Mississippi Governor’s Race Unexpectedly Close as Democrat Mounts Strong Challenge

Gov. Tate Reeves, dogged by a welfare scandal, is under serious pressure from Brandon Presley, who threatens the GOP’s 20-year hold on the executive mansion.

Tate Reeves in a Nov. 1, 2019, file photograph in Tupelo, Miss., before winning the gubernatorial election. Brandon Dill/Getty Images

JACKSON, Miss.—Mississippi is a deep-red state, almost as red as it gets. Republicans have a solid majority in its House of Representatives, a supermajority in the Senate, and control the governor’s mansion. No Democrat has held statewide office here in more than a decade.

Yet this governor’s race has become unexpectedly tight, raising the possibility of breaking the GOP’s 20-year hold on the executive mansion.