Democrat Ty Pinkins is outspent as he tries to unseat Republican Sen. Roger Wicker in Mississippi

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS The Associated Press

FILE - Democrat Ty Pinkins speaks about his campaign for the Mississippi Democratic nomination for United States Senate during a news conference at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Jan. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Rogelio V. Solis]

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Democrat Ty Pinkins has jogged along highways and past cotton fields to try to draw attention to his effort to unseat Mississippi’s senior Republican U.S. senator, Roger Wicker.

Pinkins acknowledges it’s a tough campaign. Republican-dominated Mississippi hasn’t had a Democrat in the Senate since John C. Stennis retired in 1989. Pinkins is receiving little financial help from national Democratic organizations, and the state’s most powerful Democrat, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, is sitting on the sidelines in the Senate race.

Pinkins, 50, ran unsuccessfully for Mississippi secretary of state last year. He says his background helps him understand the economic challenges many people face in one of the poorest states in the nation. He grew up in the Delta community of Rolling Fork and became the first in his family to graduate from high school and college. He is a military veteran, attorney and community organizer.

“For every Mississippian that feels left out, left behind and forgotten, I’m running for you,” Pinkins, who estimates he has jogged about 900 miles (1,448 kilometers) to draw attention to his Senate race, said in a campaign video. “For those who care about women’s reproductive freedom, I am running for you. For those who are fighting for a more equitable economy for all Mississippians, I am running for you.”

Wicker has raised about $9.5 million and spent $7.7 million, while Pinkins has raised about $919,000 and spent $901,000 through Oct. 16, according to their most recent campaign finance reports.

Wicker, 73, is also a military veteran and attorney. He served in the state Senate before winning a U.S. House seat in north Mississippi in 1994. When Republican Sen. Trent Lott resigned in 2007, then-Gov. Haley Barbour appointed Wicker to fill the seat.

Wicker is the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee and has pushed to expand shipbuilding for the military. He said if Republicans win control of the Senate and he becomes Armed Services chairman, he would advocate a buildup of military resources, as then-President Ronald Reagan did during the 1980s.

“We’re going to have peace because no tyrant around the world, whether it’s Russia or whatever, will have the nerve to take on a country that is so strong,” Wicker told hundreds of people Thursday at Hobnob Mississippi, a state chamber of commerce event in Jackson. “So, my main goal will be peace through strength.”

While Pinkins talks about supporting abortion rights, Wicker has praised the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established abortion rights nationwide.

During his own speech Thursday at Hobnob Mississippi, Pinkins talked about serving three tours of combat duty and abiding by a code of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor integrity and personal courage and courage. He said those traits are in short supply on Capitol Hill, particularly since the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“Personal courage is the biggest of those that are missing in Washington, D.C.,” Pinkins said.