OurTupelo

In mid-October 2019, Democrat Jim Hood held a 46% to 42% lead among likely voters over Republican Tate Reeves in the governor’s race, according to a poll conducted by the Hood campaign.

In most of the multiple internal polls conducted in 2019 by Hickman Analytics, Hood maintained a lead over Reeves. True, Hickman Analytics, a national pollster, was employed by the Hood campaign, but the intent of the poll, like most internal polls conducted by campaigns, was to provide an accurate reflection of the state of the election. None of the polls conducted by Hickman, except for one, were released to the public during the heated 2019 election.

Obviously, those polls did not reflect the outcome of the election. Reeves won 52% to 47%, or by about 45,000 votes out of the almost 875,000 votes cast.

But people who conduct polls like to say they are a snapshot in time. In October 2019, there might have been people who thought they were going to vote for Hood, but in the end did not. It is ingrained in the DNA of many Mississippians not to vote for the Democrat.

It is also reasonable to assume that in the final days of the 2019 election, there were people who had thought they were not going to vote for Tate Reeves, but in the end decided they would rather vote for a Republican they were not enamored with instead of the Democratic candidate.

If the governor’s 2023 race against Democratic challenger Brandon Presley is indeed as close as some people contend, the question is whether Mississippians are ready to vote for the Democrat instead of a Republican incumbent governor who, for whatever reason, many people have a reluctance to support. In the most recent Morning Consult rankings of the popularity of governors, only two governors were viewed more unfavorably by their constituents than Reeves was by Mississippians. Reeves was viewed as favorable by 46% and unfavorable by 44%.

In 2019, Reeves was greatly aided by a rally then-President Donald Trump held for him on the Friday before the election in Tupelo — in the heart of northeast Mississippi, which had been Hood’s base of support in past elections. Hood ended up losing that region, which he had won in four previous statewide elections for attorney general.

This year Trump will not be coming to Mississippi to stump for Reeves before the general election, but the former president did make a video endorsing him. The Reeves campaign, thrilled with the video, is running it on social media and as a television commercial.

It is of interest that in ruby red Mississippi — where a Democrat has not won the Governor’s Mansion since 1999 and where the Democratic presidential candidate has won the state only once since 1956 — that Republican Tate Reeves is depending on Donald Trump to carry him to victory.

Perhaps that says more about Reeves’ appeal to Mississippi voters than any poll.

Will the Trump endorsement have as much of an impact as many believed the Trump rally did in 2019?

In 2019, as Trump appeared in Tupelo, the U.S. House was in the process of impeaching the president. The Hood campaign believed anger over that impeachment galvanized Mississippians for the Republican Reeves in 2019. A matter of fact, Trump spoke more about the impeachment than he did about Reeves at that Tupelo rally.

This year Trump is under criminal indictment in four separate jurisdictions on charges related to trying to overthrow the 2020 presidential election he lost and for trying to hide the fact he left office with classified documents and refused to return them.

Will those criminal indictments impact the governor’s election in Mississippi positively or negatively or at all?

According to the 2019 poll, Trump was viewed favorably by 46% and unfavorably by 43%.

This time around, according to a Mississippi Today/Siena College poll conducted in August of this year, voters were more split over Trump. The poll found 49% had a favorable view of the former president while 48% had an unfavorable view.

Could the outcome of 2023 Mississippi governor’s election be predicated more on voter’s perception of Donald Trump than of Tate Reeves?

The post A close governor’s race is nothing new for Tate Reeves. Can he repeat his 2019 closing? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

PEARL — When Stephanie Harvey goes to her local polling precinct to vote on Nov. 7, the top issue that will determine which candidates she’ll vote for is Medicaid expansion to provide health coverage to the working poor. 

Harvey lives in Brandon, a suburb outside the capital city of Jackson, and works at a job that does not offer health insurance benefits. She could obtain insurance through the private market, but Harvey told Mississippi Today that she couldn’t afford that option. 

“There’s a lot of people who need that health insurance, and I’m one of them,” Harvey said. “I’m out here working, and I just don’t have the money to pay for it.” 

Incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who is running for reelection, is opposed to expansion because he believes Mississippi can’t afford to enact the program and has described the policy as “welfare expansion.” 

