Mississippi has not had a Republican attorney general since the long-forgotten George E. Harris in 1877. Look for that to change in 2020.
With Attorney General Jim Hood, the lone statewide elected Democrat in Mississippi, running for governor, it leaves attorney general to be the final office to fall to GOP control.
Three Republicans will be vying for the spot in the Aug. 6 primary:
- State Rep. Mark Baker of Brandon
- State Treasurer Lynn Fitch
- Madison attorney Andy Taggart
Taggart stopped by Columbia as part of a campaign tour this week. Taggart hasn’t held major elected office other than one term as a Madison County supervisor, but he has a long history in a variety of roles in the state. He served as Gov. Kirk Fordice’s chief of staff when Fordice became the first Republican elected as governor since Reconstruction, he’s written several books on the state’s political history and he and his wife have waged a campaign since their son Brad’s suicide in 2012 to bring awareness to the problems associated with drugs.
Taggart said Tuesday that seven years after his son’s death the family was healthy enough for him to run for office and that addressing the state’s drug problem would be a major priority. He said there are “predators and victims in the drug war” and that his position would be to find ways, like drug courts, to get help for the users while “nailing predators to the wall.”
He said there needs to be a statewide commitment to funding drug courts, which have proven successful in some areas like Marion County in stopping the cycle of drug use, thefts and arrests, and that getting users help would free up resources to better investigate and prosecute dealers.
That would be his main focus in the attorney general’s job as the state’s top law enforcement officer. As the state’s top lawyer, Taggart cited his 34 years of active practice of law and said he would take a different approach than Hood when it comes to using outside counsel to sue on behalf of the state.
Taggart said the practice has been for lawyers to come to the attorney general and pitch cases they plan to sue on behalf of the state. They agree to only get paid if there’s a settlement.
“It’s an unseemly thing. It’s setting public policy by litigation,” Taggart said.
His idea is to have the attorney general’s office investigate matters first and handle cases itself when able. If there’s fraud uncovered that is beyond the state’s capability to litigate, Taggart said it wouldn’t be improper in those cases to hire outside counsel.
Another big part of his platform is one that is starkly different from other Republican leaders in Mississippi: Taggart is a proponent of changing the state flag, which contains the Confederate battle flag in one corner. He said it should be put in a museum and that Mississippi needs to be more about looking forward than backward. He said friends, family and political advisors keep telling him to not talk about the flag — which remains popular with a large segment of conservatives following a 2001 referendum to keep the design — but that “somebody needs the brass to lead into the future.”
He’s also been one of the few GOP leaders in the state to question any decisions by President Trump, and I admire Taggart’s willingness to stand for an unpopular issue based on principle. I think that would qualify him well for public office. We need more free thinkers in the Mississippi Republican party rather than those who take the easy path of repeating the party line in a shameless attempt to grab power (here’s looking at you, Tate Reeves).
But those stances will no doubt be a liability for Taggart in the primary; it will be interesting how his opponents choose to play them in the months to come.
Charlie Smith is editor and publisher of The Columbian-Progress. Reach him at (601) 736-2611 or csmith@columbianprogress.com.
