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**************************************************** Financial Notables (Raised
– Spent = Cash on Hand) Lieutenant Governor (Raised - Cash on Hand) Amy Tuck -- $450,406 - $151,484 = $827,160 Barbara Blackmon -- $241,586 - 82,050 = $121,585 Jim
Roberts -- $27,900 - $6,433 = $21,466 Treasurer (Raised - Cash on Hand) Tate Reeves -- $103,744 - $8,094 = $95,650 Gary Anderson -- $64,289 - $1,963 = $62,325 Rob Smith -- $4,022 - 3,221 = $801 ($3672 personal donations) Northern District Transportation
Commissioner (Raised - Cash on Hand) John
Caldwell -- $20,584 - $38,607 = $39,488 State Senate Former Oxford Mayor Pat Lamar, who is challenging incumbent Senator Gray Tollison, looks to be in the process of amassing a significant campaign warchest. In open seats, Senate District 35 candidate Perry Lee and Senate District 11 candidate Joe Dulaney greatly outraised their respective rivals. (Raised - Cash on Hand) Merle Flowers $90,320 - $77,073 Pat Lamar -- $37,264 - $25,360 Travis Little -- $36,250 - $55,169 Perry Lee -- $18,037 - $13,975 Joe Dulaney -- $17,650 - $9551 Videt Carmichael -- $16,824 - $24,107 Chris Brown -- $10,384 - $8,687 House Candidates (Raised - Cash on Hand) Joe Nosef -- $50,210 - $45,192 Virginia Carter Carlton -- $16,366 - 15,014 Billy McCoy -- $16,345 - $10,991 ($10,000 loan) Mark Baker $15,484 - $9,413 Driving Mike Moore J.C. Watts – Mark Warner A
piano bench took center stage at the Democratic Party's fundraiser with Party
chairman Rickey Cole holding up a broken piano bench and declaring it
the "first annual piano bench award" in honor of Republican
gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour. (see picture below) Robert Rohrlack, Musgrove’s second Economic Development Chief, is leaving just days after the 1.4 billion dollar Nissan plant celebrated it’s first car rolling off the assembly line in Canton, Mississippi. Word on the street is that Musgrove and Rohrlack were never impressed with each other’s work. Musgrove immediately announced that he would be replacing Rohrlack with Steve Hale, former Senatobia Mayor and current MDA Chief of Staff. Battle of the Polls When word of Roberts poll leaked out, Blackmon released her own survey taken May 15-22 of 800 likely primary voters from across the state. Blackmon’s poll showed her with 23% of the vote, followed by Roberts with 12%, and Brown with 10%. In a head to head match-up with just Roberts Blackmon led by 10 points (31%-21%). Blackmon’s poll was conducted by Washington D.C. pollsters Penn Schoen & Berland.
If the Republican Primary for House
District 64 were held today, who would win?
If the Democratic Primary for President
were held today, who would win? If the Republican Primary for Agriculture
Commissioner were held today, who would win?
Here’s Your Sign Movers and Shakers Tommy Squires, who is a member of Lt. Governor Amy Tuck’s security detail, was recently named “Trooper of the Year.” House Districts 81-120 District 85 –
Incumbent America Middleton should win handily despite the fact that two of the candidates work for Alcorn State University and have the ASU administration's blessing. District 86 -
Representative Joe Taylor reluctantly decided to run for re-election, bad news for his two challengers, as he should win hands down. District 88 –
Three Republican primary challengers have lined up to face Incumbent Democrat Representative Joe Ellzey in this Jones County based District. Former State Representative Gary Staples is currently the frontrunner to be the GOP standard bearer. When the ’99 Governor’s race was decided in the House of Representatives, Ellzey voted for Musgrove even though his district had gone for Parker. Ellzeys’ vote against Parker, who has deep Jones County roots, could cause problems if Republicans up ballot have coat tails. District 90 –
Republican challenger Gaines Reynolds faces off against long shot speaker possibility Joe Warren. Reynolds needs to do everything right to pull off the upset win against Warren. District 91 –
A possible upset special as challenger Antrease Aultman may be the beneficiary of an increased BVAP (black voting age population) in Representative Joey Hudson's new district. District 93 –
Democrat incumbent Representative Dirk Dedeaux faces strong general election opposition in Rico Lee. Dedeaux and Lee have strong roots in this district, where family ties carry a lot of weight. Dedeaux is seen as somewhat vulnerable. Lee, a hard working campaigner, should receive significant backing from the business community. This race is going to be one to watch. District 95 –
