Mississippi Today
McDaniel blasts Hosemann as too liberal, weighs Lt. Gov. run
McDaniel blasts Hosemann as too liberal, weighs Lt. Gov. run
Longtime state Sen. Chris McDaniel, once the standard bearer for tea party conservatives in Mississippi who made two unsuccessful U.S. Senate runs, is pondering a challenge of incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann next year.
McDaniel says Hosemann isn’t conservative enough for Mississippi.
“My official answer is, all the cards are on the table and all the options are available and there’s time to decide,” McDaniel said when questioned about a run for lieutenant governor. “… (Hosemann) is not one of us, and that’s causing a tremendous amount of frustrated conservatives.”
McDaniel called Hosemann, “the best thing that’s happened to Democrats in this state in a generation.”
“… I will be running some type of race one way or the other in 2023, so I have been fundraising, and traveling the state meeting people who share conservative values … Mississippi deserves fighters in the mold of DeSantis and in the mold of Trump. We are a very red state and we should behave like we are a red state.”
Hosemann through a spokesperson declined comment on McDaniel’s brickbats or potential run.
Unseating a popular and well-known Republican like Hosemann would be a tough task in Mississippi, where majority party incumbency typically wins the day. But McDaniel, although he fell short in his U.S. Senate races in 2014 and 2018, should not be taken lightly as a challenger, said Austin Barbour, a longtime state and national GOP strategist.
“I think in the political environment in this country right now, to a certain degree all incumbents have vulnerability,” Barbour said. “If you don’t believe me, go ask (U.S. Rep.) Michael Guest, who got the scare of his life this year in a Republican primary.
“I think if Chris McDaniel runs for lieutenant governor, he has to be taken seriously,” Barbour said. “… He’s got hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, and people like me who do campaigns know how valuable an asset a social media presence like Chris McDaniel’s is.”
But Barbour said Hosemann maintains “presence and popularity” and McDaniel would have to “expand outside of his base to pull off a victory like this.” He said he isn’t aware of widespread complaints about Hosemann’s conservative bona fides.
“Delbert Hosemann is very well liked,” Barbour said. “He has popularity, widespread name recognition, a large war chest and a conservative record of what he’s done in office, and the career he’s had outside of politics … Delbert Hosemann is a conservative, but it’s not a surprise that a potential challenger would try to get to the right of the incumbent.”
Hosemann has clashed with fellow Republican leaders on some issues, such as elimination of the state income tax, and by being at least open to discussion of expansion of Medicaid to cover the working poor.
Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn last year championed elimination of the state personal income tax, with support from Gov. Tate Reeves. But Hosemann called for a more moderate approach. The final compromise reached by the GOP supermajority Legislature still amounts to the largest tax cuts in state history.
For his part, McDaniel has frequently clashed with the state’s Republican leadership. He found himself at odds with the GOP establishment when he challenged longtime U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014, and when he challenged Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in 2018.
McDaniel was also a political foe of Gov. Tate Reeves during Reeves’ two terms as lieutenant governor, at the time often claiming — as he does now with Hosemann — that Reeves was not conservative enough when he ran the state Senate.
But McDaniel appears to have mended fences with Reeves, who as governor now is de facto head of the state GOP and who himself has been critical of Hosemann and questioned his conservativeness. Should he run McDaniel might not be quite the state GOP outsider he’s been in the past.
“I consider Tate to be a friend, and I have many, many friends in his circle,” McDaniel said. “I have to take responsibility for some of that tension we had in the past. He and I have very different personalities, and I think that we both perhaps rubbed each other the wrong way. It was personalities, it wasn’t philosophical. Tate is conservative. I’m conservative. I think our personalities clashed, but we were able to put that aside.”
McDaniel said he’s confident in his own current political position.
“My name ID is one of the top in the state, and polling has never looked better for me than in this moment,” McDaniel said. “I can say, generally speaking, God has been really good to me and a lot of the bridges that appeared to be burned in 2014 appear to be repaired. This is a wonderful state full of forgiving people.”
One of McDaniel’s complaints of Hosemann is that as lieutenant governor he’s given Democrats too much power as committee chairmen and chairwomen in the 52-member Senate.
“Let’s just be frank. There are 16 Democrats in the Senate, and 13 hold chairmanships,” McDaniel said.
But with a 52-member Senate with 41 standing and joint committees, giving chairmanships to minority party members isn’t really policy — it’s math. McDaniel did not mention that 13 Democrats also held chairmanships during Reeves’ final four years as lieutenant governor, when Republicans held a supermajority similar to now. In Reeves first term, he appointed 17 Democrats to chairmanships.
McDaniel also claimed that Hosemann “protected Democrats with redistricting” this year when the Legislature redrew district maps based on population changes. Notably, Senate redistricting will likely mean the ouster of one of McDaniel’s closest allies, Sen. Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez. Sojourner’s district was collapsed into another, with the new district a 60% Black majority.
But Hosemann and other Republicans said the move was required because of population shifts, and noted that while a district was eliminated in southwest Mississippi, another heavily Republican one was created in Rankin and Smith counties.
McDaniel said: “(Hosemann) eliminated the career of one of the most conservative members in the chamber.”
“You might recall earlier this year Mississippi Today wrote an article, describing the three Republican parties in this state, and saying Hosemann is head of the moderate wing and I’m the head of the conservative wing,” McDaniel said. “I would go further. He’s the best thing that’s happened to Democrats in this state in a generation. Now that he’s taking positions, people can see that and he can’t hide his true colors any more.
“Delbert stood in the way of income tax elimination — he stopped it,” McDaniel said. “People are not happy with the growth of this government, not happy that Democrats have as much say in this Senate as they do. From expansion of TANF benefits to the attempted expansion of the welfare state, people are unhappy with it.”
While he said he hasn’t made any decision yet, McDaniel appears to be laying groundwork for a statewide run, not reelection to a Senate seat. He’s traveling the state frequently and meeting with numerous Republican and other groups.
“It’s been really good,” McDaniel said. “People are hungry for leaderships and they want to see fighters. One thing I was born to do is fight.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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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.
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