Tonight at 7:00 p.m. in Hattiesburg on the campus of USM in front of a live audience, Republican candidate for governor Tate Reeves and Democratic candidate Jim Hood are set to debate live on statewide TV and radio. A second debate on October 14th with both candidates was also confirmed by the Reeves Campaign.
This will be the first time in this election cycle that Jim Hood has participated in a debate. Reeves was involved in two Republican Primary debates prior to the runoff election. The first was held on WJTV between himself, Robert Foster and Bill Waller. After the primary results were in, and Foster was out of the race, Reeves attended a second debate against Waller.
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It is unclear what the questions in the debate will focus on, but topics to consider revolve around healthcare, and Medicaid expansion, teacher pay, infrastructure needs and workforce development.
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It’s also likely that some of the testier issues brought up in the campaign between candidates like President Trump’s endorsement of Tate Reeves and Jim Hood’s investigation into his opponent over charges that Reeves exerted influence over a road construction project may make for interesting interaction between the candidates.
The debate will air on five Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc., stations across the state, including WJTV-TV (CBS), WHLT-TV (CBS), KZUP-CD (Ind), WREG-TV (CBS), and WFNA-TV (CW), in addition to select television broadcast partners including WMDN-TV (CBS) and WTVA-TV (ABC), and WXXV-TV (NBC), and radio partners SuperTalk, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, and Jackson State University.
The debate will be moderated by Byron Brown, anchorman and political reporter for WJTV-TV, and Greg Hurst, anchorman for WREG-TV Greg Hurst.
It will take place on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi at the Joe Paul Theater in Thad Cochran Center, 121 West Memorial Drive, in Hattiesburg.
