Mississippi lawyer Mike Espy, the first black U.S. agriculture secretary, has a “strong intention to run” for the Senate seat being vacated by seven-term Republican Thad Cochran, reported the Jackson (Miss) Clarion Ledger. A handful of candidates from both parties are expected to run in a special election on November 6 to succeed Cochran.
A centrist Democrat during his three terms in the U.S. House, Espy was in 1986 the first black Congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction. He was a colleague of then-Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas in developing the Democratic Leadership Council. Legendarily, he persuaded Clinton to nominate him for agriculture secretary by writing him a note just before a DLC dinner celebrating Clinton’s election as president in 1992. As agriculture secretary, Espy devoted attention to rural economic development and public nutrition programs.
In a statement, Espy said he was dismayed by “the continuing dysfunction” in government. “I have proven that I can work with everyone as long as the goal is a better Mississippi.”
The Clarion Ledger said Espy “has largely been out of the political spotlight since 1994 when he resigned from the Clinton administration. He made headlines in 2007 when he crossed party lines to endorse Republican Governor Haley Barbour for re-election.”