Mike Espy

“People tend to see all black congressmen as liberals with an urban twist: They're all for gun control and against the death penalty. It's not true, and it shouldn't be true.”

“Demanding accountability for Mississippi's role in creating an environment that tolerated and bred hateful ideologies and violence is a small, but powerful, step in turning the page on our troubled history.”

“What better symbol of unity, what better symbol of growth, than to have Mike Espy in the United States Senate.”

“I vehemently oppose clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op, especially a photo op that makes a mockery of a place of worship and the uses the Bible as a prop. It's just wrong.”

“I will be a strong voice for Mississippi, and not an echo.”

“During the 1990s, I served in the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the nation's 25th secretary of agriculture.”

“I was born with chronic asthma, and when I was about five or six years old, one day I had an asthma attack so bad I began to become comatose.”

“I want to be the health care senator.”

“All meat has germs. Always has and maybe always will.”

“I have a sense that the USDA and the secretary who represents the USDA has always been seen as either a stranger or adversary to the farming community and a stranger to the consuming community.”

“I'm the proud father of three Black children.”

“I am dedicated to expanding Medicaid in Mississippi.”

“Generally, I'd say that the perception is correct that the USDA is too large. It's in many instances overboard.”

“As I grew older I began to realize that Mississippi really wasn't that bad. The basis for progress has always been there. And the opportunity is limitless.”

“Even though I'm a Democrat, I'm an independent - a small 'I' - Democrat, meaning that I'm a Mississippian first.”

“I've talked to people of every race and occupation. The bottom line is that we're all the same.”

“I think that as a government agency, USDA has a responsibility to reduce the levels of contamination and to mandate a stringent approach to protect public health.”

“I really don't need anyone to come to Mississippi to generate a vote for me.”

“The United States has taken pride in maintaining the 'safest food supply in the world.' And we can still have it, as long as we remember that America's bottom line is measured in the health and wellbeing of all of its people.”

“After the Civil War, Black Mississippians had economic power, voting rights, and citizenship. They used their majority to elect African-Americans to office up and down the ballot.”