Tupelo, Miss. (Daily Journal) – I don’t agree with Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on many issues, but I do think he’s done a pretty good job as our state’s second-in-command and particularly as president of the state Senate.

I appreciate his attempts toward bipartisanship, which is something you rarely see in any legislative chamber these days. As Senate president, Hosemann controls who holds committee chairmanships, and he’s made it a point to name both Republicans and Democrats to those powerful posts.

I certainly prefer Hosemann over his primary challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel of Ellisville. If McDaniel’s name is familiar to you, it’s probably because of some unfortunate remark he made during his two failed attempts to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

McDaniel tries to bill himself as Mississippi’s version of former President Donald Trump, but even Trump had some successes while in office. McDaniel, on the other hand, has a scant record when it comes to legislative achievements.

The senator, who was first elected to the state’s upper legislative chamber in 2008, sure does talk a lot, though, and mighty loudly, particularly on social media. He claims to be a “true” conservative, and he scoffs at the lieutenant governor’s work with Senate Democrats.

All I see when I look at McDaniel, however, is the embodiment of dirty politics and a bully who, if elected to a higher office, will stall any progress made by our state.

I was reminded this week of the senator’s brand of politics. One of his supporters another Republican state senator, Jeremy England, of being a “groomer,” a term commonly used to describe how sex offenders initiate contact with their victims.

What did England do to deserve such a label? Well, he has the nerve to support Hosemann, and he also dressed in a pink tutu for Halloween. He did it to support breast cancer research.

Another infamous McDaniel-adjacent scandal occurred during his first run for the U.S. Senate in 2014. He challenged incumbent Thad Cochran, a Republican, and waged a vicious fight against the six-term senator.

During this campaign, several McDaniel supporters entered a Madison nursing home and photographed Cochran’s bedridden wife, who was suffering with dementia. The pictures were posted online as part of a smear campaign accusing Cochran of engaging in an extramarital affair.

McDaniel denied involvement with both the England and Cochran incidents, and I’ll accept that at face value. However, if I were the Ellisville senator, I’d wonder what I was doing to attract such extreme supporters and inspire such nasty tactics.

It could be tied to McDaniel’s irresponsible vitriol. He’s still complaining about the state flag, which was adopted three years ago, and the process that retired the racist old one. That issue, which he has signaled he’ll re-open if he’s elected lieutenant governor, galvanizes his base like nothing else.

When he’s not griping about the state flag, he’s talking about “the swamp” or scaring his base with some exaggerated “monster of the week.” One day, the monster is illegal immigrants; the next, it’s drag performers. You never know what you’re going to get.

I want our state to move forward, and I don’t think someone like McDaniel has the political capital or foresight to orchestrate such a rise. He’s too stuck in the past and too far right to ever get anything of substance accomplished.

Hosemann may not be perfect, but he’s willing to listen, open up the tent and get to work.

Contact Managing Editor Joshua Wilson at joshua.wilson@msbusiness.com.

View Original Story (July 23, 2023)

Neshoba Co., Miss. (Daily Journal) – A slate of weekend campaign stops highlighted the factions surrounding the two Republican lieutenant governor candidates, even as both continue to aim sharp, personal attacks against each other.

Sen. Chris McDaniel appeared in a fellow legislator’s home district and spoke in support of a primary challenger. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann made the rounds at the Neshoba County Fair with sitting U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, whom McDaniel unsuccessfully challenged in 2018.

McDaniel insisted he was “not backing away” from a series of provocative allegations against Hosemann, including claims Hosemann was involved in an abortion clinic in Jackson and secretly conspired to draw Madison County into a new circuit court district. Hosemann denies both claims and repeated his dismissal of McDaniel as a “pathological liar” with few legislative achievements.

In Guntown Saturday evening, McDaniel addressed a political forum alongside allies Lauren Smith, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Chad McMahan in the District 6 Republican primary, and Rep. Chris Brown, who is running for northern district public service commissioner in the Republican primary against Tanner Newman.

McDaniel called Smith an “up-and-coming star” and praised Brown as “one of the best legislators I ever had the privilege to know.”