When redistricting House District 95 moved across the state from Adams County to Harrison County, it was left without an incumbent legislator. Four Republicans and one Democratic candidate jumped into the race to fill the open seat. On the GOP side, attorney Jessica Upshaw and law enforcement veteran Robert Tompkins have the early momentum. As of the April 30th reporting deadline, Upshaw had raised $4,865 including a $2,000 contribution to herself. Tompkins came in at $3,245 but also put in $2,000 of personal money. The district leans Republican but the GOP nominee can’t look past Democratic opponent Linda Johnson. Johnson has one run for city council under her belt and is active in many local civic organizations. She has already taken out a $15,000 loan for her campaign. District 97
Redistricting gerrymandered House District 97 into a 120 mile long district that snakes across 6 counties, from the Mississippi River to the border of Jefferson Davis County. In response, Representative Clem Nettles decided to retire from the legislature. The district leans Republican and based on early signs should be a pick-up for the GOP. Neither Democratic Candidate in the race reported over a $1000 on their May 9th campaign finance report (Derrick Dahl - $750; Chad Toney - $415). Both Republicans neared the $10,000 mark (Randall Love - $9430; Sam Mims - $9,603). With exceptions of parts of McComb and Natchez, the district is largely rural. The district is tailored for Love to win, but he’ll have to get past Mims in the primary. District 98 –
State Representative David Myers should win, but he will probably face a run-off with one-time political ally William Brown. District 99 –
Veteran legislator Vince may return to the House after a four-year hiatus, defeating Rushing, a self-proclaimed candidate for Speaker of the House. District 100 –
Incumbent O.K. Moore faces a significant challenge in Virginia Carlton. O.K., who was pictured on the front page of the Clarion Ledger catching a few zzz’s during the special session, could be vulnerable. District 101 –
Incumbent State Representative Joey Fillingane was effectively re-elected when his opponent Tony Mozingo dropped out of the race a few weeks ago. District 102 –
Two Democratic candidates are lining up to oppose Republican Incumbent Lee Jerrell Davis. Davis’ most significant opponent will be his Republican opponent Derek Arrington, whose grandfather, Robert E. Arrington held this legislative seat in the 70’s and his wife is Vice-President for Government Relations of the Mississippi Hospital Association. District 106 –
Herb Frierson, who switched to the Republican Party late last year, has a strong primary challenger in Mark Hines. Hines had been laying the ground work to run against Frierson long before Frierson switched to the GOP. If Frierson can get out of the primary, he’ll likely win in November. If Hines wins, the race in November could be interesting. District 107 –
Six
Democrats and one Republican lined up to succeed retiring Republican
Representative Percy Maples. This seat represents the Democrats best
chance to pick up a Republican seat. District 111 –
Incumbent Representative Carmel Wells-Smith faces a significant Pascagoula City Councilman Mike Mangum. Wells-Smith should win re-nomination but this race deserves watching. District 115 –
Former State Representative Glenn Endris is attempting to regain a seat in the legislature by knocking off controversial incumbent legislator Jamie Creel, nephew of Representative Dianne Peranich. Though Endris is not extremely popular within the district, Creel has had several run-ins with the law since the past election. Creel is in the fight of his political life with Endris, another veteran of the Legislature. District 116 –
The retirement of Republican Representative Les Barnett has made way for three Republicans and one Democratic candidate to vie to fill the seat. District 117 –
Incumbent Legislator Michael Janus is being challenged by C.T. Switzer, a former Harrison County Supervisor, and Patrick Collins who worked for the city of Gulfport until he filed to run against Janus. As the incumbent, Janus has the edge, but this could be the fight of his political life. District 121 –
When the House of Representatives was reapportioned, the redistricting pen was in incumbent Representative Dianne Peranich’s hand. Nevertheless, she’s drawn a serious challenger in Ray Harmon from Gulfport. The district leans Democratic, but Harmon represented much of it on the local school board. Harmon is a relentless campaigner who may make a race of this in spite of Peranich having drawn her own district. |