Gov. Ronnie Musgrove visited two Greenwood churches Sunday, touting his record on education and job creation over the last four years.
The governor urged the congregations of New Zion and Providence Missionary Baptist churches to keep Mississippi moving forward in the upcoming election.
"I'm going to ask you to vote for leadership that's going to move Mississippi forward and that's going to mean opportunity for everybody and that's going to make education in our public schools a priority," Musgrove told a full house at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church.
The governor spent most of the day in Greenwood, worshiping first at the churches and closing his visit with an afternoon campaign rally at Whittington Park. He faces Republican Haley Barbour in the Nov. 4 general election for governor.
Introducing Musgrove at New Zion, state Sen. David Jordan said the governor has done such a good job in office because he is "an education governor."
"He's been governor for the last four years, and he'll be governor for the next four years," Jordan said.
Musgrove pointed out that under his leadership, Mississippi has made education a top priority. The state went from last in the nation in education to number 12 in the three years since it implemented uniform testing for all public school students, he said. At the same time, he noted, the state reduced its schools classified as needing improvement from 122 to seven and gave teachers the largest pay raise in state history.
"Finally, we're paying our teachers like the professionals that they deserve to be considered," Musgrove said.
The strides Mississippi has made in public education have attracted the envy of outsiders, he said at Providence Missionary Baptist. "When the New York Times wrote about our teacher pay raise from 49th in the national to 19th, the New York Times asked, 'Why can't New York do what Mississippi has done?'
"Now, I don't know about you, but that's the kind of state I want to live in," he said.
Musgrove linked the new emphasis on education to progress in other areas of the state, mainly economic development and job opportunities. During his tenure as governor, he said, Mississippi landed about 30,000 direct and indirect jobs with the Nissan motor plant in Canton and expanded employment at the Northrop Grumman Corp. shipyard on the Gulf coast and Howard Industries, a computer manufacturer in Laurel.
"Can you imagine the image of Mississippi building cars, computers and ships?" he said. "That's a far cry from Mississippi a few years ago."
He said the only way to ensure that Mississippi keeps moving forward is to invest in education. "Young people may make up only a third of our population, but they make up all of our future."
State Rep. Willie Perkins, who introduced Musgrove at Providence, said the governor has had one of the most inclusive administrations in history.
"We have more African Americans leading state agencies than we have had at any time in the state of Mississippi," Perkins said.
Musgrove finished his stump speeches with a call for voters to get to the polls on Nov. 4. In a reference to the candidacies of former state Sen. Barbara Blackmon for lieutenant governor and former state Fiscal Officer Gary Anderson for treasurer, Musgrove told the congregations that they had a chance to make history. If elected, Blackmon and Anderson would be the first black elected officials to ever hold statewide positions.
"Exercise the God-given rights you have. Exercise the right that has been fought for for everybody," Musgrove said.
The governor will be back in the Delta on Oct. 14, when he and Barbour face off in a debate at Delta State University. The two square off tonight at Mississippi State University in a debate that will be televised on the Mississippi Broadcasting Networks.
