RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) officially launched his re-election campaign Wednesday afternoon in Rankin County.

Reeves touted Mississippi’s historically low unemployment rate, recent economic investments and the state’s educational improvements to his supporters.

“I am here today to ask you to keep up Mississippi’s momentum. I’m here today to ask you to help us one more time. Let’s build a great campaign. Let’s defeat the national Liberals. Let’s tell the world this is Mississippi’s moment. This is Mississippi’s time,” stated Reeves during the campaign launch.

Reeves, 48, is seeking a second term as governor. He previously served two terms as lieutenant governor and two as state treasurer. Early in his career, he was a financial portfolio manager.

During the event Wednesday, Reeves ignored his two challengers in the Aug. 8 Republican primary, neither of whom has held public office. David Grady Hardigree once managed a computer repair business, and Dr. John Witcher founded a group of fellow physicians opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Reeves signed a law in 2022 saying state and local government agencies cannot withhold services or refuse jobs to people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Reeves focused criticism Wednesday on Brandon Presley, the Democrat who will be on the ballot for governor in the Nov. 7 general election. Presley, 45, is finishing his fourth term as the elected public service commissioner for northern Mississippi. He previously served as mayor of Nettleton.

“We are not up against a local yokel, Mississippi Democrat,” Reeves said. “We are up against a national liberal machine. They are extreme. They are radical and vicious.”

Presley released a statement after Reeves’ launch.

“After four years of Tate Reeves’ self-dealing and corruption, the only Mississippians who are better off than they were four years ago are Tate Reeves, his personal trainer, his celebrity friends, his lobbyist buddies, and the giant corporations who fuel his campaign. Mississippians are fed up with Tate Reeves helping to funnel millions of dollars meant for working families to his celebrity friends and personal trainer while watching their rural hospitals on the brink of closure and feeling the squeeze from rising costs,” stated Presley.

Mississippi, Louisiana and Kentucky have the only gubernatorial races in the U.S. this year.

Democrats last elected a Mississippi governor in 1999. Republicans hold all statewide offices and supermajorities in the state House and Senate.

Reeves started this year with nearly $2 million in one campaign fund and $5.9 million in another, according to records filed with the secretary of state’s office.

Presley started the year with $723,802, and his campaign announced Wednesday that he raised $1.35 million from January through April.

An independent candidate, Gwendolyn Gray, will be on the general election ballot. Gray has worked for a state agriculture extension service and a community action agency. She has not filed a campaign finance report.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.