To outside political observers, a race for Lt. Governor in Mississippi might seem a strange electoral battle to expend a lot of time, energy, and money. In most statewide elections for state offices around the country, the fight is waged over the governorship, and rightfully so, since those offices tend to be quite powerful in many states of the Union.
Yet in Mississippi, under the present constitution, the Lt. Governor wields enormous power and influence over the State Senate. As the presiding officer, the Lt. Governor controls the flow of legislation, appoints committee chairs, and generally sets the agenda. Whoever sits in that important seat has a lot of say over what does and does not become law in the state of Mississippi.
That is why it is so important to choose the right person to hold such an important office. The Lt. Governor should reflect the values of Mississippi’s voters, in this case the principles of true conservatism. The Lt. Governor must also be a fighter, willing to take on the special interests and the establishment that seeks to maintain the status quo at all costs.
There’s only one person in Mississippi who can fit the bill and that is Senator Chris McDaniel, a man who knows the inner workings of the State Senate as well as anyone, who has the conservative pedigree that Mississippi needs, and who has waged more than his fair share of fights against the entrenched interests controlling the state.
First elected in 2007, McDaniel has served in Jackson for 15 years. He is routinely scored as the most conservative legislator in the Senate. His legislative record of achievement is very impressive but lately among his greatest achievements is blocking liberal legislation. Mississippi Republicans may have a super majority in both chambers of the legislature but they haven’t acted like it as of late.
One outrageous bill in the 2022 session was the legislative pay increase. If it had become law, each legislator would have received an annual increase of $6,000, totaling $24,000 in extra pay for a four-year term. The bill also included a raise for Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann. But it was Senator McDaniel’s motion that killed the pay increase.
Legislators also tried to expand the welfare state by providing bank accounts for Mississippi welfare recipients, paid for by the taxpayers. This would be on top of what they were already receiving in benefits from their generous legislative benefactors in Jackson. McDaniel helped kill this proposal as well.
As Lt. Governor, you can bet that McDaniel will only allow conservative legislation to pass through the Senate, laws that will actually benefit the people of Mississippi; he will only name conservative Republicans to major committee chairmanships; and will craft and then push through a conservative reform agenda.
The current Lt. Governor, Delbert Hosemann, has done none of these things. He has worked to block conservative legislation, while he now boasts of having supported it, as he most recently did at the Neshoba County Fair. He is not interested in reform, only maintaining the establishment’s hold on power.
And, if that’s not bad enough, in his capacity as Lt. Governor, he has placed Democrats in committee chairmanships. In fact, of the 16 Democrats in the State Senate, 13 hold chairmanships over important committees. That’s more than 80 percent of Democrats who hold a chairmanship! Whereas less than half of Republicans are committee chairmen.
Hosemann, though born and raised in Warren County, earned a law degree at Ole Miss but received his B.A. at Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana, and later earned an L.L.M. at New York University.
So, who do you trust to lead the fight for conservative values? A true Son of Mississippi, who attended Jones College, William Carey University, and Ole Miss, who is a proven conservative fighter unafraid of the entrenched interests, or someone who earned most of their education in the North and who is more in line with Northeastern liberals than Mississippi conservatives?
The choice for conservatives is clear.
Ryan S. Walters 
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