Business leaders gathered in Jackson on Thursday to hear from various elected officials and candidates seeking political office at the Mississippi Economic Council’s annual Hobnob event.
Hobnob is intentionally scheduled just before an election to allow politicians to give Mississippians one last pitch before voters head to the ballot box. It also allows statewide officials not in the middle of the campaigning process to provide an update from their office and highlight achievements.
Here’s what the following political figures had to say:
Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson
Gipson painted a bleak picture of the current situation for farmers in Mississippi.
From a national trade deficit to Congress’ inability to pass legislation that would support agricultural producers and ensure hungry families have food on their table and the impacts of rampant inflation, Mississippi’s farmers have been challenged this year despite an uptick in production.
“We have everything up in terms of our production from farmers. From soybeans to cotton to corn, rice, and peanuts — all of it is up. But what’s also up is inflation,” Gipson said. “As you well know, inflation is affecting every aspect of our economy. There’s no one who is affected worse, no one who is affected in any greater way than the farmers of Mississippi and America.”
The agriculture commissioner also expressed fears that new environmental regulations could stymie farmers’ ability to cultivate crops if power rests in the wrong hands at the federal level.
Nonetheless, Gipson is hopeful that Mississippi’s abundant water supply will soon come in handy and offer farmers a golden opportunity to be the nation’s leader in food production.
Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney
Chaney unexpectedly created a sense of controversy when calling for his position to be moved from elected to appointed roughly two months ago. That recommendation received strong pushback from the Mississippi Public Service Commission, whose three members were of the belief that Chaney was also calling for their positions to become appointed.
The insurance commissioner clarified that he is only seeking to have his position switched to an appointed one. His rationale is to prevent an unqualified candidate looking to potentially use that post as a stepping stone to higher offices. Since the insurance commissioner covers a bevy of crucial topics, Chaney deems it necessary for future commissioners to be incredibly versed in the field.
“We don’t need people running for this office to try to move up. This job is one that depends upon the stability, predictability, and reliability of our regulations. What we need is people who understand the industry and the job,” Chaney said, “When you have to raise $1.1 million to run an election, you’ve got to raise that money — most of it comes from the very people you regulate. It is hard to take a campaign check from somebody, then tell them ‘no’ the next day.”
Chaney plans to appeal to the state legislature to have the next insurance commissioner either appointed by the governor or some sort of board. The appointee would have to be confirmed by the state senate before assuming the role, per Chaney, who is mulling retirement if the legislation he’s proposing is passed.
State Treasurer David McRae
McRae has continuously touted his role in delivering $100 million in unclaimed money to Mississippians. He further unveiled a campaign to identify 100,000 Mississippians owed money by the government and to deliver a collective estimate of $25 million to them automatically.
The state treasurer further noted that thorough background checks will be conducted to ensure that the right amount of money goes to the correct deserving recipients.
“At the end of the day, we want to make it easy for you all to get your money, put it back into local communities, and move on with your lives,” McRae said. “It’s not the government’s money. It’s your money. I don’t want it. I want y’all to have it.”
He has also boasted about the state earning a record $375 million in interest during the most recent fiscal year and his office’s commitment to providing affordable college tuition options for Mississippi families, which he expects to help boost the state’s workforce down the stretch.
State Auditor Shad White
Just three days after unveiling “Project Momentum,” a report showing how 13 state agencies waste a collective $335 million annually, White used his time at the microphone to justify his team’s audit.
White reiterated points made in the report on what he finds to be wasteful spending in information technology spheres, education, Medicaid, and other sectors of the government. He went on to say government agencies need to be held accountable to the taxpayers.
“We have to, in government, stop worrying about keeping everybody happy all the time,” White said. “We’ve got to start worrying about doing our jobs every single day, even when it’s hard because that is how we achieve the best possible results for the taxpayer.”
After discussing the “fat,” or unnecessary spending, his team identified, White discussed a major challenge he sees Mississippi facing down the road. According to the auditor, 54% of Mississippi babies are born to an unwed mother. He fears this will lead to an increase in poverty, an uptick in high school dropout rates, and upped incarceration.
To address these future concerns, White advocated for the government to cut back on superfluous expenditures and to prioritize programs that offer solutions to children in disadvantaged situations.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch
Fitch harped on a myriad of issues her office is working to tackle. Among the topics covered were stopping domestic abuse, preventing biological males from competing in women’s sports, combatting drug overdoses, and protecting Mississippi children from online predators.
The attorney general promised to exhaust all efforts to stand up to “big tech” in an attempt to keep children out of harm’s way when using social media. Fitch has filed complaints against multiple social media platforms, accusing them of getting children addicted to their apps through the promotion of harmful content.
“Social media companies do not care. They are leveraging our children. They’re hurting them mentally, physically, and through algorithms and bullying,” Fitch said. “They do not want you as parents to be able to control what your child sees.”
