Ty Pinkins

Jobs & the Economy
We need an American economy that works for everyone

Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Ty Pinkins grew up knowing the value of hard work. His family depended on farming to make a living. Throughout his teenage years, Ty chopped cotton to help his parents pay the bills.

Mississippi is an agricultural state, and Ty understands that family farms are the backbone of the Mississippi economy–and of the communities they are part of. Farming is strong in Mississippi because of family farmers, not because of big corporate monopolies that have been buying out family farms for decades, and taking the profits out of state.

Family farms don’t want a handout, they just want a fair chance to succeed, to make a profit, and leave something behind for their children and grandchildren.

As your next Senator, I will make sure that farm bills actually benefit small family farmers. Because for far too long, large corporate monopolies have been rewarded by federal policy, which at the same time hurt family farms that don’t have the financial resources to hire powerful lobbyists to argue for them in Washington. I am not a lobbyist–I am an advocate for Mississippi farmers and their workers. And I will fight for family farms to have a seat at the table.

Mississippi has some of the most fertile farmland in the country. Our rich soil can grow basically anything. That’s why I will fight to protect our environment, so that we can ensure that this land is just as productive to the next generation of Mississippi farmers.

Our family farmers should be rewarded for their hard work. That’s why I will oppose bad trade deals that put Mississippi farmers in a difficult economic situation. And I will fight for trade deals that put Mississippi farmers first.

Our family farmers built this state’s reputation as a strong agricultural state producing crops such as corn, cotton, soybean, rice and others. I know how important family farmers are, and that’s why I will always have their backs.

Like all Mississippians, I am tired of our state being last or next-to-last: in income levels, in health and lifespan, in education, in career opportunities. Two things that are strongly in our favor is that our state ranks high in affordability. And Mississippians are capable of, and quite willing to engage in, hard work.

We can–and will–build upon that. We need to encourage businesses and industries to invest in our state, because their investment will go much farther here than it would elsewhere–and they will find a population that will be eager to take on training to make that investment a success, if it gives them a real opportunity to better themselves, and provide their families a path to a better, more prosperous and more secure future.

As your next Senator from Mississippi, I will fight to bring well-paying jobs to our state, particularly those suffering economic hardships. I intend to do that by:

• Encouraging businesses to invest in our communities and bring jobs.
• Supporting Federal legislation that benefits Mississippians by lowering our unemployment rate by bringing meaningful, well-paying jobs to our state.
• Introducing and supporting legislation to boost education, particularly in front line skills and trades necessary to compete in a 21st Century, global economy. Part of this would involve creating opportunities for high school students (15 and 16 year olds, primarily) to gain practical work experience at a young age. One idea that we have is a Year 10 Apprenticeship Program (YTAP), in which we help local communities partner with businesses to employ youth in the summer following their 10th Grade year in an apprenticeship program where they gain skills, and more importantly receive feedback regarding their strengths and weaknesses.

Education
Access To A Quality Education Is A Basic Human Right ​ Ty is a product of the Mississippi public school system. His parents instilled in him the importance of earning a good education. After graduating from Rolling Fork High School, Ty enrolled at Tougaloo College, before joining the Army. While on active duty, he earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Maryland’s Global Campus–working to complete it while serving our country on four different continents. Years later, he attended law school using the GI Bill, graduating from the Georgetown University Law Center and earning his Juris Doctorate and Master of Law degree in National Security Law.

For too long education has been politicized⎯pushing a political agenda that diverts public schools from their core mission of educating children⎯when schools actually should be focused on the fundamentals to help students succeed.

As your next senator, Ty will commit to making needed investments in education, including literacy programs, career and technical education, and addressing the teacher shortage, so that all children have access to excellent public schools;

Instead of banning books and censoring curriculums, we should be focused on investing in our schools. We should work with parents and teachers to make the investments our kids need to thrive, like smaller class sizes, mental health resources, and career and technical education. Students need an honest and accurate education, so they are prepared to succeed in a diverse society. If we put politics aside, and focus on making sure all children have access to excellent public schools, we can build a better future for our country.

Ty believes every student should have access to a meaningful, high-quality education. And that starts with adequately and equitably funding public schools so all students have access to a quality education. It is our duty to provide a solid educational system for the good of our citizens and our state.

As your next Senator, Ty will work to . . .

• Expand literacy and reading programs for struggling students.
• Expand access to career and technical education and other vocational programs that prepare students for jobs.
• Help schools to address shortages of qualified teachers, guidance counselors, social workers, and nurses.
• Reduce class sizes, especially in the early grades, to allow more individualized instruction and attention.
• Strengthen mental health and counseling services for public school students and staff.
• Improve and modernize school buildings, including ventilation systems, to create a safe and healthy environment.
• Increase teacher salaries, to address the teacher shortage and reduce class sizes.
• Increase access to affordable pre-K and early childhood education programs.