Brandon Presley, the Democratic nominee for governor, believes the state should expand Medicaid coverage because more than 200,000 Mississippians could get health insurance, and economists project it would generate billions of dollars in revenue for Mississippi. 

Harvey said she doesn’t consider expansion welfare because the people who would benefit from the program are “already working and trying to make a living.” 

She was one of several Rankin County voters who visited Harvey’s Fish Hut in Pearl on Friday afternoon and had the chance to visit with Democratic candidates running for office. And while Democratic leaders and candidates visited with customers, most of the patrons had no prior knowledge that the politicians would be there during the lunch rush. 

Jessie Griffith, a Pearl resident, also said the top issue for him this election is Medicaid expansion, primarily because studies show the state would experience economic growth if state leaders approve the program.

“Mississippi would probably be about $5 billion richer if we had signed up for that,” Griffith said. 

Joe Powell, a Pearl resident, said he’s become frustrated at the state Legislature and most of Mississippi’s statewide officials for not getting to the bottom of the state’s sprawling welfare scandal in which millions of dollars meant for the state’s poorest people instead went toward projects that prosecutors say were unlawful.

“I don’t receive TANF funds, but when I see people have taken money from the least of us, that should sicken all of us,” Powell said. 

The other main topic he is concerned about is developing the capital city, and he wants to elect candidates that promise better relationships between state leaders and local officials. 

“When people come to Mississippi to do business, they usually come to the capital city,” Powell said.

The weekend before the election, the two candidates for governor are traveling around the state to make last-minute campaign pitches to voters. 

Presley campaigned in Ridgeland and throughout the Delta region on Friday. On Saturday, he campaigned in north Mississippi and will end the night with a rally on the Gulf Coast. 

Reeves’ campaign has not issued press releases detailing where he plans to campaign during the last few days of the election cycle. However, the governor’s profile on X, formerly Twitter, shows he visited Oxford on Saturday morning, and he head to Starkville Saturday evening. The governor has visited places in Amory, Clark County, Waynesboro and Lucedale over the past several days. 

The post Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley hear from voters one last time the weekend before Nov. 7 election appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Nov. 4, 1750

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the “Father of Chicago,” was born. 

A man of African descent, he became the first known settler in the area that became the city of Chicago. He married a Potawatomi woman, Kitiwaha (Catherine), and they had two children. 

According to records, the property included a log cabin with two barns, a horse-drawn mill, a bakehouse, a poultry house, a dairy, a smokehouse, a fenced garden and an orchard. At his trading post, DuSable served Native Americans, British and French explorers and spoke a number of languages. 

“He was actually arrested by the British for being thought of as an American Patriot sympathizer,” Julius Jones, curator at the Chicago History Museum told WLS, but DuSable beat those charges. 

In Chicago today, a school, street, museum, harbor, park and bridge bear his name. The place where he settled near the mouth of the Chicago River is now a National Historic Landmark, part of the city’s Pioneer Court.

The post On this day in 1750 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Welcome to The Homestretch, a daily blog featuring the most comprehensive coverage of the 2023 Mississippi governor’s race. This page, curated by the Mississippi Today politics team, will feature the biggest storylines of the 2023 governor’s race at 7 a.m. every day between now and the Nov. 7 election.

As the Mississippi governor’s race enters its final few days, the two campaigns continue to spend at a record pace, and neither candidate is hurting for money to get their message out before the Nov. 7 election.

For the first time in many Mississippi election cycles, a Democratic candidate is going toe-to-toe with the incumbent Republican on campaign spending. Both incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley have spent well north of $10 million to date. In reports out this week, Presley had outraised incumbent Reeves for 2023 by about $5 million, putting his total haul at nearly $12 million. This is noteworthy in part because Reeves is a consummate fundraiser and started the 2023 cycle with a much larger war chest.

Presley’s take is thanks largely to the national Democratic Governor’s Association, seeing an opportunity to flip a governor’s seat, pumping in nearly $7 million to his campaign.

In contrast, the Republican Governor’s Association has donated only $1 million to the incumbent governor’s campaign, compared to the $1.9 million it gave Reeves’ campaign four years ago.

READ MORE: A visual breakdown of massive 2023 fundraising hauls for Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley

Austin Barbour, a Mississippi-based national Republican strategist, said the RGA and Beltway GOP haven’t given large donations to Reeves primarily because he doesn’t need it.

