Phil Bryant has the cowboy walk of a former law enforcement officer and the backslapping charisma of a practiced politician, and both were on display as he roamed the Neshoba County fairgrounds.
As others fanned themselves and chugged bottles of cold water, Bryant – one of two Republican candidates for lieutenant governor – barely broke a sweat in the peak-of-summer mugginess.
On stage, Bryant, 52, got whoops from the largely conservative crowd as he talked about receiving the personal endorsement of the Rev. Donald Wildmon of Tupelo, founder and chairman of the American Family Association. Bryant recounted his own decision to run for Mississippi’s second-highest office.