By Billy Davis

It may sound exciting to describe the March primary election between Congressman Bennie Thompson and Heather McTeer as a David-versus-Goliath story. But the analogy has an obvious flaw, which is that David actually won the battle over the giant in the Old Testament.

For McTeer, however, defeating the incumbent congressman presents a challenge.
Thompson, 63, is seeking his ninth term in the U.S. Congress and is expected to get it, beginning with a win over McTeer, 36, in the Democratic Primary on March 13.

The winner of the Democratic Primary will face independent candidate Cobby Williams in November.

Thompson enjoys a powerful presence in the 2nd Congressional District, which he has represented since 1993.

Federal campaign reports show Thompson has more than $1.7 million of cash on hand for re-election, outpacing Mississippi’s other congressmen in the 1st, 3rd and 4th districts.

McTeer, meanwhile, formerly served two terms as Greenville mayor and is pointing to fiscal improvements in the city as she campaigns for congress.

McTeer said the City of Greenville was burdened with a $4 million deficit when she took office. “As I left my last day in office, we had money in the bank,” she told The Panolian in a question-and-answer interview.

McTeer, an attorney, is a Greenville native who hails from a prominent family, where father Victor McTeer was a prominent civil rights attorney.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Spelman College and received her law degree from Tulane.

She was featured in the November 2011 issue of Marie Claire magazine as the “Top Politician” in their annual “Women On Top” awards.

Federal campaign reports show McTeer has raised approximately $63,000 of which $40,000 was a personal loan to her campaign. She had about $7,000 cash on hand.  

Thompson was a Hinds County supervisor when he ran in a special election in 1993, when then-Congressman Mike Espy resigned to be Secretary of Agriculture under President Bill Clinton. Thompson has easily won re-election ever since.

Thompson was chairing the Homeland Security Committee in the U.S. House before a Republican majority swept him aside. He is currently the ranking member on the committee.

Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District is one of the largest districts in the country, owing to the fact that people keep leaving the impoverished Delta for opportunities elsewhere.

 The 2nd district’s population shrank by approximately 30,000 people since 2000, which required the district’s boundary lines to take in Panola, Grenada and Yalobusha counties late last year.

A panel of federal judges redrew the boundary lines to balance population numbers in Mississippi’s four congressional districts.

The 2nd District once included portions of western Panola County before the entire county was moved into the 1st District after the 2000 Census. But the newest redistricting means Panola voters who witnessed Republican candidates vying for the seat just a year ago will witness Democrats doing much the same.

McTeer told The Panolian that Thompson has enjoyed nearly 20 years in Congress while the Delta remains impoverished. She pointed out that her opponent has more than $1 million for his re-election.

“There’s a congressman who has over $1 million cash on hand yet has one of the poorest districts in the United States of America,” she said.

“I have stood up and fought against those who would cut benefits for people,” Thompson told The Panolian in a statement.

“Some in Washington have tried to do away with Medicare and food stamps while privatizing Social Security.  I believe in balancing the federal budget and eliminating waste but not through cuts that deny people the services they have been promised, and, in many cases, have paid for,” he said.