Ellington

Four years ago, Democrats lost control of the Mississippi House of Representatives by a little more than 1,000 total votes. As a result, Republicans controlled the Legislature and governor's mansion and have set the state's political agenda.

Although redistricting will make their jobs a bit tougher, Democrats see an opportunity on Election Day to win back the House and possibly pick up some key Senate seats. Former Democratic state Rep. Brandon Jones founded the Mississippi Democratic Trust after narrowly losing his Pascagoula seat in 2011 and is using the organization to spearhead the party's efforts to knock off Republican House opponents.

Jones said the MDT recruited candidates with varying degrees of public-service experience, many of whom were drawn to run this cycle because of education issues that will take center stage on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Republicans now hold a 67 to 55 majority over Democrats; Jones said his party needs to pick up 10 seats to feel good, but he thinks they can win more with candidates such as Oxford Councilman Jay Hughes, who is locking horns with Rep. Brad Mayo, and Jill Butler, an engineer, who is eyeing the seat that state Rep. Jason White now holds. After winning his seat as a Democrat in 2011, White switched parties following the election.

The road to capturing the Senate is much more difficult for Democrats, but that hasn't stopped the party from trying.

For example, political newcomer Georgio Proctor is taking on Republican state Sen. Lydia Chassaniol. Proctor has hammered away at Chassaniol for her 2009 speech to the Council of Conservative Citizens and has called on her to apologize for making a speech to the group, which the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as a hate group.

"They are radical extremists whose hateful beliefs do not represent the majority of Mississippians, whom I know to be loving, kind, and generous. No Mississippian should affiliate with a group of radical extremists, especially not a democratically elected official such as Sen. Chassaniol," Proctor told the Jackson Free Press in a prepared statement.

No one answered when a reporter called Chassaniol's home telephone number this morning. In 2009, Chassaniol told an SPLC staff member: "As chair of the tourism committee in the Mississippi senate, I felt it was appropriate to invite the members of a national organization to visit our state's tourist attractions. I am often asked to speak to a number of groups. I do not consider myself racist, have never before been accused of such, and believe that a person's membership in any organization is a private matter.

"I spent a number of years as a professional educator and worked with the children of the Mississippi Delta in the nation's largest stay-in-school network (Communities in Schools). During my tenure at that organization, I frequently spoke to the Greenwood Voter's League to give them an update on the progress we were making in preventing students from dropping out of school."

Even though Democrats face uphill climbs in fundraising, Jones believes they're beating Republicans at retail politics.

"The Republicans clearly think that the path to victory to them is just to double down on party identification. If you look at their mailouts, all they want to talk about is President Obama and the fact that 'We're Republicans—we've got the governor's office, we've got the speaker's seat, and if you want to be part of the in crowd, you've got to be with us,'" Jones told the Jackson Free Press.

"It's very cynical, in my opinion, (and a) very anti-democratic message."