At the beginning of election season, it looked like Mississippi’s most interesting statewide race would be for governor, in which incumbent Republican Tate Reeves seeks re-election against Democrat Brandon Presley, the longtime public service commissioner.
There’s seven months left before voters decide between those two in November, and with a couple of exceptions, both camps have held their ample campaign artillery.
This means there’s a dramatic void to fill, and two Republicans, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and his challenger, Sen. Chris McDaniel, have stepped up to do it.
McDaniel entered the campaign by labeling Hosemann as “more liberal than moderate;” a man he said is unsuited for current Republican politics in Mississippi.
When McDaniel made his campaign announcement back in January, a Hosemann spokesman zinged him by saying, “The least effective politician in the state with the largest ego is running again.”
Suffice it to say the two men don’t have much use for each other. So it’s no surprise that Hosemann’s campaign, according to the Mississippi Today website, has filed a complaint accusing McDaniel of “clear violations of Mississippi law” involving the challenger’s campaign funds.
The complaint has been forwarded to the attorney general’s office for investigation, and a McDaniel spokeswoman said the candidate is returning a $237,500 contribution that he received from a Virginia-based non-profit.
Mississippi Today said the non-profit is described as a “dark money” corporation that sends anonymously donated money to campaigns across the country.
Now, it takes an unusual amount of political skill to make a complaint about campaign contributions entertaining. But the spokesmen for both campaigns were up to the challenge.
McDaniel’s spokeswoman said the senator’s campaign is confident it would win a court case — but is returning the money “to avoid a protracted legal fight with the establishment.”
A Hosemann adviser responded, “Chris McDaniel has been hiring Democrats to attack our conservative lieutenant governor and now we know he used illegal money to do it. ... Stay tuned as his illegally funded campaign based on a lie continues to unravel.”
Hosemann’s complaint also pointed out that McDaniel registered his Political Action Committee, Hold the Line, with the Mississippi secretary of state’s office in 2022. But the PAC’s first finance report showed it had a cash balance in 2021, the year before it registered with the state. Two subsequent amended reports continue to show cash from 2021.
McDaniel is proud of his reputation as a fighter, so he can’t complain much when an opponent takes the fight to him. There is a legitimate argument that U.S. Supreme Court campaign finance rulings supersede Mississippi laws, but McDaniel chose to avoid that issue.
Still, he is coming at Hosemann hard from the right flank, and the lieutenant governor clearly is willing to respond in kind. This sets up an interesting summer for Mississippi Republicans.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
