Jackson Free Press

The dimly lit crowd inside Johnny T's Bistro & Blues on Farish Street in Jackson remained jubilant long after national media called the Mississippi primary election in Democratic candidate Joe Biden's favor just after polls closed last night. Campaigners, local politicians, black legislators and lawyers had gathered inside the venue in downtown Jackson's African American corridor last night in anticipation of Biden's defeat of opponent Bernie Sanders.

Biden won Mississippi with an overwhelming 81.1% of the Democratic vote compared to Sanders' 14.8%. The majority of people who showed up at the polls in Hinds County—83.2%—voted for Biden, and 14.3% voted for Sanders. The former vice president also pulled in victories in Idaho and Michigan, where Sanders had decided to campaign after abruptly cancelling his scheduled appearance in Mississippi on March 6.

Lisa Ross, a Jackson attorney who had come to Biden's watch party, wasn't surprised at the landslide victory. "Joe knows us, and we know Joe. And we can count on Joe," she told the Jackson Free Press.

Mike Espy, who won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate yesterday with 93.1% of the vote and will challenge incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in November, also celebrated Biden's victory. Espy had endorsed Biden on March 8.

"He is a man of integrity, he's a man of empathy, and he's a man of competence. These attributes are what we really need in the White House right now," Espy told reporters at Johnny T's. He noted that he had worked closely with the former Delaware senator on several bills when Espy served as a U.S. representative for Mississippi's Second Congressional District.

'He Doesn't Have the Sauce or the Juice'

About one mile over on Millsaps Avenue, Sanders campaigners rushed to get their message out to voters in Idaho, North Dakota and Washington before their polls closed. By 9 p.m., about 10 to 15 organizers remained at the Sanders watch party, where they continued to make phone calls to out-of-state voters.

Phillip Agnew, a Sanders surrogate who has been campaigning in Mississippi since last week, said he was proud of the work that the Sanders campaign had accomplished in the state and remained optimistic.

"Results are still coming in. The Michigan loss was a setback, but we're waiting to see all the votes being counted. I think at the end of this, we'll still be close in delegates," Agnew said at AND Gallery in midtown Jackson. He pointed to the upcoming primaries in Florida, Arizona and New York as harbingers of the campaign's renewed strategy.

In North Dakota, Sanders won with 53% of the vote. With 67% of precincts reported by noon today in Washington, Sanders was slightly ahead of Biden with 32.7% of the vote; Biden trailed closely behind with 32.5%.

Like many others in the Democratic Party stress, Agnew emphasized the importance of ousting President Donald J. Trump, though he demonstrated a lack of confidence in Biden. In last night's primaries, Trump won the Republican vote in Mississippi by 98.62%.

"Right now, it seems like some (voters) seem to believe that Joe Biden is in the best position to beat Donald Trump, and we categorically disagree. He can't do it," Agnew said. "No new people are going to join the Democratic Party and be animated by the vision of one Joe Biden. ... He doesn't have the sauce or the juice, he just doesn't have it. He doesn't have what it's going to take to be able to do it," he predicted.

"They don't even want him (Biden) to be in any more Democratic debates. Think about what it's like to go up against someone who is a force of nature," Agnew said, referring to Trump. "Donald Trump is going to mollywhop him."

Briana Blueitt, another Sanders organizer, offered a different take. If Sanders loses, she said, his campaigners would have to work hard to make sure Biden is elected in order to oust Trump.

But Blueitt also recognized an opportunity to challenge Biden on some of his policies and the party's platform should he become the Democratic nominee in the presidential race.

"I think that there are a lot of positions that Biden holds that he could afford to be pushed on. I think that one of the strengths of having a movement behind what you're trying to accomplish is that you're constantly pushing people to be better in their policy position," she told the Jackson Free Press.

'I Knew What He Did With Obama'

Canvassers from both the Sanders and Biden campaigns knocked on doors on Woodson Drive in north Jackson yesterday to get the word out to residents to vote before 7 p.m.

Jackson native Jaylan Woods, 23, reflected on his experience campaigning for Sanders over the past week while walking through north Jackson amid rising spring temperatures. Though Woods had knocked on doors in south Jackson in the lead up to the primary, he told the Jackson Free Press that the campaign aimed to venture into areas it had not yet targeted, like the more affluent and mixed-race communities of north Jackson, which is also home to a large retired population.

By late afternoon, Woods said he had knocked on about 30 doors in north Jackson on primary day, and that about half opened them. About seven of those people said they supported Sanders, he recalled.

