GRENADA, Miss. (AP) — Conservative Mississippi is tough territory for Democrats, but the party sees an unusual opportunity this year to unseat Republican first-time governor Tate Reeves. In November, they are pinning their hopes on a candidate with a legendary last name who has used his own compelling story to highlight the economic plight of working families in a state that has long been one of the poorest in America.
Democrat Brandon Presley is a second cousin of Elvis Presley, born a few days before the rock ‘n’ roll legend died. While campaigning, Brandon Presley spoke frequently about government corruption, focusing on a multibillion dollar welfare scandal that unfolded when Reeves was lieutenant governor.
Presley, an elected member of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, is unopposed for the Democratic nomination for governor. He calls for Medicaid expansion to help financially struggling hospitals while telling voters about his own difficult childhood.
“I understand what working families in this state are going through,” Presley told about 75 people at a restaurant in Granada, a city on the Mississippi Delta.
The 45-year-old said he was just starting third grade when his father was killed. Presley’s mother raised him and his brother and sister in the small town of Nettleton, earning a modest wage from a garment factory. In his childhood home, “you could see right through the floors into the dirt,” he said, and his mother struggled to pay for water and electricity.
“And let me tell you clearly: When my name is on the ballot in November, the names of the families whose power has been cut off, who get up every day working as hard as they can to help their kids, the little ones. business owners — your name is on that ballot in November,” he said.
Mississippi is one of three states with a gubernatorial race this year, joining Kentucky and Louisiana. All are places that have historically supported Republicans for statewide office, even as Kentucky’s Democratic governor is seeking a second term.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, described the three contests as “away games” but said Mississippi may be “the sleeper,” a state where the Democrat right could win. That’s despite voters having twice endorsed Donald Trump for president, the GOP holding every statewide office and a supermajority in the Legislature, and a Democrat who hasn’t won Mississippi’s governor’s race so far of century
Reeves, who faces two underfunded opponents in the Aug. 8 primary, has the advantage of being an incumbent: 31 governors of U.S. states or territories sought re-election last year and only one he lost. Reeves had about $9.4 million in his campaign fund at the end of May, far more than the $1.7 million Presley reported. Republicans also say national Democrats’ enthusiasm for Presley’s bid could be a liability.
Reeves, 49, was a banker in a Jackson suburb before winning his first statewide office 20 years ago. She campaigns to lower state income tax, increase teacher pay, restrict access to abortion and ban gender-affirming medical care for people under 18. He also presents it as an “us vs. them” election. , which depicts Presley as part of a national Democratic operation removed from the reality of life in Mississippi.
“My friends, this is a different gubernatorial campaign than we’ve ever seen in our state because we’re not running against a local yokel, the Mississippi Democrat. We’re running against a national liberal machine,” Reeves told more than 200 supporters at a campaign event in the Jackson suburb of Richland. “They are extreme. They are radical and vicious.”
Reeves said outsiders look at Mississippi with “contempt,” but the state has momentum.
“Are we going to let them stop us?” Reeves asked, and the crowd responded, “No!”
“Are we going to let Mississippi conform to California values?” Reeves asked. Again, the answer was “No!”
Presley was 23 when he was elected mayor of Nettleton in 2001. During his second term at the helm of the city of 2,000, he won the North District seat on the Mississippi Public Service Commission, a three-member members that regulates public services. This year ends his fourth term.
As Presley campaigns, he blends Reeves’ scathing criticism with gospel and bluegrass songs that affirm the connection to his famous cousin without leaving the impression that he’s chosen the wrong line of work.
In Granada, Presley said a $100 million funding package that lawmakers and Reeves approved for hospitals this year was a “cheap Band-Aid for cleaning dollar stores” when Medicaid expansion could bring the state about a billion dollars a year from the federal government.
Murphy said Presley’s style has been winning over donors. At an event Presley attended in New Jersey with Murphy, they surpassed their fundraising goal.
“We have a great candidate. This guy is the real deal,” Murphy said. “When you hear what he would do on his first day as governor, you say, ‘You know what? This is exactly what Mississippi needs.’
Four years ago, Reeves won the governorship by defeating four-term Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood 52 percent to 47 percent, with two lesser-known candidates in the race.
This year, an independent will be on the general election ballot. Republicans like their chances, given state politics and Reeves’ history with five statewide victories: two for state treasurer, starting at age 29; two for lieutenant governor; and one for the governor.
“Democrats are desperately trying to create a mirage when it comes to Mississippi,” said Republican Governors Association spokeswoman Courtney Alexander. “The reality is that Brandon Presley is bought and paid for by national Democrats, while Governor Reeves’ record of historically low unemployment, historically high graduation rates and substantial pay raises for Mississippi educators speaks for itself.”
About 38 percent of Mississippi residents are black, the highest percentage of any state, and black voters are vital to Democrats’ chances of winning statewide.
Janie Houston, a retired kindergarten teacher who attended Presley’s event in Granada, said some black voters may not bother to show up in November because Republicans drew legislative districts specifically to protect large majorities in the Legislature.
“That’s the point of doing all this gerrymandering,” Houston said.
Democrats, he added, don’t support down-ballot candidates enough to offset that advantage.
“They need to get face to face with black voters and every other voter,” he said. “That’s the way it is. I just don’t think they’re putting enough money behind the candidates to get people out in the communities.”
Mississippi’s most influential black politician, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, did not endorse Hood in the 2019 gubernatorial race because he said Hood never asked. But Thompson endorsed Presley at the start of this year’s campaign, and the congressman said he will offer whatever support Presley asks for in the coming months.
Thompson said Presley worked with him to help the small rural community of Schlater get clean water after a water well pump broke and that Presley has helped other areas in need get reliable electricity. After a tornado devastated the small town of Rolling Fork this spring, Thompson said, “One of the first calls I got was from Brandon Presley asking what can I do?”
Thompson said Presley found generators in Louisiana to provide electricity to an armory in Rolling Fork that became a disaster relief site.
“That’s the kind of person, the Brandon Presley I know,” Thompson said in an interview. “It’s easy to support someone who shows they care about people.”
Reeves’ campaign event in Richland was at a large, air-conditioned warehouse for a construction equipment dealer. One of the spectators was Terry Felder, a retired offshore oil rig worker who said he voted for Reeves in 2019 and will vote again this year because he believes Republicans do a better job of controlling government spending. .
Felder acknowledged that Mississippi has problems, but said he thinks the state is in “pretty good shape.”
“Every poll they have, if it’s a bad poll we’re at the top of the list. If it’s a good poll, we’re at the bottom,” Felder said. “But when you’re here, it doesn’t seem that way.”
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Burnett reported from Chicago.
