FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, January 12, 2025

Contact: Rodericka Applewhaite; press@evanturnage.com

JACKSON, MS — After launching his congressional campaign last month, anti-trust lawyer Evan Turnage is out with a new video that will take his case directly to the families of Mississippi’s 2nd District who have seen economic opportunities bleed from the state all 33 years of Rep. Bennie Thompson’s leadership. 

“Done Playing Nice,” which was filmed and produced by Fight Agency — the same team behind Zohran Mamdani and Graham Platner’s viral campaign ads — lays out the argument Turnage has been taking directly to Mississippians across the district since December. For his entire life, MS-02 was and still remains the poorest district in the poorest state, hampered by the “same old playbook from the ’90s” pushed by an incumbent who would rather take millions from Big Pharma, insurance companies, and private prisons than take action to deliver real wins to the district. 

Drawing on his bona fides from his time in the Senate working for Sens. Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, the video highlights Turnage’s role in spearheading legislation to strengthen corporate oversight, affirm that presidents are not immune from the law through the No Kings Act, and expand voting rights protections with the For the People Act — legislation that Rep. Thompson was the only Democrat in the US House to vote against. 

WATCH “Done Playing Nice” below.

Full transcript:

EVAN TURNAGE: “We live in the poorest district in the poorest state in the country. That was true when I was one, when our congressman was first elected. It's true today. In fact, things have gotten even worse. My grandparents bought their house in 1964, where they provided for a family of nine without a college degree. 

I'm Evan Turnage, and I'm running for Congress because Washington politicians have made that life impossible today, and I'm done playing nice and waiting for them to fix it. Look, I was born and raised right here, of my classmates from Murrah High School, so many have gone away. There just weren't enough opportunities here. We can't keep sending in the same politicians in Washington who are getting richer every year while our communities fade away, the same old playbook from the ’90s has failed us, and it's time to try something different. 

This is a moment where we need actual plans for change. We need a representative who will stand up to cheating billionaires and their corruption, not take millions of dollars from insurance companies, from Big Pharma companies, and even from private prisons. When I worked in the Senate for Elizabeth Warren, we fought against giant corporations and stopped them from getting bigger and less accountable to you. 

I wrote for Democrats the No Kings Act to make clear once and for all that there is no immunity for a president because nobody's above the law. I helped shape the For the People Act, which would have been the most expansive set of protections for voting rights in the last generation, and then I came home to help build economic power here in the south, because poverty has only been trending in the wrong direction. 

If our Congressman's 33 years in office had helped build up this district, built wealth and health in this district, there'd be no need for change. But if life has gotten harder and less fair for you and your neighbors, like it has for so many Mississippians, then I ask for your support to bring new ideas and new leadership back to the halls of power.”

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