As she campaigns for Congress, Heather McTeer draws from her experience as a marathon runner.
The former two-term Democratic mayor of Greenville is facing U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who has represented the 2nd District since 1993. The Democratic primary is March 13.
“Running for Congress, running in a race, I think it’s indicative of the same thing — a sense of accomplishing goals and setting good and positive standards,” McTeer said.
McTeer, a 36-year-old attorney, is the first African-American and first female elected mayor of the Port City. She did not seek re-election last November so she could focus on the run for Congress.
“When I look around the Delta and talk to other folks that look around the Delta, we’re still last in health and wellness, we’re last in infrastructure development, we’re last in education, we’ve been last for now going on 20 years,” McTeer said.
“At some point you have to say you can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect something different to happen,” she said. “That’s the essence of insanity. I just think that most of us aren’t crazy.”
McTeer, who ran in the 26-mile St. Jude Marathon in 2010, said there’s a point in the race where the half-marathoners veer off in one direction while the marathoners press on.
“I looked around and it was just me out there,” she said.
The endurance and passion that kept her going in that race is still with her today.
“This is not just a campaign; this is a movement,” she said.
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The campaign has been a genuine grassroots effort and has really connected with people on a personal level, McTeer said.
“I’ve talked to grandmothers who have pictures of their grandchildren that are in Houston and Atlanta and New Orleans. They’re tired of having to go visit because their children had to leave here in order to find a job someplace else,” she said.
She said she is visiting communities every day, “talking to folks in their homes, beauty shops, barber shops, wherever people are.”
She ticked off a number of cities she’s visited this week alone including Itta Bena, Water Valley, Batesville, Sardis, Grenada and Greenville. Tuesday night she attended a fundraiser in Jackson.
“I have the energy to do this. This is what I love to do,” she said.
She said the district desperately requires changes, and she urges people to spread her message to their neighbors.
“We have to have an environment that’s conducive to job creation. In order to do that, we have to focus on infrastructure development,” she said. “We walk, we talk to folks. We’re not talking about just a campaign; we’re talking about lifestyle changes.”
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Two years ago, when McTeer was president of the National Conference of Black Mayors, she appeared as part of a panel of mayors on CNN to discuss the stimulus plan advanced by President Barack Obama. She was the only woman and the only small-town mayor on the segment.
When asked what she would do if stimulus funds became available, McTeer offered specific plans for Greenville, she said.
“We had ‘shovel-ready’ projects before ‘shovel-ready’ was even a term,” she said.
When McTeer came in as mayor in 2004, Greenville was $4 million in debt and had pressing infrastructure needs.
“When I left office in December, I left a city that was in the ‘black.’ I took the reins of fiscal responsibility,” McTeer said.
She added a chief financial officer and created a finance committee that helped steer the city toward fiscal solvency.
More than 100 streets were overlaid, and the city instituted an asphalt recycling program that provided for the overlaying of 30 percent more streets. The city was featured in Road and Bridges magazine for its efforts, she said.
McTeer said she also played a critical role in keeping Mars Foods, the maker of Uncle Ben’s rice products, in the city when the company was considering expanding its operations. Greenville competed against several larger cities, so it “wasn’t an open-and-shut case,” she said.
As part of the deal, Mars donated a “Kid’s Kitchen” to the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County, McTeer said.
She’s quick to point out that saving Mars Foods wasn’t a one-woman show.
“It was working across lines, be they political, be they social, be they racial, whatever they may be to benefit the people in the community,” McTeer said.
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A native of Greenville and a graduate of T.L. Weston High School, McTeer is the daughter of retired civil rights attorney Charles Victor McTeer and veteran educator Mercidees McTeer.
“My parents really encouraged us to be part of the community. Being in the community was more than just living somewhere,” she said.
She graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, where she majored in sociology and English. She is a 2001 graduate of Tulane Law School and, prior to becoming mayor, worked in her father’s law practice.
A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., McTeer has also been a longtime member of Agape Storge Christian Center of Greenville. She also serves as the chair of the local Environmental Protection Agency’s advisory committee, so she’s up to speed on such issues as biofuels.
She has already picked the three House committees she’d like to serve on — Agriculture, Transportation and Education. The fact that the Delta doesn’t have a representative on the ag committee is a major problem, she said.
“In the Mississippi Delta, it’s what we do. To not be represented on that committee certainly should be disappointing to the people of this district,” McTeer said.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