Charles Andrews Sr., 67, a retired employee of the now-shuttered Delphi Packard Electric Systems/General Motors plant in Clinton, was one of those who opened the door. Andrews told Woods that he had not yet voted, but that he would before the polls closed. Though he was torn between Biden and Sanders—both candidates would do a good job, he said—Andrews said he was leaning toward Sanders.

"I probably feel like Bernie would probably be the best choice," Andrews told Woods. Andrews, who is not a veteran himself, told the Jackson Free Press that military and veteran policies, Social Security issues, and jobs are the most important issues for him as a voter in yesterday's election and in November.

Lisa Hewitt, 50, a self-employed Jackson native living in north Jackson, had already voted by the time Woods knocked on her door. Hewitt explained to the Jackson Free Press why she voted for Biden.

"I voted because we need change," Hewitt said. "I did go for Biden, I didn't go for Sanders. ... I was used to him (Biden), I knew what he did with Obama, and I enjoyed everything that he did and I believe in him, that he would continue a lot of the beliefs that Obama had to help us."

Confidence in Biden's Past Record

Confidence in Biden due to his previous experience in the White House and his proximity to the country's first black president was on display elsewhere in Jackson in the lead-up to the primary.

On the eve of the primary, retired math teacher Nathaniel Davis—a 91-year-old black man who survived the Jim Crow South and remembers having to recite parts of the U.S. Constitution in order to vote—told the Jackson Free Press that he believed Biden could help defeat Trump's divisive, hurtful rhetoric and unite Americans.

"The confusion we have and the division have—we have all kinds of divisions in our government. We need somebody with a level head. We need somebody who we can talk to that doesn't have all the answers. And that makes quite a bit of difference. We don't need a dictator who will tell us everything to do," Davis said March 9 at Bully's Soul Food Restaurant, a family-owned eatery in the Virden Addition neighborhood of Jackson.

"(Biden) knows the ropes of what is going on, and I think we had a pretty good president in Obama," Davis said. "So why not—he's going to take up some of those things, especially healthcare. He's not going to fight it like we've been fighting the health care. He's going to try to find out different things that he can do with it, if it's broken and needs to be fixed, and I think he's one of those people who will go out and find somebody who will help to do that. I'm not saying that the other guy (Sanders) wouldn't do that, it just so happens that I follow the trail of Biden and some of the things he has done as vice president,"

Davis added that "either one of them I think would be a good thing for us."

While Mississippians may have been divided on which Democratic candidate to vote for, nearly every person that the Jackson Free Press interviewed stressed the importance of health-care reform in the state. Desiree Reed, 27, told the Jackson Free Press on March 9 that she would vote for Biden because of his involvement in the Affordable Care Act and his promise to deliver on healthcare access for Mississippians.

"I think a big issue for Mississippi is health care, and I really feel like we really don't take it as seriously as we should," Reed said. "I still feel there is nothing really set up to help us if we fall." She urged the need for "some type of foundation" to support Mississippians who lack adequate access to HIV/AIDS prevention resources and treatment, mental-health supports and health insurance.

Sanders 'Should Have Came' to Mississippi

On March 9, Marvin Dale Jr., 27, told the Jackson Free Press that Biden's criminal-justice policy record made it difficult for the Jackson resident and his peers to relate to Biden. He said he supports Sanders, whom he first learned about in 2016 when the former Vermont senator spoke at Dale's alma mater, Tougaloo College.

"I think a lot of millennials—black millennials—are uncomfortable with ... the policies that (Biden) supported in the past," Dale explained. "A lot of us want to imagine, (with) him working so close with Barack Obama, that he was able to probably learn more about black issues or identify more with black issues beyond what you see in present day and to understand that it is historical and to understand that it is a cycle—that crime is a cycle and poverty is a cycle. But many of us aren't banking on that and are going with Bernie Sanders."

Sanders' policies in the areas of criminal-justice reform and student-loan debt forgiveness, Dale said, is why he is voting for him. Sanders' proposals, Dale said, are tangible "things that would affect our lives right now, today."

At Stamps Superburgers in Washington Addition on primary day, voters seemed split on the candidates. Calvin Richardson, 22, a life-long Virden Addition resident, told the Jackson Free Press that he was planning to vote later in the day.

"I like Joe Biden," Richardson said while waiting on his order.

Of Sanders, Richardson had this to say: "They had built a stage for him downtown ... and guess what, he didn't even come."

"He should have came. We need more leaders," he continued, adding that Sanders' absence influenced his support for Biden.

Follow City Reporter Seyma Bayram on Twitter @SeymaBayram0. Send tips to [email protected].