And then there were three – with more to come. Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced for Governor last week. She joins Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson, and former Speaker of the House Philip Gunn as officially announced Republican candidates. Still in the wings are Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, State Auditor Shad White, and billionaire businessman Thomas Duff. No Democratic candidates have emerged yet.
The current field is stout, but four incumbent statewide officials running for the same office in the same primary would be historic, and not just in Mississippi.
The closest comparison I found was the 2010 South Carolina Republican primary which featured four incumbent officials, but only two held statewide positions – Lt. Gov. Andre’ Bauer, Attorney General Henry McMaster, U.S. Representative Gresham Barrett, and State Representative Nikki Haley. Haley became governor.
Several Mississippi primaries have featured at least three current and former statewide elected officials as candidates.
The 1978 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate featured sitting Gov. Cliff Finch, former Gov. Bill Waller, and former Lt. Gov. Charlie Sullivan along with newcomer Maurice Dantin. Thad Cochran would defeat Dantin in the general election.
In 1939, Lt. Gov. Jacob Buehler Snider Jr., former Gov. Mike Conner, former Congressman Paul B. Johnson Sr., former Speaker of the House (and future governor) Tom Bailey, and former State Sen. Lester Cicero Franklin sought the Democratic nomination for Governor. Johnson became governor.
The 1955 Democratic gubernatorial primary featured an illustrious field including sitting Attorney General James P. Coleman, former Gov. Fielding Wright, future governor Ross Barnett, and The Summit Sun editor Mary Cain. Coleman became governor.
Cain was the first woman to run for governor. Evelyn Gandy was the second. Attorney Vicki Slater was the third. Now Lynn Fitch is the fourth.
Fitch’s career path interestingly parallels Gandy’s. Both were attorneys who held administrative jobs in government. Gandy was the first woman to hold a statewide constitutional office, elected State Treasurer in 1959 and re-elected in 1967. Fitch was the sixth woman elected to statewide constitutional office, elected State Treasurer in 2011 and re-elected in 2015. Gandy was elected Lt. Governor in 1975, and Fitch was elected Attorney General in 2019. Both were the first women to hold those positions.
Gandy fell short twice in races for governor. Now Fitch is up for her first try.
NOTE: Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, State Tax Collector Nellah Bailey, Supreme Court Clerk Julia Henrich Kendrick, and Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Cindy Hyde-Smith were the other women elected to statewide offices.
“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” – Proverbs 31:30.
Bill Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from Jackson.
