‘I ain’t ashamed anymore’: poverty and tragedy led Elvis Presley’s cousin to run for Mississippi governor

On a hot Saturday in late September, a couple hundred Mississippians drove to a clearing off Martin Luther King Jr Road. They stayed in their cars, enjoying a few moments of cool air-conditioning before filing towards the field’s few shaded areas.

Chrystal O’Neal, of nearby Fayette, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, while volunteers filled tables with chips and beverages. What distinguished the gathering as a campaign event were the copious signs, all reminding those assembled that they were there to hear from Brandon Presley, the Democratic candidate in Mississippi’s upcoming gubernatorial election.

The visit to Natchez was one of Presley’s campaign stops on his journey through all 82 of Mississippi’s counties. He made a point to speak to every single person present, personally introducing himself and shaking attendees’ hands, in hopes that on 7 November they would elect him Mississippi’s 66th governor, beating out Republican incumbent Tate Reeves to become the first Democrat to hold the position in nearly two decades.

After four years marked with a chaotic and deadly response to the Covid-19 pandemic, an ongoing healthcare crisis and a welfare scandal, many Mississippians are looking for a change. Presley, who is anti-abortion and a lifelong Democrat, aims to end corruption in the state, expand Medicaid, increase funding for education and bring jobs to people across the state.

With less than three weeks ahead, Presley is still trailing Reeves in the polls. Having endured a life of struggle and tragedy, he is not backing down.

“I’m doing something Tate Reeves doesn’t have the courage to do, and that is to go to every county in the state,” Presley said. “The likelihood of some counties voting for me might be low, but the fact is, a governor should want to be in every county, listening to every constituent in the state of Mississippi: those that agree with you, those that don’t agree with you.”

‘I’ve been there’

By now, most Mississippians know Presley’s story.

Now 45, he was born in Nettleton, in the north part of Mississippi. His grandfather and Elvis Presley’s grandfather were brothers – Brandon Presley was born shortly before his famous cousin’s death.

His mother worked in a garment factory, raising him and his two siblings after their father was shot and killed on Presley’s first day of third grade.

“We had our lights cut off, we had the water cut off, we had times in which the lights and the water were cut off – I’ve been there,” Presley told the crowd in Natchez. “I understand. There was probably a time in my life when I was a teenager and I was ashamed of that. I ain’t ashamed anymore. It made me who I am. It means you can get through anything.”

He attended Itawamba Community College before going on to attend Mississippi State University.

The young Presley looked up to his uncle, the Lee county sheriff Harold Ray Presley, as a father figure and mentor. Presley’s mother and the sheriff both died in 2001 – his mother died just days after Brandon filed his qualifying papers for mayor of Nettleton; the sheriff was shot and killed in the line of duty five days after Presley was sworn in.

Presley, then 23, was one of the youngest mayors in the state’s history. During his time in office, he “cut property taxes twice and secured millions of dollars in grants for public projects like a new city hall, roads and parks”, according to a 2007 newspaper article.

After his second term, Presley ran for and was elected to the northern district seat on the Mississippi public service commission, a three-member group that regulates utilities. He is completing his fourth term this year.

An opportunity for change

Presley, if elected, would be unlike other Democratic governors who came before him in the largely conservative state. He’s pro-life, has a conservative view on gun control and describes himself as a “populist, FDR-Billy McCoy Democrat”.

During his campaign, Presley has pushed to extend Medicaid, the public health insurance program, in a state where nearly 20% of the population lives under the poverty line. His platform also includes ending corruption in the state, improving education, bringing in jobs and removing the sales tax for groceries.

As he spoke with the crowd in Natchez about each of these promises, he received an impassioned response.

O’Neal, a former casino worker whose son played while she worked the grill, said she had been looking forward to hearing Presley speak, and was “most definitely” voting for him come November. She, like many voters at the event, was drawn to Presley because of his commitment to expanding Medicaid and improving education.

The statehouse representative Jeffery Harness, a Democrat who represents Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson and Warren counties, mingled with other attendees. He, too, is eager to support Presley. “We need a Democratic governor,” he said. “It’s very important that we change the tide of the political atmosphere of the state.”

Mississippi is in the midst of a healthcare crisis: many hospitals across the state are either at risk of closing or have already closed. According to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, Mississippi has 24 hospitals at risk of immediate closure.

“There’s a lot of fear right now about the healthcare crisis we have in the state where hospitals are shutting down and it’s only getting worse,” Presley said. “I hear from people that are worried about whether or not they’ll be able to afford to get healthcare, to be at a hospital, and get the care that they need.”

Despite 72% of voters supporting Medicaid expansion and 92% being concerned about hospital access, Mississippi is one of 10 states that continue to reject federal funding to expand health insurance; Reeves has balked at expanding Medicaid.

“You got people today in Natchez that are sacking groceries, they’re wiping a table at the Waffle House. They’re doing the best they can do, yet they have no chance at healthcare and you’ve got a governor that not only doesn’t understand, he doesn’t care,” Presley told supporters at the Natchez event. “Y’all’ve all heard that old quote: ‘When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.’ Tate Reeves has shown us who he is.”

Fresh on the minds of many Mississippians is also the ongoing fallout from the state’s welfare scandal, in which at least $77m in federal funds earmarked for the poorest state’s poorest residents were spent in the interests of the wealthy and politically connected.

The scandal took place while Reeves was lieutenant governor. Reeves, who has not been charged with any crime, denies any wrongdoing. Last week, a defendant in the state’s lawsuit sued Reeves, claiming that he is illegally protecting himself and his allies.

During the Natchez event, before Presley was able to mention the scandal, supporters called out, reminding him of it. “What about his thieving?” one man said.

Of note, Reeves’ friend and personal trainer, Paul Lacoste, who endorsed Reeves in 2019, is now one of the people being sued by the state in an attempt to recoup misspent funds. According to court documents from the state’s welfare department, Lacoste improperly received $1.3m in welfare funds.

“These were dollars that were aimed at working, poor people to put food on the table, pay the light bill,” Presley said.

Despite the excitement around his campaign, Presley is trying to make up the gap in the race with only days to go.

He has tried to court voters in key demographics. He repeatedly acknowledged that Black voters are essential to secure the race. On day one, he was endorsed by the Democratic US representative Bennie Thompson, arguably the most influential Black politician in the state. He has also attended events led by black Greek letter organizations and historically Black colleges and universities across the state, including recently attending both Jackson State University’s and Alcorn State University’s homecomings.

“The truth is, people that look like me have been pitted against Black Mississippians for decades,” Presley told people at the Natchez event. “For two reