Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson is seeking a second term and revisited what he sees as the biggest accomplishments of his time in office. These include registering 250,000 new voters, working with lawmakers on election integrity legislation, and his "tackle the tape" initiative to cut business regulations and spur growth.
“This (tackle the tape) isn't something that's just a concept that you talk about,” Watson said. “This is real life on the ground, helping people grow their business, and have more money for their family.”
Democratic challenger Ty Pinkins has a different view of Mississippi’s economy. He says it has not grown at the same rate as most other states during the last few decades because of decisions made by Republican leaders. Pinkins also said Mississippi needs to catch up to other states in making voting more accessible through policies like online voter registration and no-excuse early voting.
“I'm running for secretary of state, because I've been all over the state, and Mississippians are ready for Mississippi to lead,” Pinkins said. “The problem is, we have the wrong people in some of these offices.”
Both candidates promised to address Mississippi's lax campaign finance laws and antiquated reporting system. Watson said he will work with the Legislature to create a searchable online campaign finance reporting system. He also said he would push for his office to take over enforcement of campaign finance violations since no other state agency will take it on.
“I don't want to grow the authority of the office, that's not my job,” Watson said. “I don't ask for more power. But what I do say is Mississippians deserve somebody that's going to do what they're supposed to be doing on their job.”
Pinkins criticized Watson, saying the incumbent has done nothing to reform the campaign finance system during his 15 years in public office.
“The bottom line is our campaign financial reporting system is broken, and it didn't break. Saturday morning,” Pinkins said. “It didn't break last week. It's been broken for a long, long time.”
Watson and Pinkins will face off in November's general election.
