NESHOBA COUNTY, Miss.—Mississippi needs a law requiring political candidates to submit campaign finance filings through a searchable, digital system, Secretary of State Michael Watson urged lawmakers while speaking at the Neshoba County Fair.
He said developers are designing Mississippi’s new “easily searchable, user-friendly” campaign finance system, which is set to be online by April 2026.
But with no law in place to mandate use of the system, political candidates will remain free to continue submitting often poorly scanned paper documents, sometimes spread across hundreds of pages. That can make finding information that could take seconds with a searchable digital database instead take hours, as the Mississippi Free Press has reported.
A new law should require all political candidates and politicians, “from the dog catcher on up to the state governor,” to electronically file campaign finance information, Watson said on July 31.
Watson also highlighted that Mississippians can now report issues they encounter while voting, and the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office can provide information and updates through a text-messaging service the office developed, TextMyGov.
He encouraged Mississippians to call his office if they need assistance regarding elections, voting, business services, regulations, publications, external affairs, and public lands and securities.
“If you call the secretary of state’s office, you’re going to get help,” he said while standing under the pavilion in Founders’ Square at the Neshoba County Fair in front of hundreds of fairgoers.
Under the new system, voters can text “Hi” to 601-586-7600 to ask questions, report concerns or obtain guidance from the secretary’s office. The Secretary of State’s office can also provide text-message updates to Mississippians who text “MS ELECTIONS” to 80946.
‘Government Efficiency’
At the fair a day earlier, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann bragged to fairgoers that the State had eliminated 1,500 state positions, or almost 10% of the State government workforce, since voters elected him to his first term in 2019.
Mississippi has 200 agencies, boards and commissions. In the upcoming year, Hosemann said the public can expect a “significant” restructuring of state government to make it faster, “more economical” and less costly.
“When we go look at these agencies, boards and commissions, I have something I want to know: What are they supposed to be doing? What is their core function? And do they even need to exist?” the lieutenant governor said.
The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce consolidated the Mississippi Fair Commission under its umbrella in 2020 and the Central Market Board in 2021, MDAC Commissioner Andy Gipson noted at the Neshoba County Fair on July 30.
The Future of Agriculture in Mississippi
The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce is creating a strategic plan for the “future of agriculture resiliency of Mississippi,” Andy Gipson said. The commissioner explained that his office will look at strengths, weaknesses, threats and industrial opportunities to decide what to do about markets in the state, “diversification of products,” international trade, “food supply resiliency,” technology and “rural quality of life.”
Agriculture is Mississippi’s largest industry and employer, as over 20% of Mississippians have an agricultural-related job, he said.
“It’s hard for farmers to make a living,” Gipson said. “In fact, they cannot make a living at the ag trade deficit we had seen and the high inflation, where it’s costing more to raise a crop than they can get in terms of return. But we’re going to win this trade war.”
He told the Neshoba County Fair crowd that he was running for governor in the 2027 election, reiterating an announcement he had previously made in June. As part of his platform for the governor’s race, Gipson said he wanted to boost economic development, improve the agricultural sector and prioritize infrastructure investments.
“It is agriculture that is the backbone of all our small towns and rural communities across this beautiful state of ours,” the commissioner said at the Neshoba County Fair on July 30.
Creating Online Tools for Services
Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance (MAMA) is a website the Mississippi attorney general’s office developed that offers women and children connections to public, private and faith-based resources. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said the site has received over 56,000 visits in its two years of existence.
“Here in Mississippi, we’re promoting the right to life,” she said at the Neshoba County Fair on July 31. Fitch led the State’s successful effort to overturn Roe v. Wade and abortion rights at the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.
She said her office collaborated with 400 investigators and prosecutors across the state during a two-week task force that collectively made 72 arrests in cases involving human trafficking, child exploitation, fentanyl possession and fentanyl distribution. She added that the team “rescued 29 victims.”
The task force developed the Simply Report app and website, where people can report victims of crimes to the attorney general’s office. It is set to become a nationwide tool the public can use, she said.
“If you will trust me in this office or whatever elected office I might hold, I will always, always put your interests first,” Fitch said, hinting at herself potentially running for another office in 2027.
After her speech on the pavilion’s stage, Mississippi Today Reporter Michael Goldberg asked if she was considering running for governor in 2027.
“Certainly, it’s always a consideration,” she said.
