Mississippi Today
Governor’s race disconnect: Brandon Presley’s positions have more support than his candidacy does

Likely Mississippi voters by an overwhelming margin continue to support the issues touted by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley even if they do not support him.
The latest Mississippi Today/Siena College poll further highlights the electoral disconnect that has been evident in earlier polls conducted by the same pollster. The polls have consistently shown that people support Presley’s proposals, but he still trails Republican incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves.
The latest poll, conducted Aug. 20-28 of 650 likely voters ahead of the Nov. 8 general election, shows Reeves leading Presley 52% to 41%.
Yet a whopping 92% are concerned with the financial condition of Mississippi hospitals that put them at risk of closure. While Reeves has barely spoken of the hospital crisis unless asked about it by the media, Presley has made the issue key to his campaign.
Editor’s note: Poll methodology and crosstabs can be found at the bottom of this story. Click here to read more about our partnership with Siena College Research Institute.
And one of Presley’s primary solutions to the hospital crisis — expanding Medicaid to provide health care to primarily the working poor while at the same time providing another source of revenue for struggling hospitals — is supported by 72% of poll respondents and opposed by 23%.
To further amplify that voter disconnect, poll respondents are evenly split on which candidate “would do a better job addressing the Mississippi hospital crisis” at 44% each.
The only issue polled by Siena where Reeves appears to have an advantage is on the issue of transgender women competing in women’s sports. The issue was viewed as a concern by 70% of respondents, with 50% saying it was a very serious concern.
Reeves has made trans issues a key plank in his campaign. Anti-trans issues have been the subject of two of Reeves’ first six televised campaign commercials.
The governor has hammered his Democratic challenger on the issue even though Presley has stated, “I don’t think boys should be playing against girls, and girls shouldn’t be playing against boys. I don’t think minors should be getting surgery to change their gender.” But the Democrat has not focused on the issue like Reeves has.
Presley even has the more popular position on one of Reeves’ longtime favorite/pet issues: tax cuts. Reeves has touted the need to eliminate the state income tax for years. But the most recent Siena poll found that respondents by a wide margin support Presley’s proposal to cut the state’s 7% tax on groceries more than they support Reeves proposal to eliminate the state income tax. Eliminating the income tax is supported 62% to 28% with 10% undecided, while 83% favor cutting the grocery tax and 13% are opposed with 4% undecided.
The disconnect perhaps can be attributed to the fact that a vast majority of Mississippians want to vote for the Republican candidate over the Democrat more than they want to expand Medicaid or address the hospital crisis or cut the grocery tax. For many Mississippians, their default position is to vote for the Republican.
And the poll also found that still, about two months before the Nov. 7 election, a sizable group of Mississippians don’t know Presley. Presley is in his fourth term as Northern District Public Service commissioner, tasked with helping regulate many of the state’s utilities. He is running for statewide office for the first time. Reeves, on the other hand, is running his sixth statewide campaign and has almost a 9-to-1 cash advantage to help get out his message.
Presley was viewed as positive by 38% of poll respondents and negative by 26%, with 35% saying they did not know enough to offer an opinion.
What exactly should Presley make of this clear voter disconnect? He is clearly on the right side of many of the issues in terms of them being supported by the public, but he must be discouraged that that might not have an impact on how many Mississippians vote.
Reeves was viewed negatively by 49% and positively by 46%, with only 5% not offering an opinion. For an incumbent to be viewed unfavorably by nearly a majority of the electorate has to be a warning sign for Reeves.
The Mississippi Today/Siena College Research Institute poll of 650 registered voters was conducted August 20-28, 2023, and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points. Siena has an ‘A’ rating in FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of pollsters.
Click here for complete methodology and crosstabs relevant to this story.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=282696
Mississippi Today
1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed
April 26, 1964

Civil rights activists started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white regular delegation to the Democratic National Convention.
The regulars had already adopted this resolution: “We oppose, condemn and deplore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … We believe in separation of the races in all phases of our society. It is our belief that the separation of the races is necessary for the peace and tranquility of all the people of Mississippi, and the continuing good relationship which has existed over the years.”
In reality, Black Mississippians had been victims of intimidation, harassment and violence for daring to try and vote as well as laws passed to disenfranchise them. As a result, by 1964, only 6% of Black Mississippians were permitted to vote. A year earlier, activists had run a mock election in which thousands of Black Mississippians showed they would vote if given an opportunity.
In August 1964, the Freedom Party decided to challenge the all-white delegation, saying they had been illegally elected in a segregated process and had no intention of supporting President Lyndon B. Johnson in the November election.
The prediction proved true, with white Mississippi Democrats overwhelmingly supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. While the activists fell short of replacing the regulars, their courageous stand led to changes in both parties.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday
Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.
“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”
The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.



“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”
The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.
“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”
NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.




This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says
Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed.
They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them.
Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother.
“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.”
Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023.
Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board.
The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition.
A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities.
Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board.
In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties.
The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more.
From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths.
“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said.
Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.
A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents.
Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed.
In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.
Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records.
Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson.
Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.
He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media.
Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary.
Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents.
At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.
“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed6 days ago
Jim talks with Rep. Robert Andrade about his investigation into the Hope Florida Foundation
-
News from the South - Alabama News Feed5 days ago
Prayer Vigil Held for Ronald Dumas Jr., Family Continues to Pray for His Return | April 21, 2025 | N
-
Mississippi Today5 days ago
‘Trainwreck on the horizon’: The costly pains of Mississippi’s small water and sewer systems
-
News from the South - Texas News Feed5 days ago
Meteorologist Chita Craft is tracking a Severe Thunderstorm Warning that's in effect now
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed4 days ago
Trump touts manufacturing while undercutting state efforts to help factories
-
News from the South - Virginia News Feed5 days ago
Taking video of military bases using drones could be outlawed | Virginia
-
News from the South - Texas News Feed7 days ago
No. 3 Texas walks off No. 9 LSU again to capture crucial SEC softball series
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed4 days ago
Federal report due on Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina’s path to recognition as a tribal nation