Lt. Gov Tate Reeves will be the GOP nominee for governor in Mississippi after winning a Republican primary runoff on Tuesday. According to The Associated Press, Reeves has defeated former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller in the runoff, 54 percent to 46 percent, with nearly all precincts reporting.
Tate Reeves Wins GOP Nod For Mississippi Governor
Now, Reeves will face Democratic state Attorney General Jim Hood in the Nov. 5 general election.
Both Reeves and Hood were the front-runners in their respective primaries. While Hood was able to easily clinch his party’s nomination earlier this month, Reeves got about 49 percent of the vote in his primary, slightly short of the majority he needed to win the Republican nomination outright.
Reeves has run as the reliable conservative in the Republican contest, opposing Medicaid expansion and picking up endorsements from term-limited Gov. Phil Bryant, a set of mayors and the National Rifle Association.
Waller had hoped to run an insurgent campaign that would piece together a coalition beyond just the traditional conservative voters. He supported expanding Medicaid as well as increasing gas taxes to fund new infrastructure projects.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, called Reeves “a principled, policy-driven conservative leader,” in a statement issued after the AP called the race.
He further added, “The RGA congratulates Tate on his win tonight, and we’re with him all the way to victory in November.”
Noam Lee, the executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, pointed to the close GOP race. He said, “Reeves was supposed to skate through the primary, but instead he is barely limping out of this runoff.”
He further added, “We look forward to making this Reeves’ toughest race of his career and electing Jim Hood the next governor of Mississippi.”
Mississippi is one of three states with gubernatorial elections this fall, along with Kentucky and Louisiana.
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