Congressman-Elect Michael Guest (R) will be making his way to Washington soon. Guest was elected as Congressman of the Third Congressional District and will replace Gregg Harper (R) when he steps down after serving for 10 years in the House of Representatives.
“Serving as a Member of the United States House of Representatives has been the highest privilege and honor of my life,” said Congressman Gregg Harper. “The opportunity to serve the people of the Third District, our state, and our country is something that my wife, Sidney, and I will never forget. I commend the Third District voters for selecting Michael Guest to succeed me. I have full confidence that Michael will be an outstanding Member of the United States House of Representatives.”
Guest has served as a District Attorney in Madison and Rankin Counties and said the transition from a prosecutor to a legislator is going to take some time for the adjustment but he has already been hard at work getting some of his staff in place.
“Several members of Gregg’s current staff, I’ve spoken with and they have agreed to stay on and continue their work on behalf of the people of Mississippi. I am excited to be able to surround myself with a seasoned staff that have been there with Gregg, some as many as 10 years, one lady, in particular, has been there 20 plus years. I believe this will give us a leg up when we get to Washington, over a lot of the other incoming freshman Congressman because I don’t believe they will have been able to assemble a staff with the experience that we are going to have when we get up to Washington.”
The Congressman-Elect said he will be flying out this week for a two-week long freshman orientation where they will be briefed on everything from office budgets to participating in a lottery to determine office space.
During this transition period, Guest said he will also be working to transition over the District Attorney’s office to someone who the Governor will appoint, likely in December.
“I want to work with that individual to make sure that there is a smooth transition,” Guest said. “To make sure that individual has everything he or she needs so that they can be an effect DA in January.”
Guest said he will be sitting down with Congressman Harper at some point to discuss what he has identified as needs for the Third Congressional District and said he wishes to continue the Congressman’s work with individuals with physical, mental, and intellectual disabilities as well.
Working as a prosecutor for 23 years, Guest added that his heart is with law enforcement and said he wants to work with fellow MS Congressman Trent Kelly, who is also a former prosecutor, to ensure that members of law enforcement are adequately trained, equipped and that they have the necessary protection so that the can go out and do their job.
“I would like to see additional federal money appropriated for things such as body cams,” Guest said. “We had an opportunity to use that in a court case over a year ago and I will tell you that that is a very compelling piece of evidence because it is one thing for a witness to tell or to explain to a jury what he or she saw, it is a different thing for them to see that as it happens on that body cam video.”