“The RGA hasn’t had to financially prop up or support Tate Reeves like the DGA has done with Brandon Presley because Tate had already raised $6 million to $7 million on his own,” Barbour said. “Such is the life of a Democrat in Mississippi these days, they have to have all that outside support propping them up because they don’t have the support here.”

Barbour said that even with the recent fundraising lead, “the advantage still has to go to Tate Reeves on Tuesday,” as a Republican incumbent in a deep red state.

But DGA Deputy Communications Director Izzi Levy said, “While Tate Reeves and his allies have been asleep at the wheel, Brandon Presley has been running a historically strong campaign — visiting all 82 counties, shattering fundraising records, and investing in a grassroots team that is reaching voters across the state. But don’t take it from us — polls now show a very competitive race and Mississippi Republicans are sounding the alarm about Brandon’s momentum.”

Reeves has tried to make political hay out of Presley’s support from the national Democratic Party and other out-of-state people and groups. Presley has done likewise to Reeves for raking in big donations from people and businesses making billions from state government contracts.

In the final days and particularly the final 72 hours, much of the campaigns’ focus — and spending — will be on getting out their voters. The get-out-the-vote efforts will include door knockers, paid and volunteer staffers, out in neighborhoods urging folks to go vote.

In statewide election cycles since 2003, the state GOP has had the upper hand in GOTV efforts — better funding, more organization, better voter data and more boots on the ground. But this cycle, Democratic leaders report they are more prepared and organized, and Presley has ample cash-on-hand for such efforts.

Headlines From The Trail

A visual breakdown of massive 2023 fundraising hauls for Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley

Despite Gov. Reeves’ debate claims, experts say it’s hard to argue that states are ‘better off’ without Medicaid expansion

Greta Kemp Martin makes reproductive health a focus against Attorney General Lynn Fitch

How the outcome of the 2023 governor’s race might not be known for days after Election Day

Recriminations fly as Reeves, Presley accuse each other of lies in fiery Mississippi gubernatorial debate

Brandon Presley’s Chances of Beating Tate Reeves, According to Bookmakers

What We’re Watching

1) Absentee voting. Today is the deadline for in-person absentee voting, with local circuit clerk’s offices open from 8 a.m. to noon for in-person absentees. As of Friday morning, the number of requested absentee ballots was 50,545, only 86.9% of the number requested for the 2019 statewide election. Low absentee voting typically portends a low in-person turnout for an election. Only 24 of Mississippi’s 82 counties as of Friday morning had reached or surpassed the 2019 level of absentee ballots requested, with some large counties, such as Hancock, Jackson, Jones and Rankin well below.

2) 48-hour reports. In the lead-up to Tuesday, candidates now have to file reports of donations or spending over $200 with the secretary of state’s office within 48 hours. In close races, eleventh-hour donations can help fund GOTV efforts.

3) Black voter turnout. Black voters are the base of the Mississippi Democratic Party, and their turnout on Tuesday would be crucial to a Presley victory. His campaign has made a concerted effort in the homestretch to reach out to Black voters, and there are reports that he has set aside a large amount of campaign money for outreach efforts in the final days of his campaign.

The post National Dems outspend national GOP 7-to-1 on Mississippi governor’s race appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Close appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The 2023 governor’s race between Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley has seen significant fundraising and spending from both candidates.

Reeves, one of the state’s premier political fundraisers who has served in statewide office since 2004, came into the race with deep pockets. Presley, a public service commissioner since 2007, has been bolstered this year by significant support from the Democratic Governors Association.

The 2023 race marks the first time a Democratic challenger has matched a Republican incumbent in recent memory, with more money likely to pour into both campaigns during the final days.

To see a list of the individual donations received by each candidate over time, click here for Brandon Presley and here for Tate Reeves.

Here’s how the candidates’ fundraising and spending compare.

How much have the candidates raised?

While Presley has out-fundraised Reeves since January of 2022, Reeves came into the race with more cash from previous campaigns — nearly $3 million to Presley's half a million.

It's difficult to know the exact number of donations each candidate has received since they are not required to individually list donations from individuals who give less than $200 in a year. But between the itemized donations listed, Presley has collected over 7,500 in the last two years — over double the 3,000 Reeves has.

What has fundraising looked like over time?

