Mississippi’s GOP Gov. Tate Reeves Wins Second Term

Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves won a second term Tuesday evening, beating his Democratic challenger Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, multiple outlets projected.

Reeves beat Presley 52% to 46.6% at the time of this writing, with 86% of the votes in, according to NBC News and CNN. The governor largely campaigned on his administration’s conservative victories on education and the economy, while Presley aimed at tying Reeves to a welfare scandal that took place when he was lieutenant governor.

Between 2017 and 2020, roughly $77 million in federal funding that was meant to go to the state’s poorest residents was redirected toward some of Mississippi’s most wealthy, politically-involved individuals, or was otherwise misallocated, according to Mississippi Today. Presley sought to blame Reeves for the scandal, which involved former NFL quarterback Brett Farve, in campaign ads, which the governor’s campaign rebuked