Meridian, Miss. (WTOK) – Delbert Hosemann, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, visited Meridian Monday evening.

Hosemann addressed an excited crowd at Squealer’s BBQ on several topics, including moving Meridian forward.

“We have a lot of potential here, and it’s time, Meridian; it’s time,” said Hosemann. “We’ve got The MAX and a lot of things going on here. We just need to capitalize on our economic development.”

While in the Queen City, Hosemann made several stops including small businesses. He considers the growth of technical programs and economic development as key goals, if elected.

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Waynesboro, Miss. (WDAM) – Secretary of State and Republican nominee for lieutenant governor Delbert Hosemann was in Waynesboro on Wednesday visiting community leaders, law enforcement and supporters in the area.

Along with his plan to speed up the process of getting a Mississippi driver’s license, Hosemann also talked at length about his proposal to raise state worker’s salaries.

Under the plan, state employees would receive up to a 3% pay increase, which would be funded by a 1% savings in administrative and overhead expenses in almost every state agency.

However, departments in education, mental health, Child Protective Services, corrections along with district attorneys and trial judges would be exempt.

Hosemann said that he turned back nearly $1.5 million to the general fund this year from his lower budget and is asking other departments and agencies to do the same.

“Reduce your budget by 1%, and then what we’re going to do is give that money back as pay raises to our employees that work so hard in Mississippi,” Hosemann said. “Everybody that you look at is very under compensated for the work that they’re doing, and so I’m asking our other state agencies to do what I’ve already done, take a 1% reduction and let’s give that as a pay raise back to our employees.”

Other states have benefited from similar proposals and in the 2019 legislative session, lawmakers approved their first across-the-board raise for employees in several years. The raise was intended to move positions closer to the relevant market rate so that employees would receive either a position realignment amount, if the amount to reach the market rate was less than 3%.

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Purvis, Miss. (WDAM) – Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo endorsed Delbert Hosemann for Mississippi Lieutenant Governor on Friday.

Palazzo cited Hosemann’s “strong business sense, fiscal conservatism and support for law enforcement.”
Hosemann clinched the Republican nomination with a decisive win over Shane Quick in the August primary.

“In Mississippi, we have so much potential, and we’re heading in the right direction. We don’t need to go another way. We need leaders who in their heart, mind, and soul, want to make Mississippi a better place for future generations,” Palazzo said. “Living within our means, growing our revenues, fostering an economy where our young people will stay in our State, and improving our educational systems—Delbert Hosemann is an easy choice for Lieutenant Governor because these are his goals and he has a record of getting things done.”

Hosemann is in his third term as Mississippi Secretary of State.
“Congressman Palazzo has worked hard for the Pine Belt and Mississippi Gulf Coast, securing funds to shore up infrastructure and protect our natural resources and unique industries in his district,” Hosemann said. “We are a better State because he is looking out for us in Washington. I’m looking forward to continuing our strong relationship in this new role.”

Hosemann will face Democrat J. P. Hughes Jr. in the general election on Nov. 5.

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Brandon, Miss. (WLBT) – Delbert Hosemann picked up the endorsement of Congressman Michael Guest Wednesday afternoon.

This is Hosemann’s second endorsement from a member of Mississippi’s congressional delegation in two weeks, with Congressman Trent Kelly endorsing Hosemann in late August.

“We need a conservative leader who can effectively address some of the most important issues facing our State, such as the economy, public education, healthcare, and infrastructure,” said Congressman Guest.

“Delbert Hosemann is the right person for this job, and I urge Mississippians to vote for him in November,” he continued.

The General Election in Mississippi is November 5, 2019.

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Tupelo, Miss. (WCBI) – A candidate for Lieutenant Governor picked up an endorsement from a U.S. Congressman.

Republican Congressman Trent Kelly endorsed Delbert Hosemann in his run for Mississippi’s Lieutenant Governor.

Congressman Kelly announced his endorsement of Hosemann during a news conference at the Tupelo Furniture Market.

Kelly said Hosemann’s experience as secretary of state has given him experience in budgeting and management, which he will take to the office of Lieutenant Governor.

“He’s just a man of integrity, he does great work for the state of Mississippi, but most importantly, he cares and he’s very forward-thinking, you know, he wants to do a lot of work as lieutenant governor on education and transportation, which people don’t always think of as Republican issues, but Delbert’s going to make it those issues,” Cong. Kelly said.

“I mean, you think about his history as a general , fighting in wars, district attorney, now leader in Congress on Armed Forces Committee, Trent Kelly has a rudder and I’m glad he’s steering our country the way it ought to be steered,” Hosemann said.

Hosemann faces Democrat J. P Hughes Junior in November.

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Vicksburg, Miss. (Mississippi Today) – Warren County resident Lauren Stubblefield, a flood victim and seventh generation Mississippian, stood in front of the Mississippi River Commission and painted a vivid image of her home on Floweree Road.

“Imagine your favorite place in the world,” Stubblefield said. “Close your eyes and imagine that place filling up with several feet of the most toxic, stagnant, nasty water you can imagine. And imagine that water sitting there for months as everything rots in it. Imagine the animals that starve because you can’t feed them.

“Then imagine going back to that place when the water goes down. Imagine the filth and the mold, the fungus, the smell. If you haven’t experienced that, you need to go up just a few miles up the road. And you can see it all. That is the truth that we are living.”

Other flood victims, local and state leaders joined Stubblefield during the commission’s annual low-water inspection on Wednesday to air their feelings about federal flood control policies, mainly focusing on the months of backwater flooding in the Delta and the deaths of marine wildlife in the Gulf.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, who was the first to speak, criticized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ reliance on the Bonnet Carré spillway in Louisiana.

When the Mississippi River is high enough, the Corps opens the spillway to prevent flooding in New Orleans and surrounding areas. However, the opening also allows freshwater into the Mississippi Sound, killing species such as oysters, crabs and shrimp. Until this year’s openings, the Corps had never opened the spillway twice in a year, and never in consecutive years.

“Not one of us in Mississippi thinks this is a one-off event,” Hosemann said. “Not one of us. We think this will occur again. The time to address these issues is today. You have the authority to do that.”

Hosemann, presenting alongside the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, cited subsequent losses totaling 95 percent of the state’s oysters, 56 percent of shrimp, and 50 percent of blue crab.

Hosemann requested the Corps conduct an environmental impact statement of the Mississippi Sound, as well as a study of how the Morganza Floodway — a seldom used spillway that diverts water into the Atchafalaya Basin — could help mitigate the damages.

“The amount of water that’s coming down the Mississippi River is historic,” he said. “We recognize that you have to operate the entire valley from Iowa to Mississippi. However, when you get to the Morganza spillway, you have the flexibility to divert some of that flood water.”

A ‘pumps’ decision awaits

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awaits new data on the Yazoo Pumps in order to review it’s 2008 veto of the project, state and local officials echoed Stubblefield’s impatience.

The flood took two lives in June, when two people drowned trying to escape the waters in Holly Bluff. Peter Nimrod, chief engineer of the Mississippi River Levee Board blamed the tragedy directly on the EPA’s veto of the pumps.

“Those two who drowned are on your hands, EPA,” Nimrod said.

About half a million acres went underwater from the flood, including about 230,000 acres of farmland. Andy Gipson, the state commissioner of agriculture and commerce, said that the state’s economy took a $500 million hit this year from crops that could not be planted.

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