The event, organized by local propane company owner Daniel Hines, drew about two dozen people to Five County Sportsman Club. McDaniel pitched himself as a hardline conservative and criticized the current Republican leadership for not delivering enough with its trifecta control of state government. In the senate, he said, “[w]e outnumber those people 36 to 16. We should be passing everything you’ve ever dreamt of.”

McDaniel accused Hosemann of working behind the scenes in the lieutenant governor’s role controlling the state senate to sabotage McDaniel, expand Medicaid and prevent the income tax elimination.

Although speaking in Lee County, McDaniel waded into messy Madison County local politics and repeated an unproven allegation he has made in campaign speeches in recent weeks, claiming Hosemann met secretly with Madison supervisors to plot splitting the county from the judicial district it currently shares with Rankin County.

“He got caught, and he reversed course,” McDaniel said. Hosemann has repeatedly denied the claim and publicly committed to keeping the current judicial district.

McDaniel also reiterated his claims, recycled from attacks by Hosemann’s opponent in a 1998 Congressional race, that Hosemann was an executive officer for a women’s health clinic in Jackson that performed abortions. Although the clinic’s director previously stated Hosemann was not in fact affiliated with the clinic by the time it began performing abortions, McDaniel said he does not believe him.

Speaking to the Daily Journal on Sunday as he visited Neshoba County Fair cabins with Sen. Hyde-Smith, Hosemann echoed a statement from social media last week and called McDaniel a “pathological liar. He makes up stuff.”

Hosemann frames himself as experienced and realistic about state policy. He criticized McDaniel for a lack of legislative accomplishments and pointed out McDaniel has not passed a law in eight years.

“When I first ran as a Republican, he was nine years old,” he said. “You know, you would hope in those years he would have learned something, but apparently not.”

He noted he appointed McDaniel chairman of the senate’s Environmental Protection, Conservation and Water Resources Committee. He claimed despite municipalities facing federal court orders due to issues like pollution in the Pearl River and a shrinking water table in the Delta, McDaniel took no action.

“The only thing I regret about my Republican committee appointments is Chris McDaniel,” he said.

Reached for comment Sunday evening, McDaniel said he is unable to pass legislation because senate leaders refuse to let his bills out of committee for a full vote of the senate. He highlighted past accomplishments such as a 2011 Nathan’s law increasing penalties for traffic infractions near school buses and a 2013 law affirming student prayer rights.

Records show the 2013 legislative session was the last time McDaniel was the principal author for any successful substantive legislation.

McDaniel described Hosemann calling him a pathological liar as “classic psychological projection. He hasn’t told the truth in four years.”

View Original Story (July 24, 2023)

Jackson, Miss. (MPB) – A 106,000 square foot facility will be the newest addition to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. The new building will be the nursing school’s latest update since 1999 after the Mississippi Legislature appropriated $55 million dollars to the project during this year’s session. State lawmakers joined UMMC employees for a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday at the UMMC campus.

The panel of speakers included Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann, who said the medical center was important to state lawmakers.

“It’s our university… and we’ve been very supportive of them and they do great work,” he said. “They are at the highest level of trauma care, they went through COVID with us. I mean, you can look at everything they’ve done, but particularly they’re educating our doctors, our nurses and our dentists here.”

Dr. Tina Martin is the Interim Dean of the School of Nursing at UMMC. She says lawmakers likely agreed to funding the new school because of the quality of students the program produces.

“I know there are a lot of competing priorities, but I feel like The UMMC School of Nursing has shown that we’re able to produce graduates that are ready to transition to practice,” she said.

UMMC reports that the new building will allow a 25% increase in the number of nursing school graduates.

View Original Story (June 29, 2023)

Gulfport, Miss. (WXXV) – The 92nd Mississippi Municipal League Conference is almost complete with day two of the conference finishing up this afternoon.

Elected officials, employees, and governor candidates opened day two of the conference, sharing remarks in the opening session.

Discussions today included how to increase revenue for officials in their respective cities and breakoff meetings for mayors in each regional section of the state.

Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann tells us how over the past few years the state has allowed cities to grow in development. “We help cities by giving infrastructure money to them. We help cities by projects. We help them by paying $92 million of exemption, homestead exemption back for them. So, we are going down all the things we did to give them fire trucks and things like that. I think that’s really important to the cities.”

The Mississippi Municipal League Conference wraps up tomorrow.

View Original Story (June 27, 2023)

Jasper County, Miss. (WTOK) – The devastation in Jasper County is just jaw-dropping. Homes that were fine less than 24 hours ago are nothing but debris scattered across the ground. Trees have been shredded. The path of destruction where the tornado came through is very clear to see.

The confirmed tornado came through just before midnight. Eighteen people were injured, some hospitalized. At least one person died. She was identified as by her family as George-Jean Hayes.

State Sen. Juan Barnett said he and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann plan to tour the area to survey the damage, along with the Jasper County EMA Director Hudson Jenkins. Jenkins estimated 20 to 30 homes were either badly damaged or destroyed.

View Original Story (June 19, 2023)

Jackson, Miss. (DeSoto County News) – Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has received another endorsement in his re-election campaign, as the Business and Industry Political Education Committee (BIPEC), which represents business and industry leaders in Mississippi, has endorsed Hosemann.

“Delbert has personal experience running a business and he has always brought this knowledge to the legislative arena, first as Secretary of State and also in his first term as Lt. Governor,” said BIPEC President and Chief Executive Officer Derek Easley. “He has used this knowledge to make it easier to start and maintain a business in Mississippi. We applaud his administration’s efforts and look forward to a second term.”

Hosemann notes that the Mississippi Senate cut the income tax by $525 million without raising any taxes. This will result in a flat income tax rate of four percent in 2026.

Hosemann also oversaw passage of legislation otherwise making the tax code more favorable for businesses, such as allowing a full and immediate deduction on equipment rather than depreciation.

“We have worked hard to champion the interests of our businesses, increase opportunities for workforce training, and otherwise make Mississippi an attractive place to open or expand,” Hosemann said. “We are thankful for BIPEC’s endorsement.”

Hosemann is being challenged on the Republican side by State Sen. Chris McDaniel, Shane Quick, and Tiffany Longino on the Republican side and D. Ryan Grover on the Democratic side.

View Original Story (June 15, 2023)

Laurel, Miss. (Laurel Leader Call) – Candidates for state offices in this year’s Mississippi elections were required to file updated campaign finance reports for activity in May by June 9.

The following is a rundown of the latest campaign finance filings from each statewide and state commission candidate as filed by their campaigns with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office. Some reports either have not been filed at the time of this article or may not yet be loaded on the Secretary of State’s website.

Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hoseman outraised all state candidates during May, bringing in just under $1 million for the period. His main Republican primary challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, reported raising over $100,000.

However, as pointed out by Hosemann campaign operatives, nearly $10,000 of McDaniel’s May total were previously included in his last filing from the January through April period, meaning the state senator’s campaign team double-reported those funds.

McDaniel’s team hit back at Hosemann, pointing out that the incumbent lieutenant governor accepted donations from “liberal felon” Dickie Scruggs and his son, both of whom went to prison for judicial bribery. Hosemann’s report shows $1,000 from the father and son. Scruggs has also been a contributor to Democratic gubernatorial candidates Brandon Presley and Republican state Sen. Nicole Akins Boyd this cycle.

The leading Hosemann donors this period were the Mississippi Bankers Association PAC ($50,000) and Homebuilders Association of Mississippi PAC ($30,000). Eight others donated $25,000 to Hosemann. They were the Mississippi Health Care PAC, MADA Auto PAC, Ergon State PAC, Mississippi Medical PAC, ECM CO-PAC, Optometry for Progress PAC, R. H. Dunlap and Mississippi Roadbuilders Association PAC.

As for McDaniel, R.H. Dunlap ($15,000) and Nicole Johns ($10,000) were the leading contributors to the state senator’s lieutenant governor campaign. Five others donated $5,000 to McDaniel. Those were Kristian Agoglia, Faye Barlow, Harold White, Daniel Conwill and Denny King. The King donation is reportedly among the contributions that were double-reported.

