Mike Espy

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Mike Espy (2012)

Alphonso Michael "Mike" Espy (born November 30, 1953 in Yazoo City , Mississippi ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party . Between 1987 and 1993 he represented the second congressional constituency of the state of Mississippi in the US House of Representatives , from 1993 to 1994 he was Secretary of Agriculture under President Bill Clinton . Espy ran for a seat in the United States Senate in 2018 and will run for the same seat again in 2020.

Family, education and work

Mike Espy and his twin sister were the youngest of seven children born to Henry and Willie Jean Huddelston Espy. His brother Henry was Mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi , until 2013 . They grew up relatively prosperous in the impoverished rural Mississippi Delta. Both parents had attended the Tuskegee Institute , the father was a regional agent for the US Department of Agriculture in the 1930s and later worked in the funeral home of his father-in-law, TJ Huddleston, who was one of the wealthiest and most well-known African-Americans in the southern states . Mike Espy attended the newly desegregated high school in Yazoo City in 1969 as the first African American. He studied at Howard University in Washington, DC , graduating in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He then studied law at Santa Clara University in California , where he received the Juris Doctor in 1978 . He returned to Mississippi and was an attorney with Central Mississippi Legal Services from 1978 to 1980 . From 1980 to 1984 he served as Deputy Secretary of State for the Public Lands Division , and from 1984 to 1985 he was Deputy Attorney General Mississippi for Consumer Protection.

The Baptist Espy is divorced from Sheila Bell, with whom he has two children. His son Michael is a football player . Espy now lives in Madison County .

Political career

At the 1984 Democratic National Convention , Espy was on the Rules Committee.

Member of Congress 1987-1993

In the 1986 election , Espy was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington in Mississippi's second congressional electoral district. There he replaced the Republican Webb Franklin on January 3, 1987 , whom he had beaten with 52 to 48 percent of the vote. He was the first African American in Congress from Mississippi since John R. Lynch at the time of the Reconstruction, and the only African American to represent a rural area. Mississippi's second congressional electoral district, which has been largely African-American since the constituencies were redesigned as a result of the United States Census 1980, mainly comprised the Mississippi Delta region in the west of the state with the cities of Vicksburg and Greenville . The district was geographically changed again in 1986 under the supervision of the US Department of Justice in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act with a clear African-American demographic majority . At the time, it was the poorest congressional constituency in the United States, with 42 percent of the population below the poverty line and unemployment that exceeded 20 percent in five counties . Unlike the African American candidate Robert G. Clark, Espy won a significant proportion of whites as voters in 1982 and 1984 and mobilized through a doorstep campaign.

Espy won the three following elections with at least 67 percent of the vote and remained in Congress until his resignation on January 22, 1993 . There he was considered a progressive and innovative politician and was a member of the committees for agriculture , budget , resources and several sub-committees. In his first term, he played a key role in creating the Lower Mississippi Delta Commission , which was dedicated to regional poverty reduction . Espy became chairman of the Lower Mississippi Delta Caucus of congressmen from seven states and promoted the economic development of the rural area. He campaigned for catfish breeding in his state, among other things by obliging the US Army to purchase them and promoting two processing factories in his constituency. He was often in opposition to the Congressional Black Caucus , for example when he appeared in a commercial for the gun lobbyist National Rifle Association or when he developed the centrist Democratic Leadership Council with the then Governor of Arkansas , Bill Clinton , which was based on the earlier welfare state ideas of the Democrats ( New Deal , Great Society ) and advocated de-ideologized, business-friendly politics. In 1990 he voted in favor of the tax hike introduced by President Bush to reduce the budget deficit.

Minister of Agriculture 1993–1994

Mike Espy, portrait as Minister of Agriculture (1993)
Espy and Bill Clinton in the Oval Office (1993)

After President Bill Clinton took office in 1992, he appointed Espy Secretary of Agriculture, the first African American and first resident of Mississippi to hold this post. He succeeded Edward Rell Madigan , who served in that position under George Bush , and was one of four federal government ministers ever to come from Mississippi. Espy resigned his seat in Congress and launched a major reform of the fourth largest department, which was facing major challenges as the number of farms declined across the United States and the department's bureaucratic system that had existed since the 1930s was considered archaic. He reduced the number of employees by 7,000, improved slaughter inspections after E. coli bacteria were found in hamburger meat and organized aid for farmers after the 1993 Mississippi River flood disaster . He stepped down three months after Special Investigator Donald Smaltz started investigations against Espy for suspected corruption retired from the Clinton Cabinet on December 31, 1994 . His successor in the Ministry of Agriculture was Dan Glickman .

