Cianna Hope Reeves
Editor-in-Chief
In a nearly a yearlong campaign season, Mississippi remains a red state as all six key state offices were won by republican candidates.
The GOP will now hold the following positions: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Auditor, Treasurer, Agriculture Commissioner, Insurance Commissioner, Public Commissioner and Transportation Commissioner.
Here’s your breakdown on each key election:
Governor
Governor-elect Tate Reeves won 52 percent of votes, while Democrat Jim Hood fell slightly behind with 47 percent of votes. Two other candidates who ran low-budget campaigns obtained 1 percent or less votes.
The gubernatorial race was an essential competition as Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and Attorney General Jim Hood faced-off against one another with debates and traveling city-to-city to campaign prior to election day.
Reeves, who started serving as state treasurer at 29 years old and then lieutenant governor, will continue his political career as Mississippi’s next governor.
During his term in office, Reeves proposed one of the state’s largest ever tax cuts known as the Taxpayer Pay Raise Act. Reeves also opposes Medicaid expansion in the state because he believes low-income residents who are on private health care insurance plans would move to government program.
From suggesting teachers’ pay is not adequate enough to opposing the increase of gas tax to repair roads and bridges, Reeves is a conservative who sticks to traditional measures.
Lieutenant Governor
The Lieutenant Governor-elect is Republican Delbert Hosemann whose race was declared early by the Associated Press. Hosemann won by a landslide of 60 percent, which was a 20 percentlead over Democrat Jay Hughes.
After serving three terms as secretary of state, he used his experience of overseeing the state senate as a means to rally up his supporters and lead the way into a successful victory.
Hosemann is pledging to increase teacher pay annually, supports Medicaid expansion and would like to allow counties to raise fuel taxes in order to repair infrastructure.
Attorney General
Lynn Fitch won attorney general after serving two consecutive terms as state treasurer. Fitch has made history as being the first woman to win the office.
Running against Democrat Jenifer Riley Collins, Fitch won by over 137,000 votes in the historical election. Hood occupied the seat for 16 years before running for Governor.
As the new attorney general, Fitch says her primary goal is to fight the opioids outbreak and human trafficking to protect these growing issues in the state.
Collins’ stance was based on ensuring law enforcement officers obtain law more in depth training and life-saving equipment. Her passion for improving the livelihood of officers derives from her service as an Army Colonel and former director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.
Secretary of State
Mississippi’s newest Secretary of State is Republican Michael Watson, who won his seat by a gap of 20 percent. GOP supporters across the state agreed with his policies and plan to implement while in position.
Watson assured during his campaigning that he would take over the process of issuing driver’s licenses and making sure they are registered voters.
His opponent, Johnny Dupree, was a Democrat and former mayor if Hattiesburg. He pursued the gubernatorial election in 2011 but fell short making Phil Bryant take the seat as governor. In the race to Secretary of State, Dupree advocated on enhancing the methods in which citizens can vote. He campaigned on creating online voter registration for new voters.
Treasurer
Republican David McRae is the Treasurer-elect. This was his second time running for the position; in 2015, he lost against incumbent Fitch.
McRae won against Democrat Addie Lee Green who only grabbed 39 percentof votes. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence endorsed McRae at the Mississippi Victory 2019 Rally in Biloxi one day before Election Day.
Trump and Pence announced their support for the Republican candidates in an effort to increase voter participation in the state.
McRae used his family’s business, which was Mississippi’s department store chain, as a means to show his credibility when it comes to managing money. He also loaned a total of $1.7 million of his own cash to his campaign.
State Auditor
State Auditor Shad White ran unopposed. He will continue to supervise and administer the state’s account and funding. Bryant appointed White in July 2016.
Andy Gipson will also keep his seat as Mississippi’s agriculture commissioner after beating Democrat Rickey Cole by over 150,000 votes.
Bryant appointed Gipson in 2018 while serving as state representative for a third term. He replaced Cindy Hyde-Smith who became a U.S. Senator.
Throughout his campaign he pushed for consumers to have more accessibility to local grown food. He also said he wanted to advance the opportunities for producers in Mississippi to train potential farmers and agricultural workers.
Insurance Commissioner
Mickey Chaney won a fourth term as Insurance Commissioner against Democratic opponent Robert Amos. Chaney has experience as a state lawyer from Vicksburg and said he will continue to crack down on private insurance companies to make sure they implement more policies that cover severe weather damage.
Public Service Commissioner
The Public Service Commissioner in the southern district is now occupied by another GOP candidate Dane Maxwell. He beat out Democrat Connie Moran.
Maxwell, who is the mayor of Pascagoula, said he wants to expand Internet services in rural areas and help cities and counties win grants to improve accessibility.
Meanwhile in the central district Republican Brent Bailey won against Jackson Councilman De’Keither Stamps. As a second term public service commissioner he wants to allow people to sell self-generated solar energy materials.
In the southern district, Republican Dane Maxwell beat Democrat Connie Moran for a seat on the utility regulatory body, while in the central district; Republican Brent Bailey was competing with Democrat De’Keither Stamps.
Public Service Commissioner in the northern district, Brandon Presley ran unopposed as a Democrat.
Transportation Commissioner
Republican John Caldwell will now hold the seat as Transportation Commissioner in the northern district. Caldwell, a former DeSoto County supervisor, wants to increase funding for infrastructure and increase fuel tax to help assist with road improvements.
Caldwell dominated Democrat Joey T. Grist bringing in 63% of the total votes.
In the central district Republican Butch Lee faced-off against Democrat Willie Simmons who is a long-standing state senator from Cleveland. Both Simmons and Lee supported the increase in fuel tax, however Lee would like a part of the tax on Internet sale to go toward state roads and bridges.
The race between Simmons and Lee was a close call all night. Simmons prevailed winning 51% of votes while Lee followed with 49% of votes.
*Election results were courtesy of the Associated Press and WJTV.
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