YP Daily Roundup 7/8/19

WDAM – Voter registration deadline approaching for Mississippi primaries

NEWSMAX – Republican Reeves heavily favored to keep Miss. governorship

In one of the three states electing governors in 2019, Reeves, a former state treasurer, was thought to be facing a stiff challenge for nomination from Chief Justice William Waller, Jr.

Morever, both Reeves and Waller were considered vulnerable to the man half-jokingly referred to as “the only white Democrat office-holder left in the Deep South”— four-term State Attorney General Jim Hood, prosecutor of white supremacists as well as major corporations, and the only Democratic statewide office holder in Mississippi.

But Impact Management Poll, a product of “Y’All Politics,” showed Reeves clobbering Waller, namesake son of former Democratic Gov. (1971-75) William Waller by 50 percent to 19.48 percent.

DAILY JOURNAL – Candidates for governor share vision for education, infrastructure

Bill Waller, the former chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, said the state must give public educators a pay raise, repair roads and bridges and expand healthcare in order for the economy to grow at a substantial rate…

…State Rep. Robert Foster, another Republican candidate, touted his experience as a business owner and had a different approach to the economy saying the state should adopt a flat tax structure to allow more businesses to come to the state and have more young people state in the state…

…Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, the third GOP candidate, differed from the rest of his Republican opponents and attacked Attorney General Jim Hood and associated him with “the party of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.” Reeves said his vision for the state was growing the economy and having a fiscally responsible government.

SUNHERALD – Analysis: Mississippi candidates split on school vouchers

Several candidates for Mississippi governor have answered a questionnaire from a public education advocacy group called The Parents’ Campaign, but Republican Tate Reeves has not…

…The Parents’ Campaign, formed in 2006, has pushed for MAEP funding. One question the group asked candidates was: “Will you oppose vouchers that send taxpayer dollars to private schools, religious schools, home schools or virtual schools?”

Waller responded: “We need to focus on letting the current laws regarding charter schools work and examine the results before making any further decisions on vouchers. We need to instead focus on increasing teacher pay to retain and attract quality teachers, and reexamine the testing systems in place to make sure we don’t have too many burdensome tests that don’t necessarily measure success.”

Foster did not answer the questionnaire.

Hood responded: “Mississippi’s public schools are severely underfunded, and we rank near the bottom in per pupil spending on education. I don’t think we should take taxpayer dollars away from our public schools and put them into the hands of private organizations that aren’t held to the same accountability standards as our public schools.”

MBJ – Bill Crawford: Political ad bombardment coming as Aug. 6 primary near

Both the Republican and Democratic primaries for Governor could see runoffs. Bill Waller, Robert Foster and Tate Reeves are seeking the Republican nomination.  Albert Wilson, Gregory Wash, Jim Hood, Michael Brown, Robert Ray, Robert Shuler Smith, and Velesha Williams are seeking the Democratic nomination.

The other statewide race with a potential runoff is the Republican primary for Attorney General. There Andy Taggart, Lynn Fitch, and Mark Baker are running…

…The only other non-local races where a runoff could happen are the Republican primaries for Northern District Transportation Commissioner where A. Hathcock, Geoffrey Yoste, Jeremy Martin, John Caldwell, and Trey Bowman are running and for Southern District Transportation Commissioner where Chad Toney, Tom King, and Tony Smith are running, and the Democratic primary for Central District Public Service Commissioner where Bruce Burton, De’Keither Stamps, Dorothy Benford, and Ryan Brown are running.

The great lack of potential statewide runoffs poses risks for the heavyweight favorites in the race for Governor. Should either Reeves or Hood, or both, end up in runoffs, turnout will be problematic. 

Laurel Leader-Call publisher offers “fake interview” with Chris McDaniel, wishing state senator would involve himself in local races

As a Mississippi state senator, I can’t blame Chris McDaniel for not getting involved in local Jones County political races. However, I still wish he would. But that doesn’t mean we don’t know where he would stand on certain candidates...

WLOX – Mississippi group looks at the potential of hemp cultivation