The Mississippi Republican Party has ruled that Perry Parker of Seminary is not eligible to run for the Public Service Commissioner Southern District Commissioner seat in the party’s primary following a hearing regarding Parker’s residency in Mississippi on Thursday.
Parker has claimed that Mississippi is home for several years, but that business carried him to multiple states. He had registered to vote in Connecticut, California, and New York within the last five years. A complaint regarding Parker’s residency came from his primary opponent, Dane Maxwell, the Pascagoula mayor who is also running for PSC Southern District Commissioner.
Maxwell provided documentation to the MSGOP last week raising concerns over where Parker resided over the past five years. The MSGOP Executive Committee met last Thursday and made an initial determination that Parker did not meet the state’s statutory residency requirement to seek the PSC seat.
“After much discussion and consideration in a very close case, the executive committee voted this afternoon not to certify Mr. Parker’s candidacy for Public Service Commission for the Southern District,” said a joint statement by members of the MSGOP Executive Committee.
Maxwell also commented on the ruling.
”I am certainly pleased with the outcome of today’s action by the Mississippi Republican Party but hate we had to resort to this measure,” said Maxwell.
“As I’ve previously stated, had a candidate been nominated by Republicans with this lingering issue, Democrats would be challenging this residency to see if it met the constitutional and statutory requirements. That would have meant that we could have lost a Republican seat on the Public Service Commission.
Having said that, it was my hope that we could work this out without having such a vote with the MSGOP executive committee but that was not the case.”
By statute, there are appeals options for Parker. Parker has not publicly made any statements indicating his intent. Y’all Politics has reached out to Parker and is awaiting a response.
