The Wednesday night debate was often heated with both men being admonished multiple times for interrupting each other.
Over the course of an hour, the candidates discussed major issues like taxes, education and crime. On the issue of Medicaid expansion, Reeves reiterated his opposition and even argued that expansion would negatively impact struggling rural hospitals in the state.
“It does not make sense for the people in Mississippi because if you were to add 300,000 people to the Medicaid rolls… that's taking 100,000 people that are currently on private insurance and putting them on the government rolls,” Reeves said.
Presley has made expanding Medicaid the center policy proposal of his campaign, and again said that the Mississippians who can't afford health insurance deserve access to health care.
“You’re (Reeves) standing in the way of 230,000 working people that have jobs that you're too good to do yourself that would be able to benefit if in fact we expanded Medicaid,” Presley said. “It’s time has come.”
Both candidates tried to paint the other as corrupt.
Multiple times on stage, Reeves claimed that campaign contributions Presley received were illegal. The donations in question came from employees of a solar energy company that has come to Presley's Public Service Commission for project approvals.
"He's taken money from his solar panel buddies,” Reeves said. “He's approved their ability to produce energy. That's illegal in Mississippi. The law is clear and Brandon Presley knowingly broke the law.”
There is no evidence that these contributions violated state law. Presley again tried to connect Reeves to the state's sprawling welfare scandal.
“Seventy-seven million dollars was diverted for things like Brett Favre on a volleyball court, for Tate Reeves’ personal trainer, $1.3 million,” Presley said. “And what did Tate do? He fired the independent investigator. He delayed depositions 13 times indefinitely. He is at the center of the state’s largest public corruption scandal.”
Presley even pulled out paper copies of text messages – released by the governor’s campaign and published by Mississippi Today – between the Reeves’ brother, Todd, and Brett Favre. The former quarterback pushed for the construction of a volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi that was built with welfare funds.
Reeves maintains he was not involved in the misappropriation of $77 million of federal welfare funds, and that these crimes occurred before he was elected Governor.
Both candidates are calling for tax cuts, but have dramatically different plans. Reeves wants to see the full elimination of Mississippi’s state income tax, arguing the tax puts Mississippi at a competitive disadvantage when compared to southern states like Texas and Tennessee that do not tax income. Presley called for the elimination of the state’s highest-in-the-nation grocery tax and slashing car tag fees in half, tax relief he has said would substantively help people with low incomes.
Though she dropped out of the race, independent candidate Gwendolyn Gray will still appear on the ballot. If neither Reeves nor Presley receives at least 51% of the vote in next Tuesday’s election, there will be a runoff on Nov. 28.
