A look at governor race beyond the issues. What polls tell us

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ failure to expand Medicaid and Democratic challenger Brandon Presley’s attempts to tie Reeves to an ongoing welfare investigation are key issues as Reeves looks to a second term.

However, the fact that some one-quarter of the votes in the August GOP primary went to candidates other than Reeves is perhaps more a sign of trouble for the incumbent in the Nov. 7 general election than those two matters.

Polling indicates Reeves leading with anywhere from 3-to-8 percentage points over Presley, the current Northern District representative on the State Public Service Commission. That high number seems mighty high to me.

One poll contained the revelation that Reeves is “only being viewed favorably by 42% of registered voters, a possible opportunity for Presley,” pollsters stated. Does perceived unpopularity toward Reeves, a notion that’s been around since soon after he took office, threaten him more than campaign issues themselves?

The September-November stretch run toward election day is on. That’s enough time for candidates in a perceived tight political race to take the election results to the wire, but it usually requires some major stumbling at the finish line by the incumbent who’s already planning the next inaugural parade and country club ball.

One problem for both candidates is that much of the Mississippi electorate is so engaged in former President Donald Trump’s criminal indictments that those issues might take attention away from the important gubernatorial election.

These two feisty candidates were somewhat rough on each other verbally at the state’s premier political rally, the recent Neshoba County Fair, but there were no threats of posterior-kicking from either man, ala the Gov. Kirk Fordice-Secretary of State challenger Dick Molpus brouhaha of 1995.

The best line uttered thus far in the governor’s race came early on from Presley, who said on Jan. 12, “I ain’t ever owned a tennis racket. I ain’t never had a sweater wrapped around my waist and I ain’t never been a member of a country club.” That flare-up of populism implies Reeves has been guilty of those acts.

Presley continues raising the lack of Medicaid expansion, the ongoing investigation into alleged misspent federal funds by the state Department of Human Services and the faint memory of some alleged misspending of road construction funds in the area around Reeves’ private residence in Rankin County.

But are those matters enough for voters to “turn the page on Tate,” as Presley claimed after the recent party primaries?

The question of whether Reeves will ever cave into repeated requests by former officeholders, state and national financial experts and media operatives to expand the Medicaid program to include an additional 220,000 recipients ought to be the key issue of the campaign’s dying days.

Reeves hasn’t refuted claims that the state is leaving untold millions of federal dollars unspent that could give unhealthy Mississippi citizens better medical outlooks for the future and help dozens of financially strapped hospitals to remain open.

Lately the question of whether a governor can expand the program on his or own has arisen. That hasn’t seemed to be a problem in most states where it has occurred. If Reeves were suddenly to cave and expand the program, I’d expect it to happen almost immediately. A Mississippi Today poll shows most state legislators favor expansion.

Presley has said he would expand the program on his first day in office.

I never got an answer from the Reeves camp when I recently asked about what he considers the major achievements of his first term.

I’m guessing Reeves believes not expanding Medicaid has been his main accomplishment.

— Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: A look at MS governor race beyond the issues