Rep. Daryl Porter Jr. announced Monday that he is running for a second term to serve Pike and Walthall counties in House District 98.
The Democratic freshman lawmaker previously served as a Summit town councilman before winning his current seat in November 2019.
Porter, an attorney, said in a news release that the onset of the COVID-I9 pandemic at the beginning of his term demanded crisis management “to ensure that families, businesses, and the public education system were equipped with the resources to survive.”
"COVID-I9 changed life for many people in District 98 and across Mississippi, but we persevered. I rolled up my sleeves and fought to expand unemployment benefits and nutritional support for underserved families while passing landmark legislation that provided grants to small businesses to keep them open, and closed the technological gap for public school scholars studying from home,” he said. "I sponsored legislation to expand Medicaid, pass the largest teacher pay raise in Mississippi's history, and pumped over $11 million into infrastructure, public safety and capital improvements across Pike and Walthall counties.”
Porter said other legislation he supported focused on criminal justice reform and changing the state flag “with one that unifies us and tells the world that we are open for business."
Porter filed bills in the first week of the 2023 legislative session focusing on education and criminal justice. Among his proposals are requirements for school bus drivers to obtain CPR certification and child care centers to carry a minimum $1 million in liability insurance, an alternate path to teacher licensure, permission for rental leases to be broken without penalty in cases of domestic abuse, parole hearings for people who served 20 years of a sentence for a crime that they committed as a juvenile and the restoration of voting rights after people have served prison sentences.
Candidates have until Feb. 1 to file qualifying papers. Party primaries are Aug. 8 and the general election is Nov. 7.
