Downticket Mississippi candidates discuss state's economy ahead of Election Day

With Election Day drawing near, Mississippi candidates offered competing visions for managing the state's economy in speeches Thursday.

The candidates spoke to business leaders at the Mississippi Economic Council’s “Hobnob Mississippi,” an annual gathering focused on the intersection between business and government. The general election is Nov. 7, with potential runoffs on Nov. 28.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Republican incumbent Lynn Fitch said she was going after “bad actors” in the business world like large insulin manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers and “Big Tech.” Hundreds of thousands of people in Mississippi are insulin-dependent, and yet the biggest manufacturers have jacked up the price of the drug for years, Fitch said. “It costs 1,000% more to purchase insulin if you’re in Mississippi than it did a decade ago,” Fitch said. She also said social media platforms are censoring Mississippians and trying to exploit children for economic gain. On Tuesday, Fitch joined other attorneys general in suing Meta Platforms Inc., arguing the company deliberately designed features that addict children to its platforms.

Democratic challenger Greta Kemp Martin is the litigation director for Disability Rights Mississippi. She said cracking down on corruption is central to strengthening the state's economy. The failure to prevent Mississippi's welfare scandal allowed public funds to be squandered when they could have gone to initiatives like child care assistance, educational activities to encourage self-sufficiency, and job training. “In response, your AG has provided no independent investigation, no prosecutions and a lot of ‘no comment,’” Kemp Martin said. She also promised to create a fair labor division to protect worker's rights.

AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER

Andy Gipson, the Republican incumbent, said agriculture is the state's primary economic driver, and farmers have been more productive under his leadership. The agriculture department has helped triple Mississippi’s beef and pork processing capacity over the last three years, Gipson said. The department has established farmer's markets in nearly every county. He touted the creation of a state wild hog control program to terminate invasive animals that destroy crops. “We don’t believe in talking about it. We believe in killing wild hogs," Gipson said. "Can I get an amen right there?”

Robert “Brad” Bradford, a Democrat, is the emergency manager director in Adams County and a fourth-generation farmer from the Mississippi Delta. Bradford said he has a community plan for farming in Mississippi that involves educating citizens about different food sources in the state. He also promised to prioritize small farmers in his department policies and help more Mississippians become self-sustaining. “We’ve got to back our small communities in the state of Mississippi, and we’ve got to ‘back that ag' up,’” Bradford said.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Republican incumbent Michael Watson said he has helped improve the state economy by making it easier for people to get business licenses with the secretary of state's office. He also said his office has created a high school mentorship program that allows companies to recruit locally. The effort is a push to reduce “ brain drain,” the trend of skilled young people leaving the state in search of better economic and cultural opportunities elsewhere.

Democratic challenger Ty Pinkins is a veteran, lawyer and former White House communications aide. As secretary of state, Pinkins said he would go beyond the basic duties of the office to advocate for a new set of economic policies. Mississippi has under-invested in public education, health care and infrastructure, issues Watson hasn’t paid attention to, Pinkins said. “Mississippi’s present economic woes cannot solely be attributed to external factors or inherent state conditions,” Pinkins said.

STATE AUDITOR

Republican incumbent Shad White said his office had helped recover more than $70 million through fraud investigations since he was elected. He also touted his office's investigation into the Mississippi welfare scandal, the largest public corruption scheme in state history. White said Mississippi needed to improve the state's workforce participation rate, one of the country's worst. He proposed investing in programs like the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, which he said instills the importance of hard work.

Democratic challenger Larry Bradford is a former mayor of Anguilla. He said state leaders like White didn't do enough to stop the welfare scandal, which he called an “economic disaster.” He pledged to be a more exacting steward of public money. Bradford also criticized White's call for public universities to defund several social science and humanities college majors in favor of programs that match the state's workforce needs.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Downticket MS candidates discuss economy ahead of Election Day