President Donald Trump welcomes Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, left, to the stage at a rally at BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo, Miss., Friday, Nov. 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Mississippians get a glimpse of the deep divide between the two gubernatorial candidates with an endorsement from Trump and the millions pouring into the race from out-of-state.
If ever there was a day in this election cycle that highlighted the deep divide between incumbent Republican Governor Tate Reeves and his Democratic challenger Brandon Presley, Tuesday – one week from Election Day in Mississippi – was it.
In a video message, former President Donald Trump offered a full-throated endorsement of Reeves. Trump also endorsed Reeves in 2019.
Trump said “crooked Joe Biden is absolutely destroying our country.”
“Now Joe Biden wants to put his candidate – and this is his candidate – Brandon Presley in as Mississippi’s Governor. Joe Biden’s people are funding Brandon Presley’s campaign. They own him. He’ll do whatever they want him to do. It’s really bad for Mississippi,” Trump said.
Trump asked voters in the Magnolia State to make time to vote.
“You gotta vote for Governor Tate Reeves, and he has my total and complete endorsement,” Trump concluded.
As Trump was making his preference for Reeves known, newly filed campaign finance disclosures showed national Democratic donors pouring over $2 million more into Presley’s campaign to buoy their nominee down the stretch.
To date, the Democratic Governors Association has given Presley over $5.85 million, or nearly 52% of his total funds raised this calendar year.
In addition, hundreds of thousands of more dollars have come in from out-of-state, Democrat-aligned special interest groups, such as labor unions, and high-dollar donors from California, New York and other blue states.
Presley’s campaign reported raising roughly $11.3 million this cycle while spending nearly $10.8 million. Of those expenditures, Presley’s campaign disbursed $771,000 to the Mississippi Democratic Party as a “political contribution” while spending over $5.8 million with Old Town Media out of Virginia for campaign advertising.
In comparison, Governor Reeves has raised $6.3 million this calendar year in his main campaign account and has spent $11 million. The bulk of Reeves’ campaign donations have come from the business leaders in Mississippi and Republican-aligned PACs both in-state and out-of-state. His expenditures have largely gone to OnMessage out of Maryland for campaign advertising.
Reeves has $3.15 million cash on hand between his two campaign accounts while Presley is sitting on $1.3 million.
The two candidates for governor will meet in the only debate of the campaign on Wednesday night, November 1st on WAPT TV out of Jackson.