The other Republican candidate in the race, Tiffany Longino, does not have a report listed at this time. Instead, she filed a 48-hour report showing she took in $790.

The Democratic candidate reported raising zero dollars in May and has zero cash on hand.

Republican

Delbert Hosemann (incumbent)

Raised this period: $958,000
Cash on hand: $3.7 million

Chris McDaniel

Raised this period: $107,000
Cash on hand: $386,000

Tiffany Longino – *Filed a 48-hour report

Raised this period: $790 (*48-hour report)
Cash on hand: $-

Democrat

D. Ryan Grover

Raised this period: $0
Cash on hand: $0

View Original Story (June 14, 2023)

Jackson, Miss. (Mississippi Today) – A new Mississippi Today/Siena College poll shows incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann with a substantial lead over challenger Chris McDaniel ahead of the Aug. 8 primary, but Hosemann doesn’t crack 50% and many remain undecided.

The poll of respondents who are likely to vote in the 2023 GOP primary showed Hosemann with 47% support and McDaniel with 32%. But 21% said they don’t know who they’ll vote for or declined to answer.

The poll also surveyed favorable/unfavorable numbers for both candidates. Hosemann was at 58% favorable to 22% unfavorable, and McDaniel was at 46% favorable to 28% unfavorable.

With incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves’ recent semi-endorsement of McDaniel, the poll showed 41% of likely primary voters said they would rather vote for a candidate with his endorsement down ticket, 24% said they would not and 35% said they don’t know.

Both candidates appear to have loyal bases among Republican primary voters. Of those polled who voted for Hosemann in 2019, 61% plan to vote for him again. Of those who voted for McDaniel in his unsuccessful runs for U.S. Senate in 2014 or 2018, 63% plan to vote for him again.

The poll showed some wide differences in regional voter sentiment. In the northeast congressional district, Hosemann and McDaniel were a dead heat, at 36% each. In the Delta and west Mississippi, Hosemann led 60%-20% and led 50%-26% in east-central. In the southeast district which includes McDaniel’s hometown Ellisville, Hosemann polled 45% to McDaniel’s 42%.

Of those surveyed, 31% said they would vote for a candidate considered part of the far-right wing of the GOP, while 45% said they would support a moderate Republican and 24% said they don’t know.

The Mississippi Today/Siena College Research Institute poll of 646 registered voters was conducted June 4-7, 2023, and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.8 percentage points. Siena has an ‘A’ rating in FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of pollsters.

View Original Story (June 12, 2023)

Gulfport, Miss. (WXXV) – Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann stopped by WXXV earlier today and discussed his successes throughout his term and what’s to come.

A lot has happened in Mississippi in the last four years, teachers have received a pay raise, roads are being repaved, and rural hospitals are being funded. Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann tells us how they did it. “We have paid off $550 million dollars in debt the last two years. We’re not borrowing money. And, so, what that has enabled us to do is vote the interest we would have paid in New York – to put it into education in Mississippi.”

Paying off this debt has helped Mississippi fund infrastructure. “We are actually funding infrastructure in 2025 that will be built in 2027 and 2028, so we’re out 4 and 5 years now.”

And is staffing hospitals, too. “People who sign up to stay five years in the state of Mississippi, we pay their tuition for $6,000 a year for nurses for three years. We have a shortage of about 3,000 nurses.”

Elections are coming up on August 8th and if re-elected, Hosemann wants to continue paying down Mississippi’s debt, but also cut more taxes. “We want to look at the income tax and the grocery tax. We’ve got some data now about how the last one is working, and as we go into this next session, we’ll be able to look at both of those I think.”

Even with Chris McDaniel trying to unseat him in the primary, Hosemann feels confident heading into election season. “We get rave reports. People are happy about where the state is. They’re happy about paying off debt. They’re happy about the state being run like a business. Nobody else has a record, of any of our competitors, so we’re running on our record. And I think as I go around South Mississippi, we’re getting real favorable reports.”

View Original Story (June 7, 2023)