Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs' decision to become an independent instead of a Democrat raises an intriguing question.
Why don’t more politicians do the same thing?
The question is pertinent in light of money and resources being poured into primary races, especially for Congress, where incumbents are being pushed farther to the left or the right, depending on the party, than they would like to go.
But reasons for few independents are obvious.
In Mississippi, just like the rest of the nation, the party primaries provide the most reliable route to election.For almost a century winning the Democratic primary in Mississippi was said to be “tantamount” to winning state, local and federal elections.
That era began about a decade or so after the Civil War when the federal government gave up on reconstruction of the South, and what was then the Democratic Party took over Mississippi and other southern states, passing Jim Crow laws that in effect barred the majority of blacks from the polls.
That began to change with the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. By then the national Democratic Party had begun to supplant the Republican Party as the one most attuned to minorities.
Republicans by the 1970s were gradually beginning to make inroads in Mississippi politics to the point that now they control both branches of the legislature and all the statewide executive offices except attorney general.
There are still local jurisdictions and one congressional district in the state where Democrats, mostly African-American, are in the majority and usually win general elections. But in many locations winning the Republican primary is now “tantamount”, as they used to say, to being elected.
Republican or Democrat, winning a primary has been and still is the best route to being elected.
Factor in the support, both financial and in the various other ways a party supports its nominees, and an independent candidate is at a decided disadvantage except in a few small town elections where they all run as independents.
There just aren’t many independents holding office in the United States or Mississippi, and I don’t expect there will be anytime soon.
Exceptions include Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, but he ran for president in the Democratic primaries in 2016. Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, now considers himself an independent.
Flaggs, an African-American who is a former longtime member of the Legislature, has previously been elected as a Democrat. He says he has often stayed above partisan politics and believes the switch to independent will allow him to better serve Vicksburg.
Perhaps he thinks it also may help him get more votes if he runs for something beyond Vicksburg. According to Clarion Ledger political writer Geoff Pender, Flaggs has hinted at a run for statewide or federal office in the past and has met with President Donald Trump both in Mississippi and Washington.
Flaggs isn't the first Mississippi official to quit the Democratic Party, but an African-American doing so is unusual
A number of public officials in the state have changed from Democrat to Republican, but all of them that I can think of are white. Most are in voting districts where they can win a general election without many black votes.
Since the Republican Party, which championed African-American rights during and right after the Civil War, is now as anathema to most blacks in Mississippi these days as the Democratic Party is to many whites, Flaggs may be on to something.
Perhaps he thinks he can appeal to more voters running without a party label than with one.
I’d like to see more serious candidates try it. But I don’t much expect to.
Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to this year’s U.S. Senate elections in Mississippi, especially the one to fill the post being vacated by Thad Cochran.
Since that will be a special election, it will be a “jungle primary” like they hold in Louisiana. All the candidates, Democrat, Republican, Independent (if there are any) will appear on the same ballot. If no one gets a majority, the top two run it off, regardless of party. Something unexpected could happen in that one.
