Mississippi Election Results

The Mississippi special election for House District 117 in Gulfport / Biloxi is in the history books. This was the first time that RIDE2REPEAL.COM supported Mississippi bikers, so we made a little history ourselves.

This was a special election to fill a vacancy in the state legislature that occured between general elections. In addition to the low voter turnout that typically occurs during special elections, this race in particular was very close. The margin of victory was only 92 votes.

Given the low turnout and the slim margin, just a few campaign volunteers could have easily tipped the election either way. But more on that in a minute. Let's rewind the tape ...

In preparation for this race, I contacted as many ABATE of Mississippi officers as I could, and challenged them to get involved. They responded, and suddenly there were quite a few Mississippi bikers who were connected to our Legislative Alert network.

Next I contacted each candidate through their campaign websites, and asked them what their position was on the universal helmet law for motorcyclists. One candidate said adult riders should decide, and the other didn't reply. So one was biker-friendly, and the other remained a question mark.

The good news is that two Gulf Coast bikers stepped up and contacted the biker-friendly candidate. As it turned out, the candidate never took them up on their offer to help the campaign. But the fact remains that somebody stood up for bikers rights when it counted. That is a very big deal.

The bad news, of course, is that nobody else stood up for bikers rights when it counted. But that's to be expected, since campaign work is something that has never been on the front burner when biker activists are cooking up things to do. But now it's on the menu.

All in all, it may seem like this special election was a failure for Mississippi bikers. Not true. And here's why:

> Over a dozen Mississippi bikers were aware of the election via our Legislative Alert network. We managed to get the word out to the right bikers ... the ones who were close enough to to the election to take action.

> Two Gulf Coast bikers took action by contacting the biker-friendly candidate, and offered to help the candidate. It only takes one biker to take that all-important first step, but we had two!

> The biker-friendly candidate came within 92 votes of winning, proving that we really can make a difference. If the candidate had taken advantage of our help, we could have easily changed the election outcome.

> Mississippi bikers are already thinking about the next election, and what to do about it when the next chance comes along. RIDE2REPEAL.COM will be ready to support them, too.

The idea of doing campaign work is forward-thinking. That's something we all need to keep in mind. It's not enough to wait until after the election is done, wait until the legislative session is underway, and wait until a repeal bill gets introduced. By that time, even the most energetic action is "too little - too late."

Change comes slowly to cultures and organizations. Like a battleship, it can't turn on a dime. But a little input to the rudder, consistently applied, makes all the difference. And in Mississippi, somebody reached up and put a hand on the tiller.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com