JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) and his Democratic challenger, Brandon Presley, delivered their speeches at the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday.

Both candidates relied on what has gotten them to this point. For Reeves, it’s reminding voters of the state of Mississippi’s economy, while doing his best to paint Presley as a radical liberal. For Commissioner Presley, it’s brining up Mississippi’s healthcare issues and trying to make Reeves look out of touch with the rest of the state.

“The numbers and the facts say Mississippi has momentum. The facts say our unemployment rate is 3.1%. That’s the lowest ever. The facts say that Mississippi attracted $6 billion in new capital investment in the last year. $6 billion with a ‘B.’ Brandon Presley has caved in to the most radical liberals in our country. They want to encourage permanent damaging changes to children’s bodies. He stands with them and opposes Mississippi’s law that protects our kids,” said Reeves.

“When he comes up here in a few minutes, he’s going to do his best to whistle past the problems in Mississippi, including our health care crisis. And much like Nero of old, he’s fiddling while our hospitals are burned to the ground. To all the Tate Reeves little insiders, lobbyists and buddies and influence buyers, I wanna tell you this, come November 7th the words of that old Willie Nelson song, you can shut out the lights the party’s over. Thank you very much,” said Presley.

Healthcare is one of the biggest issues coming into Neshoba, and it was integral to Presley’s speech. Reeves mentioned healthcare just once during his speech, but he did discuss challenges in the state.

“What is the plan to fix health care in Mississippi? Number one, you expand Medicaid and that is the number one way in which we get to stop the revenue losses of hospitals. Right now, the hospitals are losing dollars in the millions. And we know it. The CEO of Delta Health Services said last week tight race doesn’t understand. I’ll add to that he doesn’t understand and doesn’t care,” stated Presley. 

“We’ve got to we ought to have more availability of healthcare throughout our state. We have more accessibility to health care throughout our state. And we’ve got to make sure that we can make health care more affordable throughout our state. My view is that the best way to do that is get more people with more and better and higher paying jobs. When I ran for governor, I made it clear I didn’t run for governor to try to hide our challenges. I ran for governor to try to fix them,” said Reeves.

Both candidates spoke to a lively crowd. Supporters on both sides made their presence felt.

Presley said, “When you go into the voting booth in November, I want you to think about one thing, which candidate has got the guts and the backbone to stand up for us?” 

“There’s no doubt the liberals in other states are going to spend money here because they can’t stand our narrative They can’t stand the fact that conservative policies work. And we’re proving it every single day right here in Mississippi,” said Reeves.

The focus now shifts to the Primary Election, which is set for August 8 in Mississippi.