Mississippi voters will elect candidates to represent the Republican and Democratic parties in the primaries on Tuesday, March 12, including candidates for the U.S. Senate seat incumbent Sen. Roger Wicker currently holds.
Use this guide to learn more about the candidates’ backgrounds and policy views.
Why this office is important: The U.S. Senate is one of the two bodies in Congress with the power to pass federal laws. It has the sole responsibility to conduct impeachment trials of high-ranking federal officials. It gives advice and consent on treaties and can help confirm or deny certain appointments like ambassadors, federal agency leaders and federal judges, including U.S. Supreme Court justices.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, Republican incumbent
Background: U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker is a Pontotoc, Miss., native and a University of Mississippi graduate. He served in the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was a Mississippi state senator for seven years and served as a U.S. House representative for Mississippi’s first congressional district for 12 years. He began his first term as a U.S. senator when then-Gov. Haley Barbour appointed him in 2007.
Wicker recently voted in favor of a $95 billion aid package that would have given $60 billion to help Ukraine fight Russia’s invasion, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion for humanitarian aid and about $5 billion for Taiwan and Indo-Pacific partners.
After voting for all of former President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominees, the senator disapproved of President Joe Biden’s choice to nominate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court and voted against confirming her to the nation’s highest court. He said he feared Jackson would “restrict religious freedom when it comes to same-sex marriage.” In 2022, Wicker voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which federally protects same-sex marriage rights.
Wicker voted against convicting former President Trump during both impeachment trials, including for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, and blocked a bill that would create an independent commission to investigate the attack. He has since endorsed Trump for reelection and accepted an endorsement from the former Republican president.
“It is clear that the events of January 6 have been and will continue to be investigated by Congress and our law enforcement agencies,” he said in a statement. “It is my view that adding a new commission to this mix would inevitably delay and distract from the productive investigations already underway.”
Policy Views:
- Wants to create more jobs that pay higher wages by expanding workforce development
- Wants to secure U.S. borders with 700 miles of fencing along the southern border
- Supports more military spending, including for Ukraine
- Opposes gun control legislation
- Opposes abortion rights
- Voted against federal protections for same-sex marriage
Website: wickerforsenate.com
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Dan Eubanks, Republican
Background: Mississippi House Rep. Dan Eubanks, R-Walls, is an Ohio native who has lived in DeSoto County for 35 years. He has served as a pastor for young people and adults for 20 years. The preacher has been a state representative for Mississippi’s 25th congressional district since 2016.
Eubanks cosponsored the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act” last year, which prohibited doctors from providing hormone therapy and puberty-blocking drugs to minors by banning public funds from going to “any entity, organization or individual that provides gender transition procedures to a person under eighteen years of age.” Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on Feb. 28, 2023.
This year, Eubanks has sponsored a bill that would ban “abortion trafficking,” outlawing adults from taking a minor who is not their child out of state to get an abortion without permission from the family; that bill died on a committee deadline on Tuesday, March 5. He also wants to ban mail-order abortion medications and devices under House Bill 735, which also died without getting a vote. The representative also co-sponsored a bill that would require educators to out transgender and nonbinary students to their families, but it also died in committee.
Eubanks describes himself as a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment and says a car or poison could kill as many people in one instance as a gun could.
“Murder is an affair of the heart, and you can’t legislate that,” he said in a promotional campaign video.
Policy Views:
- Opposes gun control legislation
- Opposes abortion rights
- Proposes securing the border by building a wall
- Support term limits for elected officials
- Opposes transgender rights
Website: eubanks4mississippi.com
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter
Ghannon Burton, Republican
Background: Col. Ghannon Burton served as a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps for 30 years. He is a graduate of Mississippi State University, the University of Tennessee and Air War College. The pilot does not have any political experience.
Burton says that securing the border is critical and he wants to deport any person who came into the country illegally during the Biden administration. He describes the “Chinese Communist Party” as the U.S.’s biggest threat and says that U.S. leaders need to beef up the military powers to defeat China.
The candidate strongly opposes COVID-19 vaccines and retired from the Marine Corps because he refused to take the vaccine.
“(COVID-19 is) not really a threat to you in a young, healthy demographic. And yet here we are forcing this vaccine on folks. I believe … we’re covering up harm. We got to get to the bottom of that,” Burton said in a promotional campaign video.
The Centers for Disease Control’s Feb. 1, 2024, data shows that people who received the updated COVID-19 vaccine were 54% less likely to contract COVID-19 between September 2023 to January 2024. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that people older than six months take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Policy Views:
- Supports term limits
- Wants to stop inflation by pushing free-market policies
- Proposes securing the border by building a border wall
- Wants a stronger military
- Advocates for transparency in government
- Opposes the COVID-19 vaccine
Website: burton4ussenate.com
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter
Ty Pinkins, Democrat
Background: Ty Pinkins grew up on a cotton farm in Rolling Fork, Miss., as the son of a tractor driver. He served in the U.S. Army for 20 years, served three combat tours in Iraq and received a Bronze Star.
The veteran then went to law school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.; he is the only member of his family to graduate high school and college. Pinkins later founded a nonprofit organization that helps young people in low-income communities and works to ensure equal representation.
Pinkins unsuccessfully ran for Mississippi Secretary of State in 2023 and lost to incumbent Republican Michael Watson.
The Democratic candidate says he wants to help pass legislation that would support small family farmers, bring in new jobs, lower the unemployment rate and improve education. A major part of Pinkins’ campaign is ensuring Mississippians have access to health care and health insurance, including Medicaid coverage through Medicaid expansion (though only members of the state Legislature can approve expansion). He has also focused on voting rights and supports easier voter registration, including allowing same-day voter registration.
Instead of treating immigrants as “criminals,” Pinkins says the U.S. should decriminalize migration and help people who want to become Americans while monitoring for migrants who may violate the law or harm citizens.
“So many of our elected leaders have failed us. … They have forgotten the importance of improving your lives and the lives of your families,” Pinkins said in a campaign promotional video.
Policy Views:
- Supports Medicaid expansion
- Advocates for small family farmers
- Wants to ensure affordable housing by enacting a “housing policy”
- Hopes to improve the public-education system by expanding reading, literacy and vocational programs
- Wants to invest in an environmentally sustainable infrastructure
- Supports decriminalizing migration
- Advocates for easier voter registration
Website: typinkins.com
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Mississippians will vote for candidates for president, U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 12.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Contact your local circuit clerk or election commissioners for polling place information. Voters must bring an accepted form of voter ID to the polls. For more information, visit sos.ms.gov/yall-vote.
