U.S. Rep. Michael Guest discusses bipartisan efforts to address challenges facing rural hospitals during the 2019 Rural Healthcare Summit at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Guest finished behind Cassidy in the June 7th Primary but that was before revelations about Cassidy’s platform came to light.
Incumbent Congressman Michael Guest capitalized on challenger Michael Cassidy’s stumbles down the stretch and easily defeated this newcomer in the 3rd District Republican Runoff Election on Tuesday by over 20,000 votes.
Guest finished with 47% of the vote in the June 7th Primary, 1% behind Cassidy who attempted to use three main votes in the U.S. House against the incumbent Congressman along with an “America First” slogan to win.
However, despite Cassidy’s narratives carefully crafted and questionably taken out of context against Guest to appeal to conservative voters, Cassidy himself raised eyebrows by scrubbing his policy platforms from his campaign website. Those platforms included a Medicare for all plan, government wedding gifts, and stipends for parents of children, all of which could cost trillions in new federal spending if implemented.
Cassidy is not only a newcomer to politics, but he is a relative newcomer to the state of Mississippi, only voting once since moving to the state a few years back. He was previously a Navy flight instructor.
Guest’s campaign, along with most every political pundit in the state, was caught off guard by Cassidy’s showing in the Primary. Guest’s supporters woke up in the weeks following June 7th, giving Cassidy his due and making a real concerted campaign effort to turnout votes, publicly set the Congressman’s record straight, and directly question Cassidy’s platform positions.
As the Republican nominee in the 3rd District, Guest will now face Democrat Shuwaski Young in the November General Election. Guest will be the odds-on favorite to win as the 3rd District remains largely a conservative area.
Frank Corder