Immigration
We Need Comprehensive Immigration Reform To Fix Our Broken Immigration System ​ “We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people -- our strength -- from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow. Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we're a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.” – President Ronald Reagan

As President Reagan understood and so eloquently said, since its inception the United States has always been a nation of immigrants. As a vital source of American strength, immigrants have helped to grow our economy, make our communities and our culture richer, and increase diversity. They are our neighbors, our co-workers, classmates, and our friends. They are just as much Americans as those of us born in the United States.

We need comprehensive immigration reform that fixes a broken immigration system, keeps our nation safe, and provides a reasonable path to citizenship, particularly those fleeing oppression in their countries of origin, whether that oppression be based on politics, religion, race, or sexuality.

While we do agree that those who seek to immigrate to the US should follow our laws and procedures, and we must make sure that in letting someone within our borders we have not admitted a wolf in sheep’s clothing, we do not believe that cruelty towards those who long for “the magical, intoxicating power of America” is in any way just or creditable to us as a country.

As President Reagan further said, “We may sometimes forget it, but others do not. Those who become American citizens love this country even more. It is bold men and women, yearning for freedom and opportunity, who leave their homelands and come to a new country to start their lives over. They believe in the American dream. They give more than they receive. They labor and succeed…their greatest contribution is more than economic, because they understand in a special way how glorious it is to be an American. They renew our pride and gratitude in the United States of America, the greatest, freest nation in the world.”

That’s why I will fight for immigration reform that preserves our security, grows our economy, and reflects our values

I will do so by supporting legislation that does three fundamental things:

• Decriminalizes migration and refocuses enforcement on serious criminal activity–people who want to work and become Americans should not be treated as criminals, but we should be able to deport more quickly anyone who comes here and abuses our laws and citizens.
• Provides rights and due process in our immigration courts such as establishing professional, independent Article I immigration courts; and eliminates expedited removal and ensures due process to all.
• Supports legal immigration and establishes a fair and achievable path to citizenship.

Health Care
Access To Affordable, Quality Healthcare Is A Human Right

Ty Pinkins believes healthcare is a fundamental human right for which we should always fight. That's why he will work to see that every Mississippian is adequately covered and no family goes broke from paying the expenses of filling a prescription, or urgent medical care.

When Ty was in high school, his father was an active sportsman, a star athlete on the community softball team. Later Ty's dad became the community team's coach and leader, mentored young men to do something constructive with their lives. When Ty left for the military, his dad was one of the healthiest people he knew; but when Ty returned home several years later, as a consequence of diabetes his dad was a double amputee and nearly blind. Because of this, his father had to quit working on the farm, lost the one vehicle the family depended on, and nearly lost the mobile home they had lived in for years.

Too many Mississippians face significant challenges in accessing affordable healthcare. That's why he supports the expansion of Medicaid in Mississippi, which would make an additional 220,000 Mississippians eligible for coverage for vital and life-saving healthcare.

Medicaid expansion benefits our rural communities across the state in three ways:

• Mississippi taxpayers already pay into, and have been paying into, Medicaid through their Federal taxes. This means that we have been paying for a benefit that the citizens of other states are taking advantage of, while we have been basically refusing to take back our own money to help fund our healthcare. We have, essentially, been double charged: we have paid for Medicaid, but are still having to pay out of our state taxes for Mississippians who would be eligible for expanded Medicaid assistance but currently aren’t getting it.
• Hospitals in rural communities have been closing, leaving Mississippians unsafe and at risk. This is because those hospitals depend on Medicaid to help pay for Mississippi residents who can’t afford the stratospherically high cost of health care. The refusal to expand Medicaid has crippled those vital medical facilities, and sent many of them into a downward spiral toward closure.
• Many Mississippians are now having to drive nearly a hundred miles one way for even the most basic medical care–let alone urgent emergency treatment. Medicaid expansion would save lives by ensuring that all Mississippi citizens have medical care close enough to be effective in a crisis.

In 2019, two-thirds of all US bankruptcies were caused by healthcare: either from high cost or time out of work. We spend over 14% of our GDP on healthcare, but we are not even in the top 50 countries worldwide when it comes to value for money. We are not getting the bang for our buck–that’s simply bad business!

Enviroment
Our Environment Is One Of Our Most Important Resources And We Must Protect It

​The Mississippi Delta has some of the most fertile farmland in the country. Just about anything can be grown in the Delta. That's why our environment is one of our most important economic resources.

Ty chopped cotton as a teenager and grew up on farms throughout the Delta. He takes seriously the importance farming plays in Mississippi. He will fight to protect our agricultural environment because so many Mississippians' jobs and way of life are on the line.

