She pulled into the Dollar General, parked, and walked a hundred yards or so across a vacant lot to where I was standing. Then this perfect stranger did something that still moves me more than a decade later.
She offered to hold my sign and wave it for me.
I thanked her, gave her my sign, and went to campaign elsewhere. About two hours later, I drove back and saw her still standing there with my sign, cheerfully waving it to the passing cars. This is her picture from that morning.
Even though I lost that election, I experienced God’s grace in a way I hope I never forget.
On that day, a woman I had never met dropped everything to hold my sign on the side of the road.
I do not know what became of that special woman, an angel to me that day, but her kindness has stayed with me ever since. It is a reminder that election returns aren’t just percentages. Every legitimate vote belongs to someone who showed up and entrusted a stranger with a small part of his or her future.
If a woman at a Dollar General could give hours of her day to a rank stranger, simply because voting mattered to her, then the officials entrusted with protecting those votes owed at least that much care.
For nearly twenty years, I have represented Mississippians from all walks of life as a lawyer and have learned that some problems cannot be solved in court. I have always wanted a broader impact, to fix systems, not symptoms.
That is why I am running for this office.
