By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Having the privilege to meet with State Representative Bob Evans (D-91, Covington, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence, Simpson) in an anteroom at the Capitol, on April 25, 2025, it was made very clear he downplays his impact over the last eighteen years – softspoken, yet direct. Afterall, he is a Democrat, the only White Democrat, surrounded by a sea of White Republicans – who hold all the power with their majority, yet he suits up, shows up, and exercises his unshakeable sense of right and wrong. The last time he won reelection, which was his fourth time being reelected, he won with 66% of the vote against a Republican challenger. He is a true enigma in Mississippi politics.
Born in Mississippi and raised in a Christian home, his father was a Baptist minister who passed away when he was just ten years old. He practices his faith in a building where a vast number of his White colleagues go to church on Sunday and then come to work on Monday and do things indicating Sunday’s message means little if anything to them.
Evans is a graduate of Monticello High School, Mississippi State University with a degree in political science, and a graduate of Mississippi College School of Law. He has been lawyering for about thirty-eight years now. In the House he has served on many committees, but mostly on Apportionment & Elections, Conservation & Water Resources, Judiciary B, Medicaid, Ways and Means, and Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.
Our discussion began with this question – Somehow, as a Democrat, you have been elected and then reelected by wide margins four times. What do you attribute that too? “I am in a majority-minority district. According to whom you ask down my way, you get different responses on what race I am. Also, I am a lawyer and for twenty-five years I was a public defender down there for Lawrence and Jefferson Davis counties. I dealt with a lot of people. Some of my clients were Black and some were White, but I always represented them the best I could, and I developed, depending on who you ask, some notoriety.”
ML: In 2024 you authored two bills that honored African Americans – designating a Tuskegee Airman Day and commending Alfred Williams for being the first African American elected to the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. Both were passed and signed by the governor. Please forgive me. But it seems like a rarity to see a white legislator honoring African Americans. “I don’t look at it as honoring African Americans. I look at it as honoring people who deserve the type of honor they received. The skin color to me is as irrelevant as a seventy-five-year-old guy who was born and raised in Mississippi, can make it.”
ML: Are you aware that in 2023, Mississippi awarded $4.3 billion dollars in contracts for goods and services, with over 99% of funds ultimately going to White people in a state with a 45% minority population? “I was not aware of that…I had no idea it was that bad, that’s almost non-existent.” ML: How can the Republican majority in the legislature feel good about that? “I can’t explain to you how the majority of the Republicans in the legislature feel good about anything other than they offer up the prayer every morning before each day of the session and that apparently gives them absolution for what comes next.”
ML: When bills come up like 2022’s anti-Critical Race Theory and 2025’s prohibiting Diversity Equity and Inclusion statements and practices, you always vote against them. Do you take any flack from your Republican colleagues? “They have not directly, no, and I’ll tell you why. They are instructed from on high that certain things like that are bad and y’all need to vote it out. Many times, they don’t even know what it is, or they don’t care enough about what it is. They have been told what to do, so they don’t inquire, they just toe the line. The one overlying goal that controls everything else is reelection. I’m always flabbergasted when they do this sort of thing – one of our legislators didn’t put that bill together but put his name on it – but it came from ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).”
ML: A very distinguished Mississippian once said to me – In Mississippi, everything is about race. Will you explain how you grew up in the same state with others, yet you appear to be an anomaly, a unicorn of sorts at the Capitol because you’re a White man that clearly believes in fairness and equality for all? I have wondered about that – I have three brothers, one is politically close to me, the other two pure MAGA. They’re intelligent people, they are quote unquote good people in the overarching sense of the word, good but their MAGA has gone a long way toward causing a schism in our family, which I really hate; but to get back to your question, I’ve thought about that a lot over my life. My father was a southern Baptist minister. My father and mother never made it evident to me that there was a difference in people.” He went on to give numerous examples of things he saw growing up that involved race that bothered him.
ML: In your eighteen years in the legislature, what has been the most rewarding for you personally and professionally? “Well first, my wife and I raised four sons whose politics are just like mine. Also rewarding, my African American colleagues, especially the prominent ones, they know my politics and my personal philosophy and will often tell me they know I’m frustrated, being in the middle of something I don’t want it to be like this, and they thank me and offer their support and remind me I am appreciated. Then it’s also been the occasional person who actually has trouble going to church on Sunday and being told what Jesus would do and then turn around on Monday and see what’s really happened by a lot of people who in fact claim to have a personal relationship with Jesus.”
ML: Despite living in such a beautiful state with so many wonderful people, do you ever wonder what must happen before Mississippi can rise from the bottom? “Mississippi prides itself on being called the buckle of the Bible Belt. I don’t mean this politically, but one of the things that must happen is for the attitudes and philosophies, and what nots, to change so they reflect what a state that could legitimately call itself the buckle of the Bible Belt would be looking like. I was raised in a Christian household. I think of Matthew 25:35-45, (which he recited word for word). We are doing stuff up there in that chamber that goes contrary and again, the reason it bothers me as much as it does other than personal philosophy is we attempt at least, to send up a prayer, but then behave in total contradiction to His teachings.
Directly or indirectly, people like Representative Bob Evans make a difference, especially in Mississippi, where it is needed most. They know who they are deep down – it’s never negotiable.
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