Bryant Leads In Mississippi Republican LG Primary

By Tom Baxter
Senior Vice President & Editor
Southern Political Report

(8/3/07) State auditor Phil Bryant holds a 10-point lead over state Sen. Charlie Ross in the Mississippi Republican lieutenant governor’s primary race, according to an InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion survey.

With the candidates already set in this fall’s Mississippi governor’s race, the battle for the second spot on the Republican ticket is the biggest quesion being decided in Tuesday’s primary elections.

The recorded telephone poll of 1080 likely Republican primary voters was conducted Aug. 2 and weighted for age and gender. The poll has a margin for error of plus-or-minus 3 percent.

The poll showed 50 percent of voters preferring Bryant, with 40 for Ross and 10 percent undecided.

Bryant and Ross are competing to determine who will be running this fall against Democratic Rep. Jaime Franks, who is unopposed in the Tuesday primary. Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, who changed from a Democrat to a Republican while in her current office, is term limited from serving in the post again.

Bryant, who also held a near 2-1 advantage in fundraising, according to end-of-July reports, led Ross among men and women, and in all age groups.

Matt Towery, CEO of InsiderAdvantage and publisher of the Southern Political Report, said Bryant appeared to be in solid shape as the primary nears, but cautioned that sleepy summertime primaries can sometimes produce surprises.

“In these down-ballot races, when you get low turnouts, sometimes what looked like a bigger spread can become a closer race,” Towery said.