Phil Bryant

Dewey Phillip "Phil" Bryant
63rd Governor of Mississippi
In office January 10, 2012 – January 2020
Preceded by	Haley Barbour
Succeeded by	Tate Reeves
Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
In office January 10, 2008 – January 10, 2012
Preceded by	Amy Tuck
Succeeded by	Tate Reeves
Born	December 9, 1954
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Deborah Hays Bryant
Religion	United Methodist

Dewey Phillip Bryant, known as Phil Bryant (born December 9, 1954), is the Republican former governor of Mississippi; he was formerly the lieutenant governor under Haley Barbour. His gubernatorial term expired in January 2020, and Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves, the winner of the 2019 election, was sworn into office. Bryant signed into law a bill to prohibit abortion after fifteen weeks of pregnancy; it was quickly blocked by a federal judge appointed by U.S. President Barack H. Obama. In March 2019, Bryant signed one of the toughest pro-life Heartbeat Bills in the country.^[1]

That same month, Bryant appointed a former Democrat, Cindy Hyde-Smith, the state commissioner of agriculture and commerce, to fill the seat being vacated on April 1 by long-term RINO United States Senator Thad Cochran. In making his selection, Bryant bypassed conservative state Senator Chris McDaniel of Laurel, who announced his candidacy to complete Cochran's term in the special election held on November 6, 2018. In a statement, McDaniel said that he was:

troubled to learn that Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant dutifully followed the orders of the Washington establishment’s Mitch McConnell by appointing Cindy Hyde-Smith to fill the temporary vacancy created by Senator Thad Cochran’s retirement. ... the last thing the state of Mississippi needs in Washington is another moderate Democrat. ...

The establishment should have learned their lesson in Alabama. By spending millions of dollars against conservative Mo Brooks, they ended up losing the seat (with conservative Roy Moore) to the successful Democrat Doug Jones, a favorite of former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Now, they are going to appoint one in Mississippi. Instead of unifying around my candidacy, and beating the Democrats, the establishment is once again going to waste millions of dollars of donors’ money over what should have been a safe Republican seat in Mississippi.^[2]

Some strategists question whether Hyde-Smith's former ties to the Democrats could hurt her chances in a race against McDaniel. The special election will be essentially non-partisan; each party will not be selecting nominees to contest the race. U.S. President Donald Trump was said to have no plans to endorse or campaign for Hyde-Smith. According to Politico, polling conducted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee shows Hyde-Smith trailing both McDaniel and a prospective Democratic candidate.^[2] At the same time as the special election, RINO Senator Roger Wicker won reelection. McDaniel had announced he was challenging Wicker but then switched to campaign for the open seat. Trump, however, did campaign for Hyde-Smith in her race against the number-two candidate, African-American Democrat Mike Espy, who served in the Clinton Cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture.