Brandon Presley Concedes to Tate Reeves in Mississippi Governor’s Race

Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi appeared to secure a second term, fending off a vigorous challenge from Brandon Presley, a moderate Democrat whom he cast as a far-left acolyte of President Biden, and overcoming concerns about a shortage of excitement among conservatives.

Mr. Presley conceded to Mr. Reeves shortly before 11 p.m. Central time.

While the outcome was no surprise, given the Republican Party’s dominance in the state, it did not come quite as easily as some might have expected at the outset of the race. Mr. Presley, a little-known utilities regulator, mounted an energetic campaign that kept Mr. Reeves on his toes.

Mr. Reeves, who was first elected governor in 2019, campaigned on his conservative credentials while constantly linking Mr. Presley to Mr. Biden and other national Democrats who are widely unpopular in Mississippi.

He boasted about tax cuts he had signed and promised to chase his unrealized ambition of eliminating the state’s income tax. Mr. Reeves also pointed to raises for teachers, which he signed into law last year and which were among the largest in state history, and to the fact that unemployment had dropped to its lowest rate in decades.

Mr. Presley traveled the state arguing for expanding Medicaid and slashing the state’s high grocery tax, which is one of the highest in the nation, saying he would bring relief to working-class families. He focused heavily on mobilizing Black voters, but he also believed that he could peel away white centrists and Republicans who were drawn to his message.

Mr. Presley, a second cousin of Elvis Presley and a former mayor of Nettleton, Miss., a town of about 2,000 in the northern part of the state, focused on his personal story of struggling through poverty as a child. He cast Mr. Reeves as disconnected from the experiences of the state’s working poor.

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter, recently found that the election had “morphed into a competitive fight.” It described Mr. Presley as an “unusually strong contender.”

But ultimately Mr. Presley failed to close the gap and thwart Mr. Reeves’s triumph, an outcome that underscores the strength the Republican Party has amassed in Mississippi.