Deep down, Delbert Hosemann must hate all of this.
The Lt. Governor, along with three fellow Republicans who would like to have his job, turned out for a candidate forum Monday at the Ritz Theater in West Point, and the rhetoric that dominated the event was straight out of O Brother Where Art Thou, minus the music that made the whole thing tolerable.
The forum was staged by the Mississippi State University College Republicans, Oktibbeha-Clay County Republican Women and the Oktibbeha County Republican Party. Hosemann, along with state senator Chris McDaniel and longshots Tiffany Longino, a MSU professor and PhD. candidate from Brandon, and Shane Quick, a healthcare worker from DeSoto County, participated.
The winner of the Aug. 8 Republican primary will meet Democrat Ryan Grover in the Nov. 7 general election, a contest that will likely be a walk-over for whichever candidate earns the GOP nomination.
The forum pitted two candidates who are what passes for moderates in Mississippi against two extremist right-wingers.
Longino is a novelty, a woman of color running as a Republican who stresses education as the key to solving the biggest problems in the state: poverty, healthcare and economic development. That makes her a raving liberal by Mississippi Republican standards, bless her heart.
Quick’s appearance on the ballot, quite frankly, emphasizes the need for better mental health care in the state. He blew into West Point proclaiming his devotion to the 1894 Mississippi flag and its Confederate imagery, a long and enduring embarrassment to the state that was retired two years ago in favor of a flag that bears the Magnolia bloom and offends no one. He apparently blames “foreign cultural marxists” for this unfortunate turn of events. He vowed to be the flag-bearer (presumably the old flag, I’m guessing), rallying confused listeners by saying, “If I can put that heavy weight on my head and charge forward into battle against cultural Marxism, at least rally behind me like in ‘Braveheart.’”
Nobody leapt to their feet. On the other hand, nobody threw a net over him, either, so it was a pretty good night for Quick, all things considered.
The two legitimate candidates, Hosemann and McDaniel, represent polar opposites when it comes to the philosophy of governing, although Hosemann can ill-afford to put too much emphasis on that distinction, at least not in the primary.
First as Secretary of State and now as he completes his first term as Lt. Governor, Hosemann has demonstrated his preference for consensus building and has avoided much of the partisan rhetoric that has increased dramatically since the rise of the Trump era.
As Secretary of State, Hosemann pushed for election changes that would have made it easier to vote, an idea that has fallen into disrepute in the party these days. He also is an advocate for expanded Medicaid, although he has always been careful to use that term and certainly not Obamacare, to describe making more Mississippians eligible for healthcare by tapping into the federal dollars that are available for that purpose.
As Secretary of State he responded to a Trump administration demand for information from the state’s voter rolls by telling them to “go jump in the Gulf.”
All of that stuff will get you murdered, metaphorically-speaking, in a GOP primary.
McDaniel, meanwhile, has no use at all for Democrats or Republicans who cross the aisle to work with them on policy. In his mind, politics is a blood sport. His is a scorched earth policy that relies heavily on racist dog whistles to the good old days of Jim Crow rule.
McDaniel has sharply criticized Hosemann for appointing Democrats as committee chairs and for not using his influence to gerrymander redistricting to reduce the number of Democrat-held offices as much as possible.
There is a very real chance that Hosemann could be outflanked on the right by McDaniel, which could prove fatal to his candidacy.
So Hosemann has been cozying up to the extremist right, even going as far as to visit Mar-a-Lago for a campaign fundraiser in December, the equivalent of a Catholic going to Rome for the Pope’s blessing or a Muslim making a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Before this campaign, Hosemann was loath to mention Trump’s name.
Boy, the things you have to do to get elected in this state, huh?
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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