Mississippi Republican Party

Mississippi Republican Party
Chairperson Joe Nosef[1]
Senate leader Tate Reeves
House leader Philip Gunn
Headquarters P.O. Box 60,
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
Ideology Conservatism
Fiscal conservatism
Social conservatism
National affiliation Republican Party
Colors Red
Seats in the Upper House
31 / 52
Seats in the Lower House
67 / 122
Website
http://msgop.org/
Haley Barbour, former Governor of Mississippi.

The Mississippi Republican Party is the state affiliate of the United States Republican Party. The party chairman is Joe Nosef and is based in Jackson, Mississippi. The original Republican Party of Mississippi was founded following the American Civil War, the current incarnation of the Mississippi Republican Party was founded in 1956. The party would grow in popularity during the 1960s with wedge issues such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and today the party has the majority in the state.

History

Platform adopted by the Republican party of Mississippi, in convention assembled, in the City of Jackson, September 10th and 11th, 1867

In 1956, Wirt Adams Yerger, Jr., an insurance agent from Jackson, founded the modern Mississippi Republican Party and served as the first state chairman from 1956 until 1966. He was chairman of the Mississippi delegation to the Republican National Convention in 1956, 1960, and 1964. He was elected to a four-year term as chairman of the Southern Association of Republican State Chairman in 1960. In 2009, the central committee of the Mississippi Republican Party named Yerger Chairman Emeritus. The Mississippi Republican Party would grow in supporters with then President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who still twice lost the electoral votes of Mississippi. On September 24, 1960, Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon campaigned in the state, the first time a presidential candidate had appeared in the state in more than a century.[2] During the 1964 Republican National Convention Mississippi delegates would help nominate Barry Goldwater for President. Goldwater would go on to win 87 percent of the vote in Mississippi in the 1964 Presidential Election, the first time a Republican would win the state since the Reconstruction Era.[3] Only once since 1956 has a non-Republican presidential candidate won the state of Mississippi, Jimmy Carter in the 1976 Presidential Election.[4] In 1988, Republican Congressman Trent Lott would defeat Democratic Congressman Wayne Dowdy to replace retiring Senator John Stennis(D-MS).

Gubernatorial elections

In 1963, Rubel Phillips became the first Republican nominee for governor in 80 years, challenging then-Lt. Gov. Paul Johnson, Jr. and garnering 38 percent of the vote. Phillips ran again in 1967 against John Bell Williams but lost again, this time earning 29 percent of the vote. In 1991, for the first time in over a century a Republican would become the Governor of Mississippi, when Kirk Fordice would earn 50.8 percent of the popular vote, defeating Democrat Ray Mabus.[5] In the 2003 Mississippi Gubernatorial Election, Haley Barbour defeated then incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove with 52.59% of the vote.[6] On November 8, 2011, Phil Bryant was elected Governor of Mississippi and assumed office in January 2012.

Policy positions

While Mississippi Republicans take positions on a wide variety of issues, some of the noteworthy ones include:

Current Republican officeholders

The Mississippi Republican Party holds seven of the eight statewide offices and holds a majority in the Mississippi Senate. Republicans also hold both of the state's U.S. Senate seats and 3 of the state's 4 U.S. House seats.

Thad Cochran(R-MS)
Phil Bryant

Members of Congress

U.S. Senate

U.S. House of Representatives

Statewide offices

State Legislative Leadership

Mississippi State Republican chairmen

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.deltabusinessjournal.com/index.php/archives/131-joe-nosef-elected-chairman-of-the-mississippi-republican-party.html
  2. ↑ Nash, Jere and Taggert, Andy. Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006. pp. 41-42
  3. ↑ Nash and Taggert pp. 45-46
  4. ↑ Nash and Taggert pp. 55
  5. ↑ Nash and Taggert pp. 230
  6. ↑ http://www.sos.state.ms.us/elections/2003GeneralReCap/Certified/01Governor.pdf
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ http://www.sunherald.com/2011/11/03/3552207/barbour-votes-for-personhood-prop.html
  9. ↑ http://www.sos.ms.gov/page.aspx?s=7&s1=1&s2=50
  10. ↑ http://msgop.org/
  11. ↑ http://www.sos.ms.gov/page.aspx?s=7&s1=1&s2=84
  12. ↑ http://www.sos.ms.gov/page.aspx?s=7&s1=1&s2=84
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