Hear from Jackson District 69 House seat runoff candidates, trying to replace Alyce Clarke

For the first time in nearly four decades, voters in Mississippi House District 69 will send a new person to the Capitol to represent them, and after last week's primary elections ended without a candidate receiving a majority of the vote, that representative will be decided in an Aug. 29 runoff election.

The two runoff candidates vying to succeed Rep. Alyce Clarke, D-Jackson, are Tamarra "Grace" Butler-Washington, who received about 48% of the vote last week and Patty Patterson, who received about 30%.

Both candidates describe themselves as advocates.

Butler-Washington works for the Mississippi Department of Health, after previously serving as a clerk in the Mississippi Senate and holding legislative advocacy positions with the City of Jackson, Mississippi Health Advocacy Program and American Cancer Society.

"The positions I've held over the last 20 years of my career have always been in advocating for the people," Butler-Washington said. "My jobs allowed me to be able to advocate on a different level for the people, and I want to take the work experience, the conventional experience, along with the community experience that I have and be the voice for the citizens of District 69, the voice for the voiceless."

Patterson is a community organizer and entrepreneur who has worked with Jackson Public Schools, the United States Postal Service and the Community Service division of the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office, along with being a former candidate for multiple positions, including a past run against Clarke.

"I've been a community advocate, and just the biggest community volunteer you ever wanted to see in terms of restoration and beautification and all of those things," Patterson said. "I'm running based on the fact that the seat is open and I have run for this seat before, in 2015 ... and I'm running on the notion that I will be the one who will bring a difference and build back better in District 69."

Butler-Washington and Patterson are seeking to replace Clarke, who became the first Black woman in the Legislature when she took office in 1985.

The candidates emphasized many of the same issues, including mental healthcare and funding for projects in the district, and said that there are issues they can work together with Republicans on. Even if all Democrats running in November win, Republicans will still control the Legislature.

"I believe in putting your personal differences aside, first," Butler-Washington said. "Second of all, with the political tension that we have in our state of Mississippi it won't be easy, but I believe in working together. I know that I can't do it alone, as one person. I will have to work with others, others that don't look like me, others that don't have the same belief system I do, others that don't have the same values I do, others that don't have the same party I do."

Patterson said there have been examples of Democrats and Republicans agreeing on issues like increasing teacher pay, and that she sees opportunity for more common ground on a number of the state's problems, including its closing hospitals.

"If we work together we can fix these things. Now I don't think no Republican, Democrat or Independent wants somebody to die on the way up (to Jackson) trying to get medical help because one day it's going to be your family member sitting on the side of the road with a flat tire that can't make it three hours to see about themselves," Patterson said. "I think it's the heart of people. We have the heart. We just allow the politics to get in the way. If we remove all of that, we will have a better Mississippi."

With less than two weeks until the runoff, Butler-Washington and Patterson are making their final pitches to voters.

Butler-Washington emphasized her experience and her commitment to servant leadership.

"My last pitch to the voters of District 69 is that I have the experience. Leadership matters. I'll be ready to act on day one, to be able to be held accountable. I'm capable to do the job, and I can be trusted," Butler-Washington said. "I really believe that given this opportunity we can move District 69 forward into the next era and allow growth for a better quality of life. My pitch to them is that I am ready."

Patterson, meanwhile, said voters know her record from her organizing work.

"My final pitch is that Patty Patterson has been working already. My community knows it. They know me, and I'm no stranger to them. I'm no stranger to the fact that I'm a strong leader and I have their best interests at heart, and they know that," Patterson said. "They've got to vote because they believe that I'm the true candidate for them. Getting them back out, getting on the doors again and just asking them to come back out."

Primary voters in District 69 who voted in the Democratic primary last week, along with those who did not vote last week, will have the ability to cast their votes for either Butler-Washington or Patterson on Aug. 29. Voters who voted in the Republican primary last week cannot cross over to vote in the Democratic runoff. The winner of the runoff will be unopposed in the November general election.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi House District 69 runoff candidates speak on Aug. 29 race