JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – There’s no hesitation when you ask state party leaders what will drive Mississippians to the polls this election cycle.

“This will be the presidential election,” said Sheikh Taylor, chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party.

“I mean, it’s a presidential election, and you’re going to have high turnout because of that,” noted Mississippi Republican Party Executive Director Rance Bilbo.

History confirms this. There was a difference of more than 100,000 voters between 2016 and 2020 in Mississippi, despite the fact that both were presidential election years.

However, 2020 also included measures relating to medical marijuana and the state flag. During this go-around, there are less important elements, like congressional and judicial elections, that parties remind voters of.

Although Mississippi is considered a red state, the Republican Party says that’s where it needs to make sure voters don’t stay home.

“I tell everyone that when I travel around the state, the worst thing Republicans do is be complacent,” Bilbo added. “We have to run like we’re 20 points behind. This is going to be a close race. I encourage all Mississippians to vote because their future, their children and their grandchildren depend on it.

Gov. Tate Reeves has shared a similar message in recent posts on his social media accounts, including in videos of him speaking to constituents.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Reeves said in a video. “It doesn’t matter what you think. It’s how you vote. So what falls on all of us is to work to eliminate our friends and neighbors, of course, here in Mississippi, but in all the swing states.

Democrats say the last-minute change at the top of the ticket boosted voter engagement.

“We were a little late to the game, you know, because it was approved less than 100 days after the election,” said Mississippi Democratic Party Executive Director Mikel Boldne. “But we’ve pretty much had billboards that have been, you know, put up across the state in available areas. We also had radio messages. We asked people to volunteer to do virtual banking over the phone. We triggered our SMS bank.

“We know we are not a battleground state,” Taylor added. “We know we’re not a swing state, but we still have a lot of activity going on for GOTV.”

Polling stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 5.

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