Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has put his name in the hat to seek re-election to the state’s second-highest office in this year’s elections.
On January 5, Hosemann made a campaign stop in Hattiesburg, at Pearl River Community College’s Forrest County Campus, to discuss that measure as well as employment and budget throughout the state. The Hub City visited was part of a three-day, 10-stop that also included venues in and around Jackson, the Gulf Coast, Meridian, Columbus, Tupelo, DeSoto County, Greenwood, Natchez and Brookhaven.
Hosemann filled out his qualifying paperwork on November 5.
“We’re excited about that,” Hosemann said. “(During the current term), we have decreased the size of government, we’ve paid off $600 million in debt, the largest tax cut ever, the largest infrastructure – all of those things.
“We’re conservative Republicans; we run the government like a business. You get what you see, and we’re real proud of our record.”
Hosemann said if re-elected, one of the first things he would focus on is an income tax budget from last year, which came in at $270 million more than budgeted. That would allow officials, in the next term, to give that amount in rebates to taxpayers.
“Then we are also very interested in rural healthcare; you’ll see us do that,” Hosemann said. “I think tax programs and infrastructure programs, our university and community college programs, are all going (to grow).”
Hosemann, an attorney, earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1969 from the University of Notre Dame. He received his Juris Doctor in 1972 from the University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford.
In 1972, he obtained specialization in Taxation at New York University.
He was elected as Secretary of State of Mississippi in 2008, a position he held until 2020. That year, he took over as Lieutenant Governor, to which he was elected in the 2019 elections.
According to a news release from Hosemann’s office, during his first term Hosemann has helped reduce the income tax rate to 4 percent, reduce the state’s debt, provide an average $6,000 yearly raise to teachers, and streamlining workforce development efforts.
“I want you to know that your state is in the best financial condition for you to stay (in Mississippi) than it’s ever been,” Hosemann told PRCC students. “We have positioned ourselves to do really, really well, and we’re pushing out nursing programs across three or four different community colleges and the University of Mississippi.
“We are, today, three to four thousand short of nurses – wherever you want to go, you’ll get a job with the skillset you’ve been taught here (at PRCC.)
“So there’s professional growth at hospitals, and also in rural healthcare. We built off all of this equity so that you’ll have a better place to (work and live).”
The qualifying period for statewide offices will last until 5 p.m. February 1. The primary election will be held on August 8, with a primary runoff election on August 29 if none of the candidates receive the necessary 50 percent of the vote plus one vote.
The general election will be held November 7.
As of January 6, Shane Quick – who received approximately 14 percent of the vote against Hosemann in the 2019 Republican primary election – is the only other candidate who has qualified to run for lieutenant governor. State Senator Chris McDaniel of Ellisville has publicly expressed his interested in running for the position.
