Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves Facing 2 Challengers in Tuesday’s Republican Gubernatorial Primary

Democrat Brandon Presley, a distant cousin of Elvis Presley, is running unchallenged

Then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves speaks with reporters while his wife, Elee Reeves, laughs at his response outside their Flowood, Miss., voting precinct on Nov. 5, 2019. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo)

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves touts record-low unemployment in his pursuit of a second term, facing off with two GOP challengers in the gubernatorial primary on Aug. 8.

His Democrat opponent Brandon Presley, a distant cousin of Elvis Presley, is running unchallenged in the Democrat primary.

As expected, the 49-year-old governor and 46-year-old Mr. Presley have come to the table with different views of the state, the former praising it as a success story and the latter arguing that it’s in bad shape.

Mr. Reeves has served as the 65th governor of Mississippi since 2020. He served as the 32nd lieutenant governor from 2012 to 2020 under former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant and as state treasurer from 2004 to 2012 under former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour.

Since in office, he’s been a supporter of former President Donald Trump and has passed several bills combating elements of the culture war’s encroachment into the state.

“In my first term, we passed the largest tax cut in state history, returning half a billion dollars to Mississippians,” Mr. Reeves told The Epoch Times in a previous report.

He also pointed to his facilitating the largest economic development project in state history, securing a $2.5 billion investment with an aluminum mill and biocarbon facility called Indiana-based Steel Dynamics that will create 1,000 jobs with a $93,000 salary.

If reelected, Mr. Reeves said he would work toward the “complete elimination” of the income tax.

Mr. Reeves was criticized by Democrats for his hands-off response to the pandemic, though excessive lockdowns, COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and masking policies in states like California and New York have now been shown to be ineffective.

“We insisted on getting our kids back in the classroom and as a result, Mississippi’s education numbers are the best in our state’s history,” he said.

Mr. Reeves called the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a decision triggered by a lawsuit that began in Mississippi, the “greatest social conservative win in a generation,” and the state has since passed pro-life policies to help single mothers.

Brandon Presley

Mr. Presley was elected mayor of his hometown in Nettleton, Mississippi, when he was 23, and serves on the Mississippi Public Service Commission.

He has vowed to expand Medicaid and advocated for cutting the 7 percent sales tax on groceries.

Mr. Presley has alleged that Mr. Reeves is connected to the political corruption that took place in the state which resulted in several Republican-appointed state workers being convicted and imprisoned for misuse of federal welfare funds, though Mr. Reeves hasn’t been charged with wrongdoing and has publicly stated he had no role in the scandal.

Mr. Presley speaks about growing up with a widowed mother who struggled to pay bills after his father was murdered.

“I understand what it means to just scrape by,” Mr. Presley said. “I understand how working people are. And for all of those in Mississippi that are left out, that Tate Reeves doesn’t know exist—families like mine don’t exist in Tate Reeves’ mind—when my name goes on the ballot in November, your name goes on the ballot.”

Mr. Reeves has criticized Mr. Presley’s support of Medicaid expansion while equating him to the national Democrats at the forefront of the culture wars. However, Mr. Presley stated he is pro-life and told local media that he wouldn’t work to overturn Reeves’ legislation prohibiting men from playing in women’s sports and banning gender-reassignment procedures for minors.

“Tate Reeves knows that I won’t work to overturn these laws, and this issue is settled in Mississippi, but he’s busy pushing the same old false political attacks to cover up his career of corruption,” Mr. Presley told Mississippi Today. “As a man of faith who is pro-life, I’ve never once had an issue disagreeing with my party when they’re wrong, so I’ll be clear: I don’t think boys should be playing against girls, and girls shouldn’t be playing against boys. I don’t think minors should be getting surgery to change their gender.”

Dr. John Witcher

The two Republican primary challengers are 57-year-old Dr. John Witcher and 63-year-old military veteran David Hardigree, both of whom Mr. Reeves has scarcely acknowledged.

Dr. Witcher, a physician who was fired for treating COVID-19 patients with ivermectin, is the former president and co-founder of the medical freedom advocacy organization MS Against Mandates.

Dr. John Witcher speaks in the Mississippi capitol building addressing adverse events from the COVID-19 vaccine, 2023. (Courtesy of Charlotte Stringer Photography)

He’s running on an issue largely ignored by Gov. Reeves and Mr. Presley: the medical malpractice and fraud perpetuated by the COVID-19 vaccines.

“The biggest reason I’m running is because I want to bring about medical transparency,” Dr. Witcher told The Epoch Times in a previous article.

“A lot of doctors are seeing patients who are vaccine-injured who want to talk about it but can’t,” Dr. Witcher said. “A lot of them can’t give you the truth about the vaccine because they’re afraid they will lose their license or get labeled as someone who gives misinformation.”

Dr. Witcher said he wants to change that.

“We want an investigation into these shots,” Dr. Witcher said. “We want to know how many people have been injured, disabled, and died from these shots in Mississippi. We want to stop the shots and start an investigation into the pharmaceutical industry, particularly with fraudulent advertisements. They advertised everywhere that these shots were safe and effective when they knew they weren’t.”

In February, Dr. Witcher held an event at the state Capitol building where several physicians, vaccine-injured people, and whistleblowers spoke, asking officials to cease all COVID-19 vaccinations and to convene a grand jury to investigate its rollout in the state.

General Election and Runoffs

After the state primaries, the Republican nominee and Mr. Presley will face 68-year-old Gwendolyn Gray, an independent candidate, in the Nov. 7 general election, with runoffs on Nov. 28.

If none of the primary candidates win a majority of the vote, the top winners advance to the runoff on Aug. 29.

In addition to the gubernatorial primary, incumbent Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann faces state Sen. Chris McDaniel and college professor Tiffany Longino in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.