For a long time, science has shown us unequivocally that climate change is man-made, and we are rapidly running out of time to mitigate its causes. We see its devastating effects right here in Mississippi–record floods, devastating hurricanes, and tornadoes. These can be clearly tied to an increase in global temperatures. These recurring events cost lives and billions of dollars in damage. And while they hurt all Mississippians, they disproportionately impact our most vulnerable communities.

Politicians today are beholden to the fossil fuel industry–they are in the pay of corporations acting greedily and irresponsibly, in their own self interest. And as a consequence, they are reluctant to act on the environmental issues we are so starkly facing–while oil companies have been permitted to eat up billions of dollars in subsidies at the expense of our environment and hard-working families. As your next Senator, I will seek to stop handing out gigantic tax giveaways to big oil companies, and start investing in our children’s and grandchildren’s futures.

As your next Senator, Ty will focus on three things:

• Investing in sustainable, resilient infrastructure to meet the energy demands and preparing an energy structure that our kids and grandkids can depend on.
• Encouraging our farmers to adopt climate-friendly sustainable agriculture practices. Practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon and nutrients in plants.
• Supporting economic policies that encourage other countries to get on board and reduce emissions.

Voting Rights

Every Eligible American Must Have The Opportunity To Use Their Voice At The Ballot Box ​ Since the 2020 election, voter suppression has increased in many states around the country.

The voter suppression playbook includes tactics such as partisan gerrymandering, long lines in minority communities, voting and voter registration practices that disproportionately affect minorities, excessive voter purges, and lack of early voting in places like Mississippi. Some have done their best to make it more difficult for Americans–Mississippians included–to vote by ranting about “voter fraud” (despite offering absolutely no proof that such is actually occurring regularly), and instituting measures that discriminate against poor and minority voters.

Ty believes that, as voting is one of our most fundamental rights and the best way that the average American can make his or her voice heard, we must make voting as easy and as efficient as possible for all eligible citizens. No one should be denied a vote simply because lack of resources, lack of time, age, belonging to “the wrong party,” or skin color prevents them from carrying out this sacred duty as a citizen.

Not only that, we need to respect the everyday Americans, dedicated community members of all parties and no party, who freely volunteer their time, effort and spirit of public service to make sure that we have free and fair elections, and true and accurate vote counts. They are the bedrock of our democratic system, and shrieking hysterically and baselessly about “election fraud” undermines the valuable service that these people perform for our country, state and local communities. They must be treated with respect, and their work supported and protected.

In the spirit of great leaders like Congressman John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, and so many others, many of whom have risked their lives and even shed their own blood to guarantee the universal right to vote, Ty understands that voting is our voice–among the absolute most important rights we have in our democracy. All Mississippians must have the opportunity to use their voice at the ballot box.

That’s why Ty believes the best way to honor the legacy of those who fought so hard for voting rights in the past is to restore the Voting Rights Act that was gutted by the Supreme Court. Like so many states have recognized, we must institute early voting in Mississippi, and we must make sure that people who, for legitimate reasons cannot make it to the polling place, can still have their vote counted. We must have fair, open and safe elections in which every eligible citizen can participate.

Ty will propose legislation that would, in years in which general elections are held, make election day a national holiday. We would celebrate Veterans Day on that day, as the right to have a free vote and fair representation was one of the foremost rights our brave ancestors gave their lives for. Nothing could be more appropriate than celebrating our veterans on the day that we go to the polls to commemorate their sacrifice by casting our votes.

That’s why, if elected Ty will focus on three things:

• Prioritize federal voting rights protections;
• Support legislation to combat voter suppression efforts such as the Preventing Election Subversion Act introduced by Senator Raphael Warnock;
• Help get the Freedom To Vote Act passed; and
• Make election day a national holiday

Housing

Quality, Affordable Should Be Available To Everyone ​ Ty's family moved from plantation to plantation, landing wherever his dad found work as a tractor driver. One of the houses he grew up in was just a shack on a dirt road next to a cotton field. When they first moved in, there was no indoor bathroom. Eventually, the plantation owner knocked a hole in the wall and pulled a portable bathroom up to cover the opening.

Housing is the largest expense for most families and for homeowners, the biggest purchase they will make in their lifetimes. Where a person lives affects the jobs available to them, the schools their children can attend, and the kinds of communities in which they can live. That’s why we have to get housing policy right at the state and federal level. My first priority is to see that all Mississippians have the opportunity to live in affordable housing that provides safety and essential comforts to them and their families, as well as access to good jobs and safe, prosperous communities.

Today, the U.S. has a shortage of 7 million rental homes affordable for and available to extremely low-income renters, whose household incomes are at or below the poverty guideline.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, here in Mississippi, for every 100 extremely low-income renter households, there are only 58 affordable and available rental homes. This is leaving many of our fellow citizens living in substandard housing–or in danger of being out on the street.

