JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s four-term attorneygeneral Jim Hood is seeking to defeat seven low-budget candidates in Tuesday’sDemocratic primary for governor and break the grip Republicans have held on theoffice for 24 of the past 28 years.
Mississippi is one of only three states electing agovernor this year. Louisiana and Kentucky are the others. Second-termRepublican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves is endorsed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, whocannot seek a third term, and he’s raised millions more than any of his GOPrivals.
Voters are weighing whether the GOP should retain itslock on the governor’s office amid questions about the future economicdirection of the conservative Southern state.
At a polling place in Picayune, Kathy Burke, 66, saidReeves’ support of President Donald Trump was a key factor in her decision.
“I think Donald Trump’s done a remarkablejob,” said Burke, a Republican. “I like the policies. I like what’shappening and Reeves seems to be a staunch supporter of him.”
Iris Jones, also voting in Picayune, said the mostimportant issue was getting a Democrat elected. Although it is a stateelection, Trump and what she deemed his inadequate response to the weekend’smass shootings were on her mind when she cast her vote.
“He never says anything that makes any sense andthen, after he says it, when you ask him about it, he says, ‘I didn’t saythat,'” said Jones, 59.
Reeves argues Mississippi government is on soundfinancial footing under GOP leadership. Hood faults Republicans for notexpanding Medicaid to the working poor and says they’ve spent too little onschools and highways.
For most of the campaign, Reeves largely ignored histwo Republican primary rivals: former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief JusticeBill Waller Jr., whose father was the state’s Democratic governor from 1972 to1976, and first-term state Rep. Robert Foster. Instead Reeves criticized Hood,calling him too liberal for Mississippi.
“Our political enemy is the liberal policy ideasof the party of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama and HillaryClinton and Jim Hood,” Reeves said last week the Neshoba County Fair, alarge annual gathering featuring days of stump speaking by politicians. Reevesalso said state government is in good shape, and students are improving inacademic performance.
Hood challenged that in his speech at the fair:“When they start talking about labels and not about issues, there’ssomething going on there, and it’s something that you need to lookthrough.”
Hood says Mississippi has lost billions of federaldollars by being among the 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid, which isan option under the federal health overhaul that then-President Barack Obamasigned in 2010.
Winning a primary requires a majority of the votes. Ifrunoffs are needed, they will be Aug. 27.
Waller hopes to force Reeves into a runoff. Hiscampaign slogan, “the conservative Republican who can win inNovember,” plays on the idea that Reeves has made enemies with aheavy-handed style of guiding state lawmaking as lieutenant governor. Hesuggests that Reeves could be vulnerable to Hood, who has a history of winningcrossover votes in heavily Republican parts of the state.
In an interview Monday, Waller said he wants to raiseteacher salaries that are among the lowest in the nation.
“We offer something other than the statusquo,” Waller said Monday. “We have a platform. They call it pragmaticconservatism.”
Foster raised the least money on the Republican side.He received national attention last month after saying he would not let afemale reporter ride with him in his truck to report on his campaign unless shewere chaperoned by a male colleague.
Two of Hood’s rivals with strong ties in the vote-richmetro Jackson area are Robert Shuler Smith, who’s wrapping up his third term asdistrict attorney in the state’s largest county, and Velesha P. Williams, a militaryveteran and retired administrator at Jackson State University.
Jones, the Picayune voter, believes a Democraticvictory in reliably Republican Mississippi is possible “If we all cometogether.”
But she said Democrats and election officials haven’tdone enough to publicize elections.
“Hardly anybody knew it was the day tovote,” she said.
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Associated Press Writer Kevin McGill in Picayune,Mississippi, contributed.
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Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.
