Republican Gov. Tate Reeves wins re-election in Mississippi

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has won a second term, extending Republicans’ two-decade hold on the governorship by brushing aside a challenge from Democrat Brandon Presley, who conceded late Tuesday.

Reeves built a massive war chest of campaign cash for his re-election, but attacks from Presley and Democrats over health care and a welfare corruption scandal kept the race closer than usual in deep red Mississippi.

Still, Reeves won a late endorsement from former President Donald Trump to go with heavy support from the Republican Governors Association and the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s Candidate Fund. And the Reeves campaign spent almost $10 million on ads promoting his re-election. That was more than enough to secure another win for him in the GOP-friendly state.

In ads funded by his campaign, Reeves attacked Presley over medical care for transgender children and tied him to President Joe Biden, who lost Mississippi by more than 16 percentage points in 2020.

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Reeves also touted his record managing natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as his work as a steward of taxpayer dollars. The victory comes 20 years after Reeves first won statewide office, when he became the youngest state treasurer in the country after he won that office in 2003.

Still, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, the race tightened in opinion polls, and Republican strategists sounded alarm bells as Reeves campaigned across the state.

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Reeves’ first term was marked by news of a massive welfare scandal that occurred while he was lieutenant governor, in which state money intended for poor families was directed to other projects, instead, like a new college volleyball facility.

Reeves has denied involvement in the alleged corruption, but Presley launched multiple TV attack ads attempting to tie him to the scandal. Presley also campaigned on support for Medicaid expansion, which Republicans have blocked in Mississippi for more than a decade despite its popularity with voters and the cost strains facing hospitals in the state.