(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Could Mississippi elect a Democratic Governor next Tuesday? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-30 The race Next Tuesday, Mississippians will pick their governor. The Republican candidate is the current incumbent, Tate Reeves . The Democratic standard bearer is Brandon Presley (yes, he is a relation). Reeves is the favorite, but his win is not guaranteed . So for the next eight days, Democrats, like the holder of a lottery ticket before the drawing, can dream about winning. Although the sober-minded will not bet more than they can afford to lose. How did Mississippi get to this point? Tate Reeves In short, Reeves has disappointed Mississippi's MAGAs. So much so that he has yet to score Trump’s endorsement. And at this point, he will probably not get it. Adding to his struggles, Reeves’ opponent is about as conservative as you can be while remaining technically a Democrat. Reeves’ potentially fatal error is that he acted like a grown-up during COVID-19. He based his pandemic policies on the advice of a doctor, the state’s chief health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs. And therefore issued mask mandates, short-term business and school closures, and limits on the size of indoor gatherings. This reliance on science and common sense incensed the state’s conservative voters, who were not fans of Reeves in the first place. In his first election in 2019, he ran against the state’s former attorney general, Jim Hood. This conservative Democrat kept it close. Reeves won by less than 4%. And in that election, he had Trump’s endorsement. Reeves has also been criticized when he did adopt the conservative position. Mississippi remains one of the 10 states that have not taken the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. This promotion of punitive policy over fiscal opportunity has seen the state’s decimated hospitals miss out on $1.3 billion in federal funds. Then Reeves showed feet of clay in handling the Jackson water crisis. I doubt the white conservative base frankly gave a damn about the minority residents of the state capital — the city is 79% Black . But they were stung when the original failure of the water utility to provide potable water was compounded into a national embarrassment by the ineptitude of the response. I imagine that, despite their bravado, these Southerners' regional pride must walk hand-in-hand with a realization that the nation looks at them as backward rubes. The Jackson debacle did not help. Then came the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) scandal, in which nearly $100 million in TANF funds ended up in the pockets of friends of the governor. And were spent on favored projects that had nothing to do with helping poor working families. The misappropriations included: Ex-NFL QB Brett Favre received $1.1 million for speaking engagements at which he never appeared. Favre also asked for and got another $6.1 million in TANF funds for a volleyball arena at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi. Reeves’ friends, former professional wrestler Ted DiBiase and his son, Ted Jr., received over $2 million for their Christian nonprofit. Reeves’ personal trainer, Paul Lacoste, got $1.3 million for his fitness bootcamp program. In addition, millions were spent on football tickets, Christian music concerts, and conservative lobbyists. Brandon Presley On the other side, Brandon Presley is a Democrat who would not be at home in Berkley or Ivy League campuses. He is a pro-life, pro-gun, evangelical Christian. And despite being smeared as trans-friendly by Reeves has declared “Tate Reeves knows that I won’t work to overturn these laws [banning medical care and surgeries for trans youth], and this issue is settled in Mississippi, but he’s busy pushing the same old false political attacks to cover up his career of corruption” Adding, “As a man of faith who is pro-life. I’ve never had an issue disagreeing with my party when they’re wrong, so I’ll be clear. I don’t think boys should be playing against girls, and girls shouldn’t be playing against boys. I don’t think minors should be getting surgery to change their gender.” Presley, who is running more as a populist than a Democrat, had previously said, “I trust families, I trust mamas and I trust daddies to deal with the health care of their children first and foremost, period. Tate Reeves brings up this issue [trans care for teens] for one reason: It’s a smokescreen. Before this campaign is over with—if it will hide his record on corruption, if it will hide his record on $1.3 million to his personal trainer, if it will hide the fact that hospitals are shutting down—he will say that Martians have landed in Montgomery County to divert your attention. I’ll leave parents to control the health care of their children, period.” A New South? The South is a Republican stronghold. Yet, there are cracks in the foundation. Louisiana has a Democratic Governor, J ohn Bel Edwards . And for three years recently, Alabama had a Democratic Senator, Doug Jones . Adding to conservative white concerns, Mississippi has the highest percentage of Black citizens (38%) of any state. If they can get their votes cast in the face of Jim Crow 2.0 voting laws favored by red states, that could rock the orthodoxy. Should Presley win, it will not presage a flowering of the urban/coastal liberalism at the core of today’s Democratic Party in the hoped-for “New Deep South”. But it will be an enjoyable kick in the good ole boys' asses. And maybe inspire redoubled efforts to give voice to the poorest people in the poorest part of the country. “Let’s Go Brandon” If nothing else, Presley should be applauded for his marketing. In a stroke of in-your-face, the Democrat has co-opted the conservative slur leveled at President Biden and embraced “Let’s Go Brandon.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/30/2202625/-Could-Mississippi-elect-a-Democratic-Governor-next-Tuesday?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/