Former Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree ready to fight for US Congress seat

Johny DuPree will face Republican and Independent challengers for the U.S. House District 4 Congressional seat in November.

The Associated Press declared the former Hattiesburg mayor the winner at about 9 p.m., though more votes were left to count. DuPree had a commanding lead, with 89.6% of the vote over over challenger The Rev. David Sellers.

Sellers, also from Hattiesburg, is a pastor.

DuPree, 68, was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2011, losing to Republican Phil Bryant by 22 percentage points.

Interviewed tonight by the Sun Herald, DuPree said he is running “to educate people on the issues, educate them on what is possible, on what we should be doing as elected officials that are elected to represent them.”

It’s not yet clear who in the GOP will face in November. Based on vote totals, it’s likely incumbent Cong. Steven Palazzo will face a challenger in a runoff election.

Independent Alden Johnson is the third candidate in the Nov. 8 general election.

Candidates decry low turnout in Mississippi

Asked about his chances of winning a traditionally Republican seat in the general election, DuPree said the issue facing Mississippi Democrats is largely due to low voter turnout.

“We are a red state because people do not exercise their right to vote,” he told the Sun Herald.

DuPree blamed the state’s low turnout on voters’ disillusionment with politics in general in context of Republican policies.

“You can’t vote against expansion of Medicaid, you can’t vote against minimum wage [increases], you can’t vote against reducing the cost of insulin — you can’t do those things because that makes people feel like, well, why should I vote, because the people representing me are not voting in my best interest,” Dupree said.

In a phone interview, Sellers also lamented Mississippi voters’ disengagement from politics, noting the high “number of people that we’ve talked to even today that don’t know a primary is going on.”

Sellers said he has run an issues-based campaign with a focus on specific policy proposals, including support for paid family sick leave, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation.

DuPree said he supported these policies as well. “I don’t think there’s much daylight and difference in what we both believe and support,” said DuPree.

While he “really didn’t study his vision” for the district, DuPree said, “I think Mr. Sellers is a good man, a decent man.”

DuPree said the experience of campaigning for the 4th District seat is very different from his 2011 gubernatorial campaign, in which he noted he was endorsed by the Sun Herald.

“A district race gives you the opportunity to interact more frequently with the voters and to be more aware of where they are,” said DuPree, whereas much of his time campaigning for governor had to be spent driving across the state.

DuPree said he will spend the coming months “‘knocking on doors and speaking to people where they are, not spending a lot of time trying to do TV and radio and all of those things but spending a lot of time in their doorway and in their living room.”