Corruption charges and further engagement

From 1994 Espy was hardly present in the political public. In 1997 special investigator Smaltz sued Espy on 30 counts, including taking advantage of benefits. The elaborately prepared process cost over $ 20 million. A grand jury found Espy guilty on all counts in August 1997. Tyson Foods had admitted that it had given him "gifts" worth $ 12,000. The company was fined six million dollars and the costs of the procedure. The Sun-Diamond Growers of California also admitted dubious donations to Espy and had to pay a fine. In Espy's case, the court found that the benefits received had nothing to do with his official decisions and therefore acquitted him on December 2, 1998. The Supreme Court ruled in April 1999 that a quid pro quo must be present for the acceptance of bribery , which is not apparent here, which is why the fines were waived. A Tyson Foods manager was pardoned by President Clinton on December 22, 2000, pending trial.

After politics, Espy returned to the private sector and works as a lawyer and consultant in his own law firm. He is director of the international non-profit organization Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture , which works to meet the growing demand for food. In 1999, Espy advised the Department of Energy on an unpaid part-time basis. He appears regularly as a guest commentator on national television and, thanks to his good connections in his home state, is still considered one of the most influential politicians. He caused a stir in 2007 when he supported the Republican incumbent Haley Barbour in his re-election campaign in the Mississippi gubernatorial election. Espy indicated several times that he would be available for a political position again.

Senate candidacy 2018 and 2020

After the long-time Republican mandate holder Thad Cochran announced that he would retire from the United States Senate on April 1, 2018 , Espy announced on March 5, 2018 that he was “strong will” to run for the vacant Senate seat for the state of Mississippi . On the Republican side, the former State Senator Chris McDaniel announced that he would also apply to succeed Cochran instead of in the primary against Senator Roger Wicker, who was also running for re-election in November 2018 . McDaniel is considered the far-right politician of the Tea Party movement .

As the favorite of the Republican party leadership, Governor Phil Bryant named the previous Agriculture Minister Cindy Hyde-Smith as interim senator. There were no internal party primaries , only the general election with several candidates whose party affiliation is not shown on the ballot. Espy's fundraising was well behind Hyde-Smith at $ 1.6 million at $ 308,000 through June 2018, but ahead of McDaniel at $ 272,000. In July 2018, he received campaign support from Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey , who also underscored Espy's independence from his own party and named this Senate election as one of the most important in November 2018. Espy took advice from Joe Trippi , who last worked for Doug Jones in his surprising election to Senator in Alabama in December 2017. In a poll commissioned by Espy in August 2018, he was just behind Hyde-Smith (29) and McDaniel (17) with 27 percent and led against both (with less than 50 percent) in a hypothetical runoff election. The conservative, Trump-skeptical columnist George Will wrote in September 2018 that a possible victory for Espy was "not an illusion". In the first ballot on November 6, 2018, the general election day , Espy received 40.6 percent of the vote, next to Hyde-Smith, who received 41.5 percent, in the runoff election. Before the runoff election, several statements by Hyde-Smith that many observers described as racist were discussed (see controversies surrounding Hyde-Smith ). Hyde-Smith prevailed in the runoff election on November 27 with 54 to 46 percent of the vote, but much closer than the last result of Cochran in 2014 (22 percent gap) and President Trump's 2016 (18 percent gap).

Espy is running again in the November 2020 regular election for Hyde-Smith's Senate seat. After several months of intensive fundraising and surpassing Hyde-Smith's donation income in a reporting period, he prevailed in the Democratic primary on March 10, 2020 against two competitors with 90 percent of the vote.