Reeves' fundraising for this campaign has climbed relatively steadily over the last two years, while Presley's did not take off until he declared his candidacy this January. His fundraising particularly increased in the late summer, surpassing Reeves by early October.

How many donations came from out-of-state?

Looking at the number of donations received by each candidate and their state of origin, both candidates appear to be primarily funded by Mississippians, with Reeves topping Presley in this category.

In shifting this lens to the dollar value of those donations, both candidates see a smaller portion of their campaigns funded by Mississippi money, with Presley seeing a starker decline. That shift is largely attributed to the significant support both candidates have seen from their respective national governors associations, with Presley getting $5.85 million and Reeves $1 million as of Oct. 29.

Who are their top individual donors?

Who are their top organizational donors?

Editor's note: Several donors to both Gov. Tate Reeves and Brandon Presley are also donors of Mississippi Today. Donors do not influence Mississippi Today’s editorial decisions, and a list of our donors can be found here.

The post A visual breakdown of massive 2023 fundraising hauls for Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves, the state’s most powerful opponent of Medicaid expansion, repeated a familiar claim at Wednesday night’s gubernatorial debate: that the program wouldn’t save the state’s failing hospitals.

But health care experts say that was always clear, that the governor’s argument is missing an understanding of the challenges facing the state’s health care system and that expansion, by potentially insuring about a quarter million Mississippians, would allow hospitals to get paid something for the care they provide to uninsured patients versus getting paid nothing.

The first and only debate between Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley ahead of the Nov. 7 election opened Wednesday night with questions about Medicaid expansion, which has remained a title issue of the campaign cycle.

Mississippi is one of just 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. Though most Mississippians support the policy, the governor has remained steadfast in his opposition.

READ MORE: FAQ: What is Medicaid expansion, really?

“Medicaid is not the best policy for rural hospitals, but you don’t have to look very far to prove that,” Reeves said at the debate, before citing data from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform’s rural hospital report about Louisiana and Arkansas, two Southern states that have expanded Medicaid.

The center’s most recent version of the report, which was updated last month, shows that Louisiana and Arkansas still have high rates of rural hospitals at risk of closure — 42% and 43%, respectively.

According to the report, 42% of Mississippi’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure.

“Guess what? The difference is… Louisiana and Arkansas have expanded Medicaid,” Reeves continued. “Mississippi has not. (Medicaid expansion) is not the financial windfall that Brandon Presley would have you believe.”

READ MORE: Brandon Presley again vows to expand Medicaid as Gov. Tate Reeves reiterates opposition

The heart of Reeves’ argument misses some major points, experts said.

“To say that other states that expanded have had the same problems is a very true statement,” said Ryan Kelly, executive director of the Mississippi Rural Health Association. “But would they be worse off without (Medicaid expansion) in the current environment? Yes, I think they would be.”

According to the center’s report, the average percentage of rural hospitals at risk of closure in non-expansion states is over 37%, while the percentage in expansion states is much lower at 26%.

“What [Reeves is] saying is true,” said Harold Miller, leader of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. “Those are the numbers.”

However, expansion is about more than just “saving” hospitals, Miller said — it’s about insuring vulnerable people, allowing them to receive regular health care.

While emergency rooms cannot turn down patients regardless of their insurance status, doctor’s offices can, preventing people from receiving preventative and other non-urgent forms of health care.

Somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 Mississippians would be affected by Medicaid expansion, according to projections. The policy would potentially bring in billions within its first few years of implementation in Mississippi, an influx of cash that the state needs. Just minutes later during the same debate, Reeves touched on Mississippi’s economy, and the “competitive disadvantage” the state’s up against when it comes to economic development.

Miller said hospitals in states that have expanded Medicaid do have greater losses on Medicaid services — Medicaid typically reimburses hospitals at lower rates than commercial insurance for health care services.

Reeves used that argument during the debate.

“The unintended consequence of expanding Medicaid to 300,000 Mississippians is moving individuals off of private insurance,” he said. “That’s bad for rural hospitals as well, because the fact is that when you move them from private insurance, the reimbursement rates… are actually lower when they go on Medicaid.”

But that’s better than not getting paid at all, according to Kelly.

Hospitals report losing about $600 million on uncompensated care annually, or services provided to people who aren’t insured. That number would reduce drastically if Medicaid was expanded.

Experts agree that the hospital crisis, while heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, has been caused by a multitude of factors. In the same vein, it won’t be solved by one policy.

Kelly cited all of the other challenges hospitals are up against, including timely insurance reimbursements and rising health care costs, but he conceded that expansion would aid hospitals’ uncompensated care losses, an issue that’s fueling the crisis.

“You’re going to have a real hard time finding someone who would say hospitals would be better off without Medicaid expansion,” Kelly said.

READ MORE: ‘It is a moral obligation’: Faith leaders, advocates, doctors cite Christianity as reason to expand Medicaid

The post Despite Gov. Reeves’ debate claims, experts say it’s hard to argue that states are ‘better off’ without Medicaid expansion appeared first on Mississippi Today.

When the U.S. Supreme Court determined last year that Americans no longer had a constitutional right to obtain an abortion, Greta Kemp Martin felt like she had been sucker punched in the stomach.

She said she felt so angered by the decision that she couldn’t let Lynn Fitch, Mississippi’s Republican attorney general responsible for asking the nation’s highest court to overturn Roe v. Wade, run unopposed during the 2023 election cycle.

“At that point, I knew Lynn Fitch had to be taken down,” Martin said at a Lee County event in September.

Martin, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, has made her support of women’s access to reproductive care one of the core components in her campaign against Fitch, the first woman attorney general and first Republican to hold the office since Reconstruction. 

Fitch accomplished what anti-abortion advocates had worked to achieve for decades when the nation’s highest court ruled in favor of the Magnolia State in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

Since that ruling, the incumbent attorney general said the state’s next goals for supporting mothers should focus on providing affordable childcare, having flexible workplace accommodations and strengthening child support payment laws.

“We’re empowering you, each of you as stakeholders to be involved with us together because we’ve got some challenges,” Fitch said at the Neshoba County Fair this summer. “And as we work together, we can beat those challenges.”

Martin, the litigation director for Disability Rights Mississippi and a Tishomingo County native, believes those policy goals are insufficient.

The Democratic candidate, like many others around the country since the Dobbs ruling, has made access to reproductive health one of the core components of her campaign.

Martin told Mississippi Today that she’s not trying to change voters’ minds about abortion. Rather, she’s framed the issue on the campaign trail about the government’s role in private health care decisions.

“What I’ve tried to get people to see is step away from the abortion side of Dobbs and look at what kind of precedent this sets in our health care freedom and decision-making,” Martin said. 

Mississippi is a deeply religious and conservative state, but voters in 2011 overwhelmingly rejected a “personhood” ballot initiative that would have established in the state constitution that life begins at conception. Since the Dobbs ruling last year, voters in many states, including some Republican-controlled ones, have followed suit and rejected efforts to restrict abortion access.

PODCAST: Greta Kemp Martin, candidate for Attorney General

But in addition to health care access, Martin has also made reforming operations of the state’s top legal agency a focus of her platform. Other policies she’s advocated for on the campaign trail include establishing a conviction integrity unit at the AG’s office to ensure criminal convictions are adequately prosecuted, using her position to protect LGBTQ and differently-abled citizens and creating a fair labor division at the agency.

Martin has also sharply criticized the incumbent’s handling of the state’s sprawling welfare scandal and told reporters that if she were elected attorney general, she would work to seek a criminal indictment of former NFL star Brett Favre and former Gov. Phil Bryant in connection to the scandal.

Prosecutors are usually tight-lipped about criminal investigations and prefer speaking through court documents they file, making Martin’s decision to openly campaign on prosecuting specific people unusual.

“I see nothing wrong with telling people that you intend to investigate these individuals, and if the evidence is provided, prosecute them,” Martin said. “You’re not giving away trade secrets here, but what you are doing is telling Mississippians that you’re there to protect them.”

Both Favre and Bryant have maintained they committed no criminal wrongdoing, and federal and state prosecutors have charged neither with a crime.

And Fitch told reporters over the summer that her office has worked with other state agencies in the ongoing civil lawsuit to recover misspent welfare funds.

Substance aside, Martin faces a tough path to victory because her opponent has spent more than twice as much as she has during the campaign cycle and has a vast amount of cash remaining to spend.

Martin reports raising over $179,000 and spending over $176,000, leaving her with around $2,400 in cash on hand. Fitch, on the other hand, has raised over $1.1 million and spent over $421,000. Combined with previous fundraising, the incumbent has around $1.7 million in cash on hand.

But the very fact that Martin has not received an influx of cash from national organizations has irritated some Democratic consultants in the state.

A Democratic operative in the state who asked to speak anonymously told Mississippi Today they believed the lack of national funding was unfair to Martin because she is “a naturally gifted politician” for someone who has never run for public office before.

“I don’t know how in the world national Democrats can look at the success that abortion access has had in other states and think we can look over a candidate like Greta,” the operative said. “That’s political malpractice.”

Still, the Tishomingo County native believes her grassroots campaign, combined with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley’s competitive challenge against Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, could work in her favor.

Whatever happens in the general election, Martin told Mississippi Today that she is not leaving Mississippi politics behind, something the state’s top Democratic leaders are happy about.

“It is on everyone’s mind in the Mississippi Democratic Party that regardless of what happens on Nov. 7, we can’t lose her,” the operative said.

READ MORE: Few hopes for freedom left for woman serving life in shaken baby syndrome death

The post Greta Kemp Martin makes reproductive health a focus against Attorney General Lynn Fitch appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Welcome to The Homestretch, a daily blog featuring the most comprehensive coverage of the 2023 Mississippi governor’s race. This page, curated by the Mississippi Today politics team, will feature the biggest storylines of the 2023 governor’s race at 7 a.m. every day between now and the Nov. 7 election.

If Tuesday’s governor’s race between Republican incumbent Tate Reeves and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley is as close as some predict, a winner might not be known on Nov. 7 Election Day.

It’s possible we might not even be known that night whether Reeves and Presley will advance to a Nov. 28 runoff.

In Mississippi, under a recent change to the state constitution, candidates for statewide offices must obtain a majority vote in the general election to avoid a runoff. A runoff could occur this year because independent Gwendolyn Gray also will be on the ballot for governor. Gray announced in October she was dropping out of the race and endorsing Presley, but her decision came too late to be removed from the ballot.

READ MORE: Could the 2023 governor’s race be decided by a runoff? For the first time in state history, it’s possible.

Several polls in the past couple weeks have shown Reeves under the 50% threshold, and Republicans are scrambling to turn out GOP voters. In theory, if Reeves garnered just under or just over 50% of votes cast on Election Day, early and affidavit votes could delay a final call.

Mississippi’s local election officials typically can count most votes on election night. But a small percentage of votes are not able to be counted right away. Under state law, mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 7 will be counted as long as they arrive in the local circuit clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on Nov. 15 — eight days after Election Day.

That is also the deadline for people who voted by affidavit without a government-issued photo identification to return with proof of who they are if they want their vote to count.

During the same time period, voters who cast absentee ballots that were rejected because of questions about their signature also will have an opportunity to challenge that rejection.

Then by Nov. 17, each county is supposed to submit its certified returns to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office.

And if no candidate has captured a majority based on the tabulations from the local election officials, there will be a runoff 11 days later than that Nov. 17 certification date. That would, of course, be the first general election runoff in state history.

READ MORE: The racist origins of runoff elections, which Mississippi may see in November governor’s race

Headlines From The Trail

‘It is so different this year’: John Grisham gives Brandon Presley supporters even more hope for an upset

Recriminations fly as Reeves, Presley accuse each other of lies in fiery Mississippi gubernatorial debate

How Mississippi’s troubled prison system has fared under Tate Reeves and Burl Cain

Opinion: How a Mississippi vote next week could foretell Democrats’ 2024 fate

What We’re Watching

1) There’s one last weekend for the candidates to greet voters face-to-face. Where will Reeves and Presley spend the final five days of the campaign? On Thursday, Reeves spent time on the Gulf Coast — traditionally his base, as Mississippi Today’s Taylor Vance wrote when the governor officially kicked off his 2023 campaign. Presley on Thursday campaigned in Vicksburg, Brookhaven and Hattiesburg.

2) Outgoing Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, who has clashed with Reeves constantly over the past 12 years and has stayed fairly quiet this cycle, threw support the governor’s way on conservative radio host Paul Gallo show on Thursday morning with an eyebrow-raising quote: “We’re not electing a homecoming queen here. This is not who is the prettiest or who do we like the best? This is a serious position that is going to serve for the next four years as the governor of this state.”

3) Will the Republican Governors Association pump money into the state in the waning days of the campaign? Reeves has been outraised by at least $5 million, thanks to Presley’s receipt of millions from the Democratic Governors Association. Similarly, will the DGA spend more? Candidates must report donations they receive within 48 hours of receipt between now and Election Day.

The post How the outcome of the 2023 governor’s race might not be known for days after Election Day appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Democrat Larry Bradford alleges Republican incumbent Auditor Shad White has not been transparent in his investigation of Mississippi’s massive welfare scandal.

Bradford, who is challenging White in the Nov. 7 general election, also says White has a conflict of interest in the case because the welfare scandal occurred during the administration of former Gov. Phil Bryant, whom White is linked to professionally. White served as Bryant’s campaign manager in 2015, and Bryant appointed White to the vacant auditor’s post in 2018.

As the election approaches, state and federal investigations continue into the misspending of federal welfare funds. Various Democratic candidates for statewide office are trying to make the welfare scandal and broader corruption a campaign issue, given that the scandal occurred under the watch of Republican officials and their allies. The welfare funds were intended for the state’s poorest citizens, but instead were spend on such items as volleyball courts, drug company investments, fitness programs and other questionable activities.

White’s campaign says Bradford’s allegations about the welfare scandal are unfounded.

“Auditor White’s team uncovered the largest public fraud in state history and put a stop to it,” said Quinton Dickerson of the White campaign. “Maybe Mr. Bradford hasn’t read the news, but Auditor White turned everything over to the FBI years ago, and they have since taken the lead in investigating and prosecuting any new individuals in the scheme. Mr. Bradford might want to pick up a newspaper and get up to speed.”

At a recent news conference, Bradford said, “From the time he served as former Gov. Phil Bryant’s campaign manager to when he was appointed state auditor, White has been a lackey for Bryant’s cronies and a shill for the rich and powerful … White is setting a personal tone for corruption and cronyism. He must be removed from office.”

Dickerson pointed out White’s office released a nearly 200-page report detailing the misspending of the $77 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Family funds. Thus far, multiple people close to Bryant, including John Davis, the former governor’s appointed director of the Department of Human Services, have pleaded guilty to charges related to the welfare scandal.

In 2020, then-U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst of the Southern District of Mississippi said he was not notified by the state auditor’s office as would normally occur when federal money, such as the TANF funds, were misspent. White said he opted to work on the investigation with Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, a Democrat, to move as quickly as possible on the case to prevent the additional misspending of the funds. But now federal officials are investigating the case.

Bradford also challenged White to three debates this cycle to allow the incumbent “to defend his inaction and misinformation.” White ignored the requests for debates.

Dickerson countered Bradford has missed the last two campaign finance report filing deadlines, “violating state law and hiding how he’s spending his money. When he starts acting like a serious candidate, Auditor White will start treating him like a serious candidate.”

Bradford, a Panola County native, is the former mayor of Anguilla. He is running his first statewide campaign.

While White is running for his second full term as auditor, he is facing his first opposition. He was unopposed in 2019, his first campaign for the office of auditor after being appointed to the post in 2018 to fill the vacancy created when then-Auditor Stacey Pickering stepped down before his term was completed.

White recently touted that $70 million in misspent funds have been recovered during his tenure, “more than any five-year period in history.”

White is often active on social media, offering opinions on various topics. He recently received attention for his social media posts claiming it was a waste of taxpayer money for public universities to offer degrees in certain areas of study.

“Honestly, I have no idea why Mississippi taxpayers should pay money to educate an urban studies or women’s studies major. These programs are basically indoctrination factories. How about nursing, managerial economics, mech engineering instead?” he posted on social media.

White also has been critical of diversity programs at state universities.

Bradford said such issues are not related to the responsibilities of the auditor’s office. He said the auditor should be offering solutions of how to improve the state’s economy and stop population loss.

Bradford said White is focusing on those issues to try to distract from his shortcomings in the welfare investigation.

READ MORE: Mississippi Today’s complete voter guide for the Nov. 7 general election

The post Election preview: Auditor Shad White faces challenge from Larry Bradford on Nov. 7 appeared first on Mississippi Today.