Democratic Leaders React to Inauguration.

Democratic leaders gathered to celebrate the new President and kickoff a new administration. MPB's Stephen Koranda has some reaction.

More than 50 democrats gathered at the Museum of Art in Jackson yesterday. Mississippi House speaker Billy McCoy of Renzi hopes the new administration can bring unity all the way to the Mississippi statehouse.

“On this day we want to look at the president, and how we can all work together, in every state in this nation,” says McCoy.

Oxford Senator Gray Tollison says the economy is his priority for a new administration.

“We’re in a very precarious situation, we need to do some things to help out,” says Tollison. “The economic stimulus package they’re working on in Washington, we need to get that passed soon. We need to work on some things in the Mississippi Legislature hopefully to help with the Mississippi economy as well, and I hope we’ll do that in the next couple of months.”

Mississippi could fare well under a stimulus package, says Mississippi House Majority Leader Tyrone Ellis of Starkville. He points to the influence of US Congressman Bennie Thompson, Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee.

“I think that you will see President Obama being more favorable towards Mississippi, as he might not be toward some other states of our size,” says Ellis.

Sherra Hilman Lane, a representative from Waynesboro, hopes the new administration could bring back some past projects, such as a Patients’ Bill of Rights.

“Better healthcare for people, that’s one of my big issues,” says Lane. “I’m hoping the leadership at the national level will trickle down and maybe help us to set a state program similar to a federal one, or in coordination with a federal one.”

While these local democrats have high hopes for the future, only time will tell if a new administration will help bridge some political divides and tackle some of the problems facing Mississippi and the nation.