Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann speaks during Tuesday's Mississippi Republican Party Press Conference where nine new members were accepted to the party. Photo by Jeremy Pittari | Magnolia Tribune
- Six of the nine were Democrats who said that their former party no longer aligns with their political views.
The Mississippi Republican Party welcomed nine local elected officials to its party Tuesday, consisting of six former Democrats and three former Independents.
A majority of the local officials, ranging from members of Boards of Supervisors, Boards of Aldermen and a local coroner, switched to the Republican Party because they said their political views no longer align with the national Democratic Party agenda.
The new members of the Mississippi Republican Party are:
- Jim Neill, a Carroll County Supervisor
- Ron Wood and Keith McGee, Montgomery County Supervisors
- Brad Whittington, an Attala County Supervisor
- Sam Bell, Attala County Cornor
- Robert Ellis and James Culpepper, Kosciusko Aldermen
- Mitchell Costilow and Barbara Sheppard, North Carrollton Aldermen
Sheppard, Costilow and Culpepper were Independents while the others were Democrats.
“So today these men and women are taking a huge step in the ‘right’ direction, see what I did there? The right direction, and the next step in making their communities and our people’s lives even better,” Mississippi Republican Party Chair Mike Hurst said.
He added that these new members did not leave the Democratic Party, rather the Democratic Party left them by adopting extreme political views.
“I really haven’t changed, the Democratic Party left me. That’s the reason I become a Republican,” Magee told Magnolia Tribune. “I don’t believe in a lot of the things they are doing.”
The GOP chairman said the officials are now with the party that supports the entrepreneurial sprit, self-sufficiency, and the principle that all people have equal rights regardless of race, color and gender.
Hurst added that the Democratic Party’s “woke” ideology in America’s schools, attempts to defund law enforcement, and attempts to restrict the constitutional rights of free speech, right to bear arms and freedom of religion were also driving factors.
“We have a lack of highway patrol, lack of county lawmen, because they can’t do their job anymore and when they do their job they get in trouble,” Supervisor Neill told Magnolia Tribune.
Neill added that the Democratic stance on gender was also a driving factor.
“Men playing on girls sports, I definitely disagree with that,” Neill added.
Several current members of the Republican Party attended Tuesday’s event to welcome its newest members, including Speaker of the House Jason White, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann, Commissioner of Agriculture Andy Gipson, State Treasurer David McRae, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch.
White asked all members of the Republican Party to continue to support the new members, recalling the days after he switched parties in 2012.
“I want to challenge you, maybe if I can, to say let’s give them that same sort of support that I got and let’s not forget about them after today,” Speaker White stated.
Lt. Governor Hosemann said the growing Republican Party in the Magnolia State is representative of its people and Hurst’s hard work.
“We want people to learn, work,” Hosemann said. “We want people to have an education, we want people to have their grandchildren grow up in the same neighborhood that they did. And that’s what Republicans are about.”
