Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves projected to beat Brandon Presley

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves gained his reelection bid on Tuesday, ABC News tasks, warding off a notable problem from his Democratic rival, Mississippi Public Service Commission member Brandon Presley.

Reliably crimson Mississippi, which former President Donald Trump gained via just about 20 issues in 2020, have been observed as an doubtlessly sudden toss-up race in its ultimate weeks — as nationwide Democrats threw tens of millions of bucks at the back of Presley, banking at the voters’s problems with Reeves as sufficient of a vulnerability to turn a state no longer led via a Democrat in just about 20 years. (Presley may be a 2nd cousin of rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley.)

“It’s been a rough road at times, but it’s been worth it, been worth it to elevate the issues that we’ve talked about throughout this throughout this race,” Presley said late Tuesday in brief remarks conceding the race.

“Tonight’s a setback – however we’re no longer going to lose hope,” he stated.

Both Reeves and Presley establish as “pro-life,” and support restrictions on access to abortion in a state that bans it in all cases except for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

Presley had attempted to tie Reeves to corruption allegations including a state government welfare spending scandal that emerged under the administration of predecessor Phil Bryant, when Reeves was lieutenant governor. Reeves’ team has dismissed the jabs as “nonsensical.”

Nearly 40% of Mississippi’s population is Black — the largest of any state — which is one of the many reasons, Presley previously told ABC News in an interview, that he poured significant resources since last spring into Black voter engagement and turnout.

But the funding used to be no longer sufficient to get him over the end line.

State significance

Mississippi was one of just three states with gubernatorial elections this year.

Reeves won his first gubernatorial election by only 5% in 2019. That was a surprisingly close race in a socially conservative Southern state where Republicans routinely win by double-digits. Due to this, Mississippi Democrats had hoped they might be able to defeat Reeves in this year’s race.

Nonetheless, maximum analysts regarded as Reeves to be a favourite to win reelection, given the state’s partisan lean. Recent numbers additionally had him polling upper than his competition, according to 538.

However, Presley, who has represented the northern district at the Mississippi Public Service Commission since 2008, used to be nonetheless regarded as to be a doubtlessly robust normal election candidate.