The Race is On: Taylor, Tegerdine, and the 4th Congressional District

2010 is here and with it comes Congressional elections. Much has been made of the potential for Republicans to make in-roads around the country in Democrat held seats given the partisan, liberal tenor currently in Washington D.C. Here in Southeast Mississippi, Gene Taylor (D-Bay St. Louis) has held the 4th District Congressional seat since 1989. Taylor, a former City Councilman and Mississippi State Senator, is well versed in what it takes to win in this district, which by the way is one of, if not the most conservative Republican districts in the nation (no Democrat Presidential candidate has carried the 4th since 1956). Political newcomer Joe Tegerdine hopes to unseat the incumbent Taylor and change that (D) to a (R) for South Mississippi.

For those who have yet to hear of Joe Tegerdine, you will soon as he has now filed his paperwork to run for the 4th District seat. He is an energetic man, someone I have come to enjoy speaking with on my radio show. He is grounded in the Constitution and has cast a broad vision of fiscal responsibility, new House leadership, strong national defense, and limited government. Here is a quick biography of the 4th Congressional District Republican candidate adapted from his website (www.joetegerdine.com).



Tegerdine was born in Portland, Oregon and grew up in the Northwest. He was raised by a single mother for most of his childhood and learned early on to work hard and hold true to the things he was taught. Shortly after graduating from high school, Tegerdine served as a missionary in Taiwan. After spending almost two years overseas, he headed home to the United States and attended college at Brigham Young University, earning a B.A. in Communications. While in college he met and married his wife and in 2002, they moved to Tallahassee, Florida where he earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the Florida State University College of Law. Tegerdine is currently employed as Senior Director of Business Development for WNC Satcom Group. He relocated to Hattiesburg, Mississippi in the spring of 2007 and settled in Petal where he currently lives with his wife and four children.



Given the previous elections in the 4th Congressional District since Taylor has held the seat, Tegerdine has an uphill challenge indeed. Taylor has won the last four elections by taking between 64-75% of the vote. His voting record in the House of Representatives is a mixed bag, however; he has walked the tight rope between party and populist for many years and thus far has mastered it with only the occasional wobble which he quickly balances. He is seemingly pro-life and pro-gun (anything else in this part of Mississippi and he would have been out a long time ago), yet he has supported his party and its leaders inconspicuously (voting for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker) knowing that if he carried too much of the party's water he would be on the proverbial hot seat come election time at home. He knows how to appear as if he is fighting for his constituents while not making too many waves in Washington D.C. His tenure and party connections landed him an important seat on the Armed Services Committee and the Shipbuilding Caucus, making him increasingly valuable to his 4th District constituents. Taylor's good ole boy persona coupled with his staff's superb PR work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina make him a force that only the perfect storm or perhaps some truly informed, inspired, involved, and fed up voters could take down.

I believe that we in the 4th District can and should do better than Gene Taylor (hey, that almost rhymed...perhaps there's a campaign slogan in there for Tegerdine). Taylor is deeply entrenched and knows how to work the system, both locally, through ensuring that the proper spin is applied when needed, and nationally, by being content to sit on the sidelines and following the party line as necessary. Gene Taylor is not a bad guy; heck, he's not all that bad of a Congressman if you judge his body of work through a narrow lens and confine it to babies, bullets, and budgets. America and the future of our great nation are about something bigger than such narrow, spin driven, seat ensuring issues. Yes, those things do matter greatly to me as a conservative and should matter to us all but when our nation's debt is increasing at such a rapid pace, private business is being taken over by government, our Constitution is threatened daily, healthcare is on its way to being rationed in every sense of the word, and on and on I could go we don't need a pacifist Congressman representing our area here in Southeast Mississippi. We need a Congressman that will stand up and fight for the Constitution, for the freedoms we hold dear, to speak against the ills of the day and actively support a different direction than what is being proposed by those now in leadership - a leadership supported and encouraged by Taylor himself. We need a change in the 4th District and soon.

The real question, and the most disturbing part of this discussion to me, is this: How does Gene Taylor, a Democrat, keep getting elected in one of the most conservative Republican district in the nation? For the sake of time and space, I'll cut to the chase - Republicans put him there. There's no other answer. If you live in the 4th District I challenge you to ask your Republican friends that actually vote who they voted for in the last Congressional election. Check the campaign finance reports for Taylor, as well, and you'll find normally Republican donors sprinkled in among the typical Democrat patrons.

So how does Tegerdine reverse this trend in 2010? How can he topple this Goliath? The only way is for conservative Republicans to break out of their self-induced habit and vote Republican. Tegerdine must appeal to the true conservatives, creating a sense of urgency that now is the time for a change. He must work to unite a strong conservative base and educate them on the realities at hand. Twenty years is long enough for Mr. Taylor's trip to Washington.

A few years ago this 4th District seat didn't seem all that important. Having one or two Democrat Congressmen wasn't a big deal most thought. They have tenure, clout among their peers. But now, with the make up of Congress, the Speaker of the House, the Senate in full control and the White House locked up, this Southeast Mississippi seat needs to symbolize and portray how we in this area truly believe to our core. Tegerdine must portray that in all he does over the coming months if he is to get within a stone's throw of Taylor.

As a side note, another Republican challenger, John McCay (which ran against Taylor in 2008 and lost by a margin of 75%-25%), told me recently he was planning to make another run for the seat as well. I'm not aware at this time if he has filed to run. McCay will have the same challenges as Tegerdine should he run and win the party nomination.

Truth is both Tegerdine and McCay are relative unknowns in the Mississippi political scene meaning that they must brand their name, ideals, and message in voters' minds quickly to have any chance at Taylor. Republicans will have to get on board with their party's candidate, not only here in the 4th District, but in the State Republican Party as well. Southeast Mississippi and the nation deserve better than Gene Taylor and his Democrat friends. I believe we can do better...but unless people wake up, get in the fight, and get engaged in the 4th Congressional District, history tells us we won't.