For too many Mississippians, housing is either unavailable or unaffordable. From the Gulf Coast to the Mississippi Delta and beyond, Mississippians should be able to find quality housing and be able to pay their rent or mortgage.

Ty knows the current housing situation in Mississippi is unacceptable. In the U.S. Senate, he will fight to deliver quality, affordable housing for all Mississippians. That's why he will work to cut middle class taxes and fight for more funding for affordable housing for all Mississippians.

That’s why, as your next Senator, Ty will give priority to:

• Ensuring affordable housing that provides safety and essential comforts to Mississippians and their families is available to all our citizens.
• Changing FEMA rules to ensure homeowners on our Gulf Coast can repair and upgrade their homes to keep them in compliance with codes and resistant to storm damage.
• Supporting new construction, infill construction, and rehabilitation of older homes/buildings to provide an incentive for people to move to Mississippi–to come back to our state–to take advantage of our high affordability in areas outside of housing.

National Security
Protecting Our Nation From Enemies, Both Foreign And Domestic, Preserves American Values And Institutions ​ Our democracy is under assault. Unfortunately, the biggest threat, as Abraham Lincoln warned us it would be, is from within. From voter suppression, to white supremacy, to a constant barrage of misinformation and disinformation; there are dangerous players who continue to sow distrust among our citizenry and threaten many of the democratic institutions bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers.

We must remember that, since the 9/11 attacks, by far most Americans who have been killed and injured by terrorism have been victims of home-grown terrorists–usually those supporting white supremacist and far-right leaning ideologies.

We are still feeling the effects of the January 6th insurrection and other efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Politicians have turned gerrymandering into an art and use it to contort and distort the voting power of everyday Americans, and have sought to turn citizen against citizen in order to hang desperately onto power.

I served honorably in our armed forces on active duty for 21 years, including three tours in combat—earning the Bronze Star for my actions. When I joined the Army, I swore an oath to defend our sacred Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I put my life on the line to do that, and led other brave Americans from many different backgrounds who all joined together in likewise being willing to put their own lives at risk to preserve it. I understand that protecting our nation, from enemies both foreign and domestic, ensures the safety of Americans, and preserves our values and institutions. This is of the utmost importance.

That's why, after retiring from the Army, I enrolled at the Georgetown University Law Center where I earned my LL.M. (Master of Laws) in National Security Law. I will fight to safeguard America against challenges to our nation's power and sovereignty.

In order for our democracy to continue functioning effectively, the major political players in our democracy–in this case Republicans and Democrats–have to agree on some fundamental norms.

• That they accept the results of elections–which are the voice of the American people, as they have been since our founding.
• They reject the use of violence–especially in determining who is going to govern–and are as adamant in stamping out terrorism that originates within our country as in fighting that imported from abroad.
• That we should–always and forever–put country above party.

Criminal Justice Reform

We Need To Responsibly Fund The Police And Cultivate Positive And Effective Relationships With The Communities They Serve ​ Our criminal justice system is broken. We imprison people at a higher rate than any country in the world. The prison population is fueled by a system that criminalizes poverty, sacrifices the bodies of its most vulnerable citizens, and incarcerates people of color at disproportionate levels. While Ty believes serious crimes deserve serious punishments, he also believes in second chances, which is why as a community organizer, hr fought for Mississippians to have equal access to the protections of the justice system.

It is morally wrong and makes no economic sense to put up barriers to social re-entry of formerly incarcerated Americans. After serving their time and paying their debt to society, Americans can and should be expected to make contributions to their communities.

And that starts with ensuring that every deserving Mississippian has a second chance to be a positive contributor in our communities. We need to make sure that our prisons actually have the resources necessary to make them places of rehabilitation rather than retribution. It’s obvious that we can’t save everyone and that some people are unwilling or unable to be rehabilitated, but anyone who has committed a crime, but shows that they legitimately want to get educated, learn a trade, get their life back together and on a positive course, and become a contributing member of society upon release should be supported.

Ty believes we need to responsibly fund the police and also cultivate positive and effective relationships between police departments and the communities they serve. Ensuring accountability and building trust involves investing appropriate resources into the training of police officers and developing trust relationships with communities rather than stoking the flames of distrust.

As your senator, Ty will fight for criminal justice reform measures that make sense for Mississippi–ensuring that everyone is on an equal playing field such as:

• Responsibly funding police–for activities that are sensibly a part of policing communities, not making them into a paramilitary force.
• Cultivating healthy relationships between police and the communities they serve.
• Appointing independent prosecutors to handle police-involved shootings.
• Eliminating the incentives for private corporations to get involved in running prison facilities for profit, with an eye toward phasing them out altogether.^[3]