NATCHEZ — In the Aug. 6 Democratic Party primary Adams County voters will help elect the next Dist. 38 State Senator who represents Walthall, Pike, Amite, Wilkinson and Adams counties.

Both candidates are Democrats so Tuesday’s election will decide the race that pits incumbent Tammy Witherspoon against challenger Kelvin Butler, who had held the position for 12 years before giving up the seat to seek election to the office of Chancery Clerk of Pike County.

“Three years ago I ran for Chancery Clerk in Pike County and lost by 400 votes,” Butler said. “I feel like with 12 years seniority and my experience I can go back to Jackson and benefit southwest Mississippi.”

Education, Medicaid expansion and jobs top the list of priorities Butler said he would like to focus on if elected.

“We need to make sure to fully fund education,” Butler said. “It is a battle we have fought many years. It has only been funded twice since ’87. We need to put our money where our mouth is when it comes to our children.”

Butler said he favors teacher pay raises and making sure classrooms have the supplies they need to teach children.

As to Medicaid expansion, Butler said millions of dollars in federal funding are not being utilized by the state, and it is creating health problems for Mississippi.

“I think it is important to look at that and get the funds to help have healthy families who can go to work and do what they need to do,” Butler said.

On the topic of jobs, Butler said he favors a regional approach to economic development and pointed to other areas of the state that have had success with regionalism, including the Golden Triangle in north Mississippi and the PUL Alliance in Pontotoc, Union and Lee County, which landed a Toyota plant.

“I want to get us thinking more regional instead of all putting our eggs in one basket,” Butler said.

After losing the Pike County Chancery Clerk’s election, Butler said he took a position as the city administrator for McComb, a job he has held for two and a half years.

Witherspoon said she believes her accomplishments in her first term in the Dist. 38 State Senate seat prove she is working for Southwest Mississippi.

“I had a pretty successful term in the last term,” Witherspoon said. “I got money donated for a black history monument in Natchez and did great things for district 38.”

Witherspoon said she supports funding education.

“We need to revisit the teacher pay raises,” Witherspoon said. “We fell short on the teacher pay raises, and we can give our teachers the pay raises they deserve. We need to fully fund the Mississippi Association of Educators. I would love to see that come up in this session and hopefully get it done. Education is No. 1.”

Witherspoon also said she helped pass legislation for Alcorn State University last session that addressed competitive bidding for student housing.

Witherspoon said if she is elected to a second term she would focus on criminal justice reform.

“We need progressive criminal justice reform,” Witherspoon said. “The state allocates $300 million to criminal justice. We need to decrease funding.”

Witherspoon said she favors funding rehabilitation and mental health programs for non-violent offenders.

“Instead of locking people up for minor offenses like drug possession,” Witherspoon said, “we need to fund mental health, drug courts rehabilitation programs and also I would like to see us partner with community colleges to offer workforce training to people who are incarcerated.”

Witherspoon said she also introduced legislation to “Ban the Box,” referring to the check box on job applications that ask if the applicant has ever been convicted of a felony.

The proposed legislation would only have require applicants to answer that question if they are called back for a second-round interview.

“It died but it was talked about in some of the criminal justice plans to introduce it again,” Witherspoon said.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D.-Miss., and the Mississippi Association of Education have endorse Witherspoon, she said.

District and statewide offices that will be on ballots in Adams County:

Sixth Circuit District Attorney

• Democrats: Shameca Collins and incumbent Ronnie Harper

State Senate District 37

• Democrat: Will Godrey
• Republicans: Milt Burris, Morgan Halford Poore, Melanie Sojourner and Kevin B. Wells

State Senate District 38

• Democrats: Kelvin Butler and Tammy Witherspoon

State Rep. District 94

• Democrat: incumbent Robert Johnson III (unopposed)

State Rep. District 96

• Democrat: Aisha Sanders
• Independent: incumbent Angela Cockerham

State Rep. District 97

• Republican: incumbent Sam Mims (unopposed)

Statewide offices

Governor

• Democrats: Michael Brown, William Bond Compton Jr., Jim Hood, Robert J. Ray, Robert Shuler Smith, Gregory Walsh, Velesha P. Williams and Albert Wilson
• Republicans: Robert Foster, Tate Reeves and Bill Waller Jr.

Lieutenant Governor

• Democrat: Jay Hughes
• Republicans: Delbert Hosemann and Shane Quick

Secretary of State

• Democrats: Johnny DuPree and Maryra Hodges Hunt
• Republicans: Sam Britton and Michael Watson

Attorney General

• Democrat: Jennifer Riley Collins
• Republicans: Mark Baker, Lynn Fitch and Andy Taggart

State Auditor

• Democrat: no candidates
• Republican: Shad White

State Treasurer

• Democrat: Addie Lee Green
• Republicans: Eugene S. “Buck” Clarke and David McRae

Commissioner of Agriculture & Commerce

• Democrat: Rickey L. Cole
• Republican: Andy Gipson

Commissioner of Insurance

• Democrat: Robert E. Amos
• Republican: Mike Chaney

Public Service Commission

• Democrats: Connie Moran and Sugar Stallings
• Republicans: Dane Maxwell and Kelvin Schulz