After a stump speech where he discussed policy priorities like cutting the state's grocery tax and expanding healthcare access for the working poor, Delbert Hosemann told reporters he's not done with Mississippi politics when his second term as Lieutenant Governor ends. The 77-year-old said he and his wife Lynn are not ready to retire and want to work to make the state better for their grandchildren.
"We decided if we're where people still want us to work for them, we want to keep working for them," Hosemann said. "We're term limited on this one, so it'd be another office. Another statewide office. I'll put it that way"
State Auditor Shad White also said he's "seriously considering" running for governor. White says he loves identifying fraud and abuse in state spending, but feels like he's limited by his current office.
State auditor is frustrating in a way, because if you identify a broken program, you're really not allowed to fix it," White said. "Your job is to identify it and highlight it and then walk away, and then hopefully other policymakers come in and they do their jobs and fix it."
White and Hosemann also directed overt or thinly-veiled criticisms at each other on Wednesday. During his speech, White admonished Hosemann for not supporting legislation that would have barred the state's colleges from using public funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, also known as DEI.
"We've gotta have Republican politicians who start acting a little more like conservatives and a little less like Joe Biden," White said.
Hoseman did not address White's comments after giving his speech, but did say he was glad White was at the fair because "he's usually on a book tour." White's book on the state's welfare scandal releases next week.
With Governor Tate Reeves unable to seek another term, the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2027 will be wide-open. Hosemann and White are the first two statewide officeholders to tease their intentions to run.
