Video: Contentious Campaigns at the Local Level

COLUMBUS and Starkville, Miss. (WCBI) – Municipal primaries are in a week.  Now, advertising and social media are heating up.

Some races are more heated than others.

The race in Columbus is getting a lot of attention, along with Starkville, and other towns.

Some candidates discuss the issues, while there seems to be hostility in other races.

Either way, voters say they just want the best person in office.

You see signs with familiar names all around your community during a campaign.

Usually, opponents in local races know each other better than a statewide candidate, making it personal.

“When you hear something offensive, or even just a jab, in the local community, it means a lot more because you could be referencing generations of families, of history, etc,” says John C. Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development Interim Executive Director, Dr. Dallas Breen.

Mississippi State’s John C. Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development studies politics.

Breen says polices are more at play in state and federal elections. In local races, it’s more about the personalities.

“You don’t get as much political candor training of, ‘no, you can’t say that, or no, you shouldn’t say that.’ What you get a lot of is spark plugs. What can I do that will make the other person say something they shouldn’t? So, you get a lot of that. It’s kind of like a friendly banter that turns sour.”

That leaves a bitter taste with Columbus resident Susie Graham.

“I believe politics should be more about helping people, instead of tearing each other down, and that’s what a lot of politicians tend to do.”

Ernest Brackett has been voting in local elections since the 1970’s.

Between an anonymous website, billboards, candidate forums, and radio ads; Brackett can’t remember such a turbulent campaign.

“If I was running, I wouldn’t have to do that, talk about this person, what he has done and what he hasn’t done.”

Facebook and twitter reached millions of voters in the recent presidential campaign.

“I think this last election has, if it hasn’t completely changed the dynamic, it’s at least opened people’s minds to the idea that there are different delivery mechanisms for messages and they’re a little more impactful than we all thought they would be two and three years ago.”

Breen also says even though there’s some negative political banter in local campaigns, most voters already have their minds made up.

“It really doesn’t affect me as a voter because after this whole presidential election, what’s done is done, so I just stay neutral, basically until this storm passes,” says Columbus resident, Nicole McCotry.

Municipal election primaries are Tuesday.