www.governing.com/articles/0710fair.htm -
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Published on: 10/1/2007
Last Visited: 2/18/2008
As a teenager 46 years ago, Gloria Williamson was crowned with a tiara and named Miss Neshoba County.Now a state senator, Williamson has delivered nine speeches at the fair since she first ran and won office in 1999.If Williamson is a familiar face around the fair, she is also something of a rarity in this part of the state these days , she's an unapologetic Democrat.As she and her family prepared to host a lunch for other Democrats at their three-story yellow cabin overlooking the horse track, Williamson joked about her party's fortunes in the county where she grew up."This is the only place they can eat," Williamson said, pointing to signs for Republican candidates on the surrounding cabins."There are Democrats here.They're just too chicken to admit it."
Williamson is no chicken, nor is she sheepish about her party identification.That might be why Republicans have targeted her district this year in hopes of growing the GOP's narrow Senate majority.It also may be why she and her challenger drew a decent crowd when it was their turn to speak to fairgoers.
Republican Giles Ward spoke first, addressing the audience for his allotted 10 minutes while Williamson waited, fanning herself in a wooden seat along the wall behind the podium.She listened as Ward decried lawmakers who "haven't got a clue" about their constituents' beliefs and promised to "truly reflect your values" if elected.When a red light in the rafters signaled that Ward's time was up, the two candidates shook hands and Williamson approached the microphone.
The senator at the podium sounded like a classic Southern populist.She jabbed her finger in the air while trumpeting her support for local farmers and timber interests.She emphasized issues she was sure would appeal to her "kin folk," saying, "Do not let people tell you that just because I am a woman I'm against guns."But she also was unrepentant about other positions."Call me a liberal," she proclaimed."I've been called a lot of names....I'm used to it, so it doesn't bother me."
Back when Williamson was entering pageants, Democrats dominated the Neshoba fair.
...
"The man had to roll up his pants," Williamson remembered, laughing at the image more than three decades later.
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