Republican candidates for Governor: Tate Reeves, Bill Waller Jr. and Robert Foster; spoke at the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday.
Foster is a farmer and small business owner from DeSoto County. His family owns an agritourism business, which means they grow crops for people to pick pumpkins, crops, Christmas trees, etc.
Foster said his business background, spanning back 14 years, equips him for this because he sees what happens and how it impacts the local people.
Foster supports workforce development starting k-12.
“Some of the smartest, most skilled people I know didn’t go to college,” said Foster.
Foster is willing to evaluate the tax structure to fully repeal the personal income tax.
“We need to move to a consumption tax structure,” said Foster. “You’re going to pay your fair share of the roads you ride on all day.”
Foster said Lt. Gov Reeves has leadership over the legislature that brought Mississippi to being the highest population on ACA in the country.
“ACA is the law of the land and I don’t like it any more than you do,” said Foster. “We’ve got to fix it…. We’ve got to keep our rural hospitals open.”
With the NRA, Foster has an ‘A’ rating, but not their endorsement.
“I didn’t get the endorsement, but that’s political. If I’m wearing pants I’m packing. That’s the only endorsement I need.”
Tate Reeves is the current Lt. Governor of Mississippi and running as a Republican for Governor.
“I’m not running for governor against bad candidates, I’m running for governor against bad ideas,” said Reeves.
He said he is against an expansion of Medicaid, saying it is bad policy to take people off of private insurance and putting them on public insurance.
“I’m the only candidate running for governor that opposed Obamacare expansion in Mississippi,” said Reeves.
Reeves went on to say that job creation should be a number one priority for the next governor.
“To do that we must do three things. We must have a fiscally responsible government…have a tax code that is fair and flat and encourages economic development….the third thing we must do is improve the educational attainment level,” said Reeves.
Waller is a Republican candidate for Governor. He has previously served 20 years on the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Waller’s three issues he has focused on in his campaign include education, healthcare, roads and bridges.
“Some people are going to sell you that education is fine, folks I think the facts say otherwise,” said Waller. He called the current education situation a crisis.
Moving on to healthcare, Waller has been adamant on his belief that it is in the state’s best interest to expand Medicaid.
“The fact is the hospital is like a post office, you can’t have a viable community without one,” said Waller. He referred to how now Vice President Mike Pence did it in Indiana.
He does not think that the Legislature has effectively solved the road and bridge problem since Session 2019.
“Ronald Regan said user fees are the way to go… and we need to look at it,” said Waller. He said his plan would include a tax swap.
Magnolia Tribune
