Brandon Presley brings on veteran political consultants for governor's race
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Jan. 17—JACKSON — Louisiana, North Carolina and next Mississippi?
As Brandon Presley gears up to take on an entrenched, well-funded Republican governor, he's staffing up with successful operatives who have won governorships for Democrats throughout the South.
Presley, a Democrat who is challenging incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves, hired Trey Nix, the campaign manager for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's 2016 successful campaign, as a leading consultant his Mississippi race.
Nix's work on the 2016 campaign saw Cooper, the first person in the state's history to beat an incumbent governor, elected as a Democrat during the same election cycle that the state gave its share of electoral college votes for Donald Trump as president.
"The team we've assembled are in the business and have a proven track record of winning in the South and understanding a voter in the South — both African American and white, and both urban and rural," Presley told the Daily Journal.
The utilities regulator from north Mississippi also hired Katie Penland and Kate Magsamen to help with his fundraising efforts, both of whom worked for Louisiana's Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards campaign, according to a news release from the Presley campaign.
The fact that Presley is hiring experienced operatives who specialize in reaching Southern voters is something that Democratic candidates in the Magnolia State have not done in years and showcases the precision that the Nettleton native is deploying in the campaign so far.
A person with direct knowledge of Presley's campaign told the Daily Journal that the team he's assembled spent thousands of dollars on polling and focus groups around the state a month before he made his official announcement.
And perhaps one of the reasons Presley can afford to use his campaign cash on polling and staff is because James Carville, a veteran Democratic strategist and regular commentator on cable news shows is helping Presley with fundraising.
"I've got a big emotional investment in Brandon's campaign," Carville told the Daily Journal, though he does not have an official role on the campaign.
The veteran consultant, often referred to as the "Ragin' Cajun" because of his Louisiana roots, told the Daily Journal that Mississippi is a conservative state, but he believes a Democrat like Presley can make headway by highlighting issues like Mississippi's corruption and health care crisis.
"I think Brandon's got a good story," Carville said. "He can raise money, he's doing pretty good with his fundraising now, and I think when people realize that, 'Hey this thing is possible,' it'll just be a snowball effect from there."
