It's not just that it's become too hard to serve as a Democrat in the Legislature? ![]() Not special interest groups, but regular, working-class people. What I know I would bring to the court is a sense of fairness, a sense of representing the people of Mississippi. One of the things that I know I would bring to the judicial branch of government is that most of the laws that will be considered by the court will be laws that we have debated over the last 21 years-whether they're criminal issues or civil issues, issues dealing with workers comp or unemployment, economic development or eminent domain, I've been a part of those issues. What do you think you can accomplish on the court that you can't in the Legislature? Being elected to judge, that means the people get to trust who will decide their legal matters. When you think about judges being appointed, it puts it into the hands of the governor. Mississippi has always liked to elect its officials. What do you think about Supreme Court justices having to run for their seats? We're going out there and talking to all the people, regardless of demographics. We don't know who's going to vote or who won't vote. After talking to him, he told me it would be a good, tight race. This is a district that my cousin Fred Banks ran in years ago, and he was able to win it. The demographics of this district are favorable to you. And it's just something you have to decide: Do I really want to do this? After doing that and talking to my cousin, Fred Banks, about it, I felt it was something I needed to do. It takes a lot of confidence it's going to take a lot of discipline. You have to come with a very deep examination because this is not an office that just anybody can hold. Of course, by the time you talk to your family, you have to pray over it. ![]() I was approached about running rather late, and it was something that I had to consider and talk to my family about, my business and law partners about. You qualified right up against the deadline. ![]() Before, when I was campaigning as a legislator, I might use a tank of gas every couple days. Before, I never had to spend a night away from home campaigning, and now I'm spending nights and days away from home campaigning throughout the state. How is this campaign different from running for the Legislature? Banks believes the fact that his cousin, Fred Banks Jr., won a seat in the district in 1991 and held it until 2001, bodes well for his chances against Waller.īanks recently spoke with the Jackson Free Press about his campaign. The court's District 1 includes 21 counties across central Mississippi, including Hinds County and several that lean Democratic in the Mississippi Delta. Bill Waller and recently secured the endorsement of the Mississippi Republican Party, Banks is undeterred. Even though Waller is the son of former Gov. Instead, Banks is suited up, crisscrossing central Mississippi in an attempt to unseat Bill Waller Jr., the chief justice on the state's highest court. "I can take off my black suit, my white shirt and tie, and get out there and run a backhoe and a bulldozer with the best of them," said Banks, an attorney and one of a handful of funeral directors in the Legislature. Banks' family, which owns People's Funeral Home on Farish Street, also operates Autumn Woods Memorial Gardens, a cemetery on West Northside Drive. Banks, a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives since 1993, said he likes to relax by working on the cemetery's landscaping. If he weren't running for a seat on the Mississippi State Supreme Court, Earle S.
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