Ty Pinkins, Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, has challenged his Republican opponent, incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, to a debate during the upcoming Neshoba County Fair.
Pinkins, a Vicksburg resident, wrote Wicker a letter outlining that the fair has a storied tradition of political stump speeches and has hosted a few political debates, notably the 1995 gubernatorial debate between Republican Kirk Fordice and Democrat Dick Molpus.
“In keeping with this proud tradition, I believe that a debate between us at the Neshoba County Fair would provide an excellent opportunity for voters to hear firsthand our positions on the critical issues facing Mississippi and our nation,” Pinkins wrote.
Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is not scheduled to speak at the fair and has not accepted Pinkins’ debate invitation.
Nathan Calvert, communications director for Wicker’s reelection campaign, told Mississippi Today in a statement that the U.S. Senate is in session during the week of the fair and “Sen. Wicker will be in D.C. doing the job Mississippians have elected him to do.”
Wicker, a Tupelo resident, has represented the Magnolia State in the U.S. Senate since 2007. Before the Senate, he served several terms in the U.S. House and in the Mississippi Legislature.
Pinkins, an attorney, has spent some of the last several years aiding Black farmer workers in the Delta who were being paid less money for their work than white visa workers from South Africa doing the same jobs. Pinkins unsuccessfully ran for secretary of state in 2023.
The two will compete in the general election on November 5. Mississippians can begin voting by absentee ballot on September 23, according to the secretary of state’s elections calendar.
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