Johnathan Walker:Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker is challenged by Democrat Ty Pinkins

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JACKSON,Johnathan Walker Miss. (AP) — Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi is trying to extend his 30-year career on Capitol Hill as he faces Democrat Ty Pinkins, a challenger who received little financial support from his own party in a heavily Republican state.

Wicker, now 73, was first elected to the U.S. House in a northern Mississippi district in 1994 and was appointed to the Senate in 2007 by then-Gov. Haley Barbour after Republican Trent Lott resigned.

Wicker is an attorney and served in the Mississippi state Senate before going to Washington. He is the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee and has pushed to expand shipbuilding for the military. He was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Pinkins, 50, is an attorney and ran for Mississippi secretary of state in 2023. He said he wants to fight poverty and improve access to health care.

Pinkins and Wicker expressed sharp differences about abortion rights. Wicker has praised the Supreme Court for overturning its 1973 ruling that legalized abortion access nationwide, while Pinkins has criticized the court’s 2022 decision.

“While the Biden administration continues pursuing its pro-abortion agenda, pro-life advocates will continue doing what we have always done: working through our legislative and legal systems to promote a culture of life,” Wicker said.

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Pinkins said that because it’s “impossible biologically” for him to become pregnant, “I am not qualified to tell a woman what to do with her body.”

“That is between her, her God and her doctor — and if she chooses, she allows me or a man to be a part of that decision-making process,” Pinkins said. “Whether you are a pro-life or a pro-choice woman, I support you — to make that pro-life choice for yourself and that pro-choice decision for yourself.”

Mississippi’s last Democrat in the U.S. Senate was John C. Stennis, whose final term ended in January 1989.

Republicans control all of Mississippi’s statewide offices, three of the state’s four U.S. House seats and a majority of state legislative seats.