Republicans in less than half the state’s counties will be deciding who the party’s nominee for governor will be in the upcoming Republican Primary. But why less than half? The other counties will be mostly voting in the Democrat Primary. Confused? That’s understandable because Mississippi has an antiquated primary system.
In Mississippi, candidates must declare party affiliation for primary elections or qualify as an independent for the general election. Voters, however, don’t have to align with a party to register to vote, but they must tell primary poll workers which ballot they want—either a Republican ballot or Democrat ballot. Further, both party’s primaries are generally conducted locally by the Democrat Party since the Republican Party has considerably fewer organized counties. Democrats have organizations in every county.
And while Mississippi has elected Republicans to nearly every statewide and national office in recent years, historically, the state has generally elected mostly Democrats. It wasn’t until after Ronald Reagan’s presidency and Kirk Fordice’s election as the Republican governor in 1991 that the state began electing more Republicans.
However, in many counties throughout the state, local candidates still qualify and run as Democrats. Why? It’s a throwback to earlier days when the Democrat’s party machinery dominated politics, leaving would-be Republican local candidates to qualify and run as Democrats to have a chance at winning.
Although not as strong as it once was, that same party machinery is still entrenched and powerful as evidenced in the 2014 Republican primary race for US Senate between (the late) incumbent Thad Cochran and challenger Chris McDaniel.
McDaniel found out the hard way when Democrats crossed party lines and voted for Cochran in a hotly contested Republican primary run-off that essentially robbed McDaniel of a would-be win. It was an unusual but effective political maneuver masterminded by Cochran’s handlers, namely Haley Barbour, and made possible only under the current antiquated primary system, and with the help of the state’s old but still organized Democrat party machinery.
What does all that mean for the upcoming primaries?
There are three notables in the Republican primary race for governor: Tate Reeves, Bill Waller, and Robert Foster. And while Republican counties will be deciding who they want for governor in their primary, voters in Democrat counties will be choosing their sheriffs, supervisors, tax assessors, chancery and circuit clerks in their primary. They will be voting for law enforcement, for pothole fixers, for recordkeepers and court administrators—not for Republican governors.
But this time, however, Democrats also have a credible candidate for governor in Jim Hood, who has polled higher than all other statewide candidates repeatedly. Incidentally, over the years, Hood seems to have developed a peculiar habit of getting re-elected by Republicans. Plus, after the three Republicans finish accosting each other to win their primary, it’s entirely possible that Hood may end up looking like the good guy. Further, Hood is likely to get thousands of votes more than any single Republican candidate in August, which could make him appear as the solid front-runner.
Could (Democrat county) Republicans vote for Hood in August and then again in November? That would certainly validate Hood’s polling numbers. What happens if there’s a run-off between Reeves and Waller? Could crossover Democrats come to Waller’s aid? Hood and the Democrats may be discerning that they have a better chance in November at beating Waller, who has considerably less notoriety and money than Reeves.
Perhaps if these Republican candidates campaigned more in rural Democrat areas of the state, voters would be more inclined to vote Republican in the primaries. More Republican county committees might even emerge with local Republican candidates. It’s strange that with all the current Republican leadership at the helm that they would continue to let Democrats basically run the state’s primary elections when they could be advancing the power of their own party.
It’s time for a change. There would be much less confusion and controversy if the state had a single non-partisan primary so that Mississippians can vote for a Democrat sheriff or a Republican governor on the same ballot.
Don’t be surprised if Jim Hood becomes the next governor. After all, strange things can happen under the current primary system—just ask Chris McDaniel.
Dewayne Buckman is Vice President of Sales for Buckley Newspapers, Inc., and General Manager of Hattiesburg Impact.
NOTE: The views and opinions of the author are not necessarily the views and beliefs of Buckley Newspapers, Inc., or Impact601.com. They are strictly the opinion and expression of the author.