Democrat candidate Brandon Presley, who is currently a public service commissioner, is seeking to wrestle the governor’s office from Tave Reeves, who is seeking a second term.
Two separate polls conducted this fall show Reeves with a one-point lead and an eight-point lead over his challenger. Those polls come after an August poll showed Reeves up by 11 points over Presley.
The race has moved from the “likely” category to “leans Republican” at the Cook Political Report.
Mississippi voters, meanwhile, have been saturated with non-stop TV ads in a punch and counter-punch political fight from both political campaigns. In the ads Presley promises Mississippians he will eliminate the state's grocery tax, the highest in the nation, and promises to expand Medicaid in the state's poorest state.
Reeves, meanwhile, is pointing out Presley call himself a moderate but left-wing donors are sending checks to his political campaign to turn Mississippi blue.
According to a Washington Post story about the gubernatorial race, Reeves is considered a vulnerable candidate after winning election by only five points in 2019. Believing that Presley’s populist message resonates with voters, the Democratic Governor’s Association has spent $5 million in Presley’s campaign.
Campaign workers are knocking on doors in black neighborhoods to increase black voter turnout beyond the minimum 32% Presley needs to win, the Post story said.
Presley is also wooing Republican voters by calling himself a “pro-gun” and “pro-life” candidate, and touting his religious faith, too. If those views are true, that makes him a rare “Blue Dog Democrat” in a political party that worships abortion, despises gun rights, and sees religious faith in public office as "theocratic."
One of the TV political ads for Presley ends with the phrase “Let’s go Brandon!” which voters recognize as a crude criticism of President Biden. To use that phrase in a Democrat candidate’s ad suggests Brandon --- the candidate, not the president --- is trying to appeal to white Republican voters
Jameson Taylor of AFA Action, the political arm of the Mississippi-based American Family Association, says the Democratic Governors Association would not spend millions to elect a moderate Democrat.
“I think you're going to see that Brandon Presley is going to align with these far-left Democrats if he is elected governor,” Taylor predicts, “He really doesn't have a record on the issues that matter most, on pro-life issues, on social issues, on cutting taxes."
Editor's Note: AFA Action is an affiliate of the American Family Association, the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
