BRIAN PERRY: ‘Silent Knight’ for Dems
Robert Gray won the Democratic nomination for Governor in Mississippi after raising and spending no money to campaign, and not even voting for himself. Gray, a truck driver with the CB handle “Silent Knight,” defeated trial lawyer Vicki Slater who reported spending just shy of $200,000, and Dr. Valerie Short, an Air Force veteran with an OB-GYN practice in Ridgeland, who spent just over $40,000. Gray took 51 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off.
This stunned establishment Democrats and liberal insiders. The “Rethink Mississippi” Twitter handle from the William Winter Institute accused “electoral gender bias.” State Democratic Party chairman Rickey Cole suggested “low information voters.” There was talk of some grand Republican conspiracy to manipulate the election. I agree with Sid Salter, “A more plausible explanation is the simpler one – the name ‘Gray’ comes ahead of the names ‘Short’ and ‘Slater’ when arranged alphabetically. The first name on the ballot got the most votes.”…
…Statewide Republican candidates produced no Robert Gray drama. In the closest race, incumbent Treasurer Lynn Fitch beat challenger David McRae with 57 percent. Governor Phil Bryant won a nomination to a second term with the votes of 92 percent of Republicans. But then, like Gray, he was first on the ballot.
Madison Co. Journal
8/12/15
Magnolia Tribune