Fitch also touched on her “One Pill Can Kill” campaign which serves to educate Mississippians, particularly young people, about the potentially fatal dangers of fentanyl and other substances commonly found in drugs.
U.S. Senate Candidate Ty Pinkins
Pinkins, a U.S. Army veteran and Mississippi Delta attorney, spoke extensively about his 21 years in the military — particularly time spent overseas — and swore to uphold the same oath he took as an officer if elected into the federal legislative chamber.
The Democratic senate hopeful began his speech by acknowledging the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, as one of the darkest days in American history before attacking the record of his opponent, Roger Wicker, who he says “lacks courage.”
“We have leaders, like my opponent, who don’t have the personal courage to do the right things,” Pinkins said. “When you vote against veterans benefits, when they’ve been exposed to toxins, in 2022, personal courage is missing because my opponent voted against that.”
Pinkins went on to accuse Wicker of voting against tax cuts for middle-class families, dismissing legislation that would provide additional federal funding for disaster-stricken residents along the Gulf Coast, and not pushing forward a recent bill intended to secure the southern border dividing the U.S. and Mexico.
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker
Wicker, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, never mentioned his opponent. Instead, he took a chunk of his time at the podium to differentiate Trump’s presidency from Joe Biden’s time in the Oval Office.
The longtime lawmaker lauded the economic and foreign policies of the former president, and current GOP presidential hopeful, while lambasting the current administration for economic hardships and what he believes to be a catastrophe at the southern border.
“The policies we have implemented of lowering the burden on job creators worked for Americans. Now let’s fast forward to 2020. There was a complete reversal in who was controlling the federal government,” Wicker said. “On day one of that Biden-Harris administration, the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy was repealed. The Keystone XL pipeline permits were repealed. We could no longer build that. Shortly thereafter, opposed to the tax cuts that had been given to the American people, there was a so-called ‘Recovery Act’ that spent $1.9 trillion right off the bat.”
Wicker, who is seeking a third term in office, is hopeful of Trump’s return to the White House. Regardless of the executive branch’s leader, he is planning to promote legislation that will boost the U.S. military’s capabilities, secure the border, and promote economic prosperity.
The veteran is not as concerned about the upcoming outcome of his race as he is about others in battleground states. At this point in the election cycle, Wicker is optimistic the Republicans will flip the Senate, albeit with a narrow majority, on Tuesday.
Mississippi House Speaker Jason White
White, who officially became Mississippi’s speaker of the House this past January after the retirement of Philip Gunn, minced no words when it came to one hot-button issue in the Magnolia State — Medicaid expansion.
The Republican from West scolded his legislative peers and superiors alike for declining to have substantive conversations about expanding access to healthcare for Mississippi’s working poor through the Affordable Care Act or finding ways to financially compensate hospitals on the brink of collapse. White also held himself accountable in the process.
“Yes, we’re talking about Medicaid expansion. For too long, for political reasons or self-interest, politicians have refused in meaningful debates to address those problems in our healthcare system and specifically rural healthcare and the delivery of it,” White said. “I’ve admitted that I was one of those ones willing to look away but no more.”
White also praised state lawmakers for going against the status quo of past legislative cycles and enacting a brand-new K-12 public education formula.
The prominent state lawmaker recently released a study showing the economy, tax policies, and healthcare dominating the topics of importance among Mississippi lawmakers. White used the end of Thursday’s speech to ensure the electorate that, under his watch, the Mississippi House of Representatives will prioritize the peoples’ concerns, not the interests of a handful of elites.
Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann
Last to the podium on Thursday was Mississippi’s second-highest-ranking statewide elected official. Hosemann talked about historic investments the state has made into its infrastructure under his watch and recent economic development successes across Mississippi.
As for plans for the upcoming legislative session, Hosemann wants to cut the state’s grocery tax, make community college free for Mississippians, and reduce chronic absenteeism across the state.
He also plans to use his platform to move the conversation forward on solutions to Mississippi’s ongoing healthcare crisis. Hosemann, taking a shot at Governor Tate Reeves, an ardent opponent of Medicaid expansion, said it’s time to move forward with policies that will provide working Mississippians with affordable care.
“This last year, we passed healthcare reform in the Senate, but it was difficult because there’s a governor who doesn’t necessarily agree with some of our proposals,” Hosemann said. “We passed it so that working people who don’t have insurance can have insurance. There are 75,000 of them in Mississippi.”
This past legislative session, lawmakers moved a bill to the goal line that would have expanded Medicaid with a work requirement, but it ultimately failed to reach the end zone as the clock expired. Regardless, Gov. Reeves remained a roadblock in any attempt to pass what he dubs an extension of Obamacare.
Medicaid expansion, along with the best means of effectively reducing taxes, will certainly be discussed in the upcoming legislative session.
State lawmakers will gavel in for a new session on January 7, 2025. But before then, a major election will take place this coming Tuesday.
