Touching People Disengaged From Political Process

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At age 26, Mississippi Democratic congressional candidate Jeramey Anderson is facing a three-term, pro-Trump Republican who opposes abortion in a state with some of the most lenient concealed carry laws whose flag still incorporates the Confederate battle flag.

Anderson is going against the grain, CNN reported. He’s pro-abortion rights, pro-gun reform and his campaign platform focuses on raising the minimum wage, improving public education and implementing criminal justice reform.

Winning may be a long shot for Anderson, but he’s no stranger to politics. Five years ago, a month before he turned 22, he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives.

He believes that if he focuses on creating better communication and bipartisanship with his constituents, he can get votes from people who would have otherwise disagreed with his policies.

Jeramey Anderson
Freshmen Democrat lawmakers, Jeramey Anderson of Moss Point, left, John Faulkner of Holly Springs, top center, and Oscar Denton of Vicksburg, second from right, greet colleagues in House chambers at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014. Lawmakers return Tuesday to the Capitol for a three-month session this year. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

A progressive Democrat, Anderson wants to expand Medicaid in Mississippi and he considers the state flag retrogressive, according to Jackson Free Press.

While on the campaign trail, Anderson went on a seven-day, 14-county, 19-city “People’s Tour” of Mississippi’s 4th congressional district that he’s hoping to win.

The purpose of the trip is to just show up and listen to people in the small rural parts of Mississippi that politicians don’t often visit.

“We’re touching folks that have been forgotten about, that are disengaged from political process,” he told CNN. “Their votes count, too. Their voices count. Their issues are important to me as well.”
From Moss Point, Mississippi, Anderson is facing Republican Rep. Steve Palazzo, who beat his opponent two years ago by 37 points.
Anderson said people he met on his visit to the small towns in the district told him they had never seen Palazzo.
Carol Brody, an Independent, said she’d tried without success to meet with Palazzo at scheduled town halls in years past.
“Palazzo doesn’t want to meet with any of his constituents or his opponents. He thinks he’s going to rule from that little microcosm he has,” Brody told CNN. “I’ve gone to town hall meetings where he did not show up. They just put his picture on the chair.”
As a state legislator, Anderson holds multiple town halls a year in his legislative district. Some Republicans he’s met support him because he’s available to voters. “It’s not like he pops in every now and then,” Anderson told the Free Press. “He’s never here.”