Tupelo official Tanner Newman exploring run for public service commissioner
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Jan. 12—JACKSON — Tanner Newman, Tupelo's development services director, is considering a run for Northern District Public Service Commissioner as a Republican, according to officials within Mayor Todd Jordan's administration.
The officials, who asked to remain anonymous to candidly speak about Newman's internal deliberations on a bid for public office, said that business leaders have approached the 28-year-old figure in Jordan's administration about running for the post.
Newman acknowledged in a statement to the Daily Journal that people in north Mississippi have asked him about running for the regulatory position, but he did not specifically address if he was entertaining the idea.
"I am honored to have been asked by leaders in our community to consider a campaign for public service commissioner," Newman said. "I appreciate the opportunity Mayor Jordan has given me, and I am committed to continuing his vision."
Newman is a close ally of Jordan, a Republican, and served as his campaign manager during his 2021 mayoral bid. Shortly after being sworn into office, Jordan appointed Newman as director of the city department responsible for enforcing building codes.
Before serving in Jordan's municipal administration, Newman, a native of Tupelo, was an in-state staffer for U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Tupelo, and worked on various campaigns in the state.
If Newman were to campaign for the job, it would pit regions of north Mississippi against one another, pull an influx of campaign cash to the region and bring a sharp energy policy debate to an area that contains the "First TVA City."
The only Republican so far who has filed paperwork to run for the utility regulator in north Mississippi is Mandy Gunasekara, a former Environmental Protection Agency leader who is originally from Decatur, but has lived in Oxford since 2018.
Newman seemed to take a shot at Gunasekara in his statement to the Daily Journal by saying that people in the rural hills of Northeast Mississippi deserve a "strong voice" representing them on the commission by "one of their own."
Gunasekara worked in Washington for several years in the U.S House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and the EPA. She told the Daily Journal on Thursday that she would not apologize for going to work in the Trump administration.
"My campaign was never about running against any particular candidate," Gunasekara said. "It's about doing what's right for the northern district."
The race for the PSC in north Mississippi has taken a new sense of urgency because the incumbent commissioner, Democrat Brandon Presley, announced on Thursday that he is running for governor against Tate Reeves, leaving the seat open during the 2023 election cycle.
The last day candidates can file paperwork to run for state offices is Feb. 1.