Positions

Unlike many other African-American politicians, Espy is considered a moderate, centrist Democrat who is closely linked to Bill Clinton's political orientation. Espy works to strengthen local communities and wants to promote their economic development and secure health care. As a student he became a member of the National Rifle Association and describes himself as a strict defender of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, which stipulates the right to bear arms, even if he advocates stronger background checks when buying weapons. In the 2018 Senate election campaign, Espy represented left-wing liberal positions such as the expansion of Medicaid , an increase in the minimum wage and insurance coverage for people with chronic diseases. He advocates equal rights for all regardless of ethnicity, gender or sexuality. As a member of Congress as a member of the more left-wing Congressional Black Caucus , he had already rejected the increase in military spending under President Ronald Reagan and advocated freedom of choice for women in abortion ( pro-life ). At the same time, he represented more conservative positions such as the introduction of school prayer, the death penalty for drug offenders or the financing of the Contras in Nicaragua .

literature

  • Espy, Albert Michael (Mike). In: Nancy Capace: Encyclopedia of Mississippi. Somerset Publishers, Santa Barbara, CA 2000, pp. 181-186 (preview) .
  • Alphonso Michael (Mike) Espy. In: Committee on House Administration (ed.): Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007. Government Printing Office, Washington 2008, pp. 556-561.
  • Craig S. Piper: Espy, Mike. In: Ted Ownby, Charles Reagan Wilson (Eds.): The Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, MS 2017, p. 396 f. , also online .

Web links

Commons : Mike Espy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Espy, Alphonso Michael (Mike). In: History.House.gov
  2. ↑ a b c d Bunthay Cheam: Espy, Mike (1953–). In: Black Past.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Bobby Harrison: Mike Espy, 32 years after historic victory and fall, hopes to rise to moment again. In: Mississippi Today , October 29, 2018.
  4. ^ Carla Hall: Espy's Mississippi Milestone. In: The Washington Post , December 19, 1986.
  5. ↑ Chris Danielson: Robert G. Clark. In: The Mississippi Encyclopedia
  6. ↑ a b Craig S. Piper: Espy, Mike. In: Ted Ownby, Charles Reagan Wilson (Eds.): The Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, MS 2017, p. 396 f., Here p. 397
  7. ↑ Former Agriculture Secretary Espy indicted. In: CNN.com , August 27, 1997.
  8. ↑ Craig S. Piper: Espy, Mike. In: Ted Ownby, Charles Reagan Wilson (Eds.): The Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, MS 2017, online
  9. ↑ See John D. Copeland: The Tyson Story: An Update. In: Drake Journal of Agricultural Law. Volume 6, 2001, pp. 257-259 (PDF) ; United States v. Espy, 989 F. Supp. 17 (DDC 1997) ; Final Report of the Independent Counsel. In Re: Alphonso Michael (Mike) Espy ; United States v. Sun-Diamond Growers of California. In: Oyez.
  10. ↑ About Mike Espy. In: MikeEspy.com ; A. Michael Espy: Director. In: CNFA.org.
  11. ↑ Sam R. Hall, Geoff Pender: How Thad Cochran's retirement impacts Mississippi midterm elections, political landscape. In: USA Today , March 5, 2018.
  12. ^ Geoff Pender: Mike Espy announces run for Thad Cochran Senate seat. In: Clarion Ledger , March 5, 2018.
  13. ^ Geoff Pander: Gov. Phil Bryant slams Chris McDaniel for switch to Cochran race. In: Clarion Ledger , March 14, 2018.
  14. ^ Geoff Pender: Poll: Mike Espy leading Cindy Hyde-Smith, Chris McDaniel in Senate race. In: Clarion Ledger , April 3, 2018.
  15. ↑ Emily Wagster Pettus: Senator raises more than challengers in Mississippi race. ( Memento of July 25, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Times Union , July 24, 2018
  16. ↑ Kayleigh Skinner: Espy running in nation's most 'game changing' Senate race, Booker says. In: Mississippi Today , July 20, 2018.
  17. ↑ Adam Ganucheau: Hyde-Smith, Espy and McDaniel quietly racking up out-of-state cash for Senate race. In: Mississippi Today , July 22, 2018.
  18. ^ Simone Pathé: Espy Poll of Mississippi Senate Race Shows Path to Victory for Democrats. In: Roll Call , August 16, 2018.
  19. ↑ Geoff Pender: Conservative columnist George Will pens piece on Democrat Mike Espy, Senate odds. In: Mississippi Clarion Ledger , September 6, 2018.
  20. ^ Mississippi US Senate Special Election Results. In: The New York Times , November 7, 2018.
  21. ^ Daniel Strauss: Mississippi Senate race devolves into racial melee. In: Politico , November 20, 2018.
  22. ↑ Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Then: Just how lame will the lame-duck session be? In: NBC News , Nov. 28, 2018.
  23. ↑ Luke Ramseth: Mississippi primary: Espy, incumbents win in congressional races. In: Mississippi Clarion Ledger , March 11, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Espy, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Espy, Alphonso Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Yazoo City , Mississippi