It took Tommy Duff precisely 20 seconds to invoke the outsider businessman who rose to power with no experience holding elected office. Duff would have mentioned President Donald Trump even sooner had he not paused a few seconds to wait for applause to hush. 

Trump, Duff exclaimed before a room full of Republican insiders at a hotel in Rankin County on Monday night, has surpassed his 200th day in office. He said the changes Trump has brought about are self-evident, and the impact of the administration’s agenda is as direct as the president at its helm. He said Trump is someone who says “this is what we’re doing, and then does it.”

“And I think the thing that appeals to me the most about President Trump and watching his policies is the fact that he’s an outsider,” Duff added. “He looks at things in a different perspective. He thinks that if we’ve operated this way for so long, why don’t we change? Because maybe what we’ve been doing has not been working.” 

In what Duff’s advisers characterized as the first political speech of his life, the billionaire tire baron on Monday outlined some of the challenges he believes Mississippi must tackle, and the “vision” he has for doing so. That vision was largely short on policy specifics.

In a sit-down interview with Mississippi Today in June, at an event with business leaders in July, and at a “Lincoln-Reagan-Trump” dinner on Monday, Duff has hinted at the broad outlines of what could become a gubernatorial campaign agenda. But Duff has largely done so without offering specific policy proposals, citing the nearly 27 months remaining until Election Day in 2027. 

Duff, 68, Mississippi’s richest man, again stopped short of formally announcing a run for governor in 2027, but he has said publicly he is considering entering the race. 

His speech on Monday was not a divergence from his recent public appearances, as his remarks did not shed light on where he stands on a wide range of ongoing public policy debates in Mississippi, including the intra-party Republican fights on school choice and Medicaid expansion.

But he expanded on his prior calls for Mississippi to get serious about fixing its brain drain problem. Mississippi has seen a large share of its college graduates flee to other states in search of, among other priorities, lucrative jobs. 

Keeping more Mississippi-educated college students and offering the job opportunities that may incentivize them to stay, along with improving the state’s labor force participation rate, will set the stage for what Duff sees as the state’s central challenge: overtaking other Southeastern states in the race for economic investment. That should involve increasing economic activity in Mississippi in areas of the state that are losing population, such as the Delta, Duff said. 

“We’re doing great in education. I am so proud of our educational advances and what we’re doing, and I give great tribute to the leaders of Mississippi for that,” Duff said. “We are doing great as a state as far as our economic activity, but there are pockets of our state that are just desperate for assistance, desperate. How can we continue to grow our state?” 

Education and economic development were the dominant themes in a speech that ran just under 30 minutes. 

Duff, who with his brother is reportedly worth a combined $7 billion, said he supported the Legislature’s “reduction” of the state income tax. In 2025, Mississippi’s Republican majority passed legislation that will gradually eliminate the tax over several years. 

But Duff also used the occasion to draw historical parallels that could prove helpful later. By the second minute of his remarks, he had mentioned not only Trump, but Kirk Fordice, who entered Mississippi’s 1992 gubernatorial race as a businessman and political outsider. Fordice rode that political image to the governor’s mansion, becoming the first Republican governor in Mississippi since Reconstruction.

For Fordice and other Republicans, Rankin County has been a key GOP stronghold. 

Duff spoke in Flowood at the Sheraton’s The Refuge, the same hotel where incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves celebrated his reelection in 2023. 

The event, which organizers said was sold out, charged $100 for individual tickets. Tables cost $1,000, with the priciest tier landing at $10,000 for access to a VIP sponsor reception and two VIP tables. State legislators mingled with local party officials and lobbyists inside a cavernous ballroom. Outside, a bar overlooked the hotel golf course. 

Duff’s political action committee promoted fundraising for the event, with proceeds going to the Rankin County Republican Executive Committee. 

Duff keynoted a speaking program that included at least one of his potential rivals for the governor’s mansion: Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson.

Gipson, 48, a former state lawmaker, lawyer, and Baptist minister, has already thrown his cowboy hat in the ring for the governor’s race. Gipson, who has served in state government for 17 years, delivered the invocation on Monday, informing the crowd that a higher power had made clear Mississippi’s biggest problem had nothing to do with public policy. 

“You saw our greatest problem was not education. Our greatest problem was not financing. Our greatest problem was not health care. Our problem was sin,” Gipson said.  

The speakers also included Secretary of State Michael Watson, seen as a likely candidate for lieutenant governor in 2027. Watson introduced Duff, highlighting his business success as an exemplar of both the American Dream and a Republican Party that venerates individualism. 

“He could clock out, but he hasn’t because he cares. And I think that’s an important piece of being an elected official, not that he is one, but just in case,” Watson said. “We believe it’s good to celebrate freedom, rugged individualism, hard work, entrepreneurship and success. We celebrate the positive things happening in Mississippi and America right now, and we celebrate that the American Dream is alive and well.” 

When Duff took the stage, he cast the story behind his business empire in a less individualistic light, pointing out that he had help along the way. 

“I went about a year without a paycheck. But luckily, I lived at home, and mom and dad took care of it. But we worked and we had fun, and as we grew, I learned a lot of things. One is that I’m not that important. The culture and the people are what’s important.” 

With respect to the current culture war, Duff’s remarks were short on red meat, though Duff did mention an episode from years ago when he and his brother Jim were asked by a Forbes Magazine reporter whether they had a DEI policy (the answer was no). 

Duff also mentioned his eight-year stint on the state Institutions of Higher Learning Board, claiming to have helped improve the financial health of the state’s higher education system. Duff has also done that through private donations – he and his brother have donated about $50 million to Mississippi universities.

Duff’s remarks also drew from a conversation he reported having with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. The men each spoke at a July 28 summit hosted by Mississippi Today and Deep South Today. 

Duff said Dimon asked him why only just over half of Mississippi adults eligible to work are working, as shown by a labor-force participation rate that lags most other states. Duff, who through his companies employs thousands of Mississippi residents, said the answer is a lack of well-paying jobs.

That sentiment seemed to be shared by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who, in another private conversation with Duff, reportedly nudged him to bring more of his company’s jobs to the state. 

“She said, let’s talk about how you’re going to have more (employees). Let’s talk about what other businesses you can put in our state. And I stopped, and I said, this lady really learned from Donald Trump,” Duff said. “She really understands things, because she approaches it in a different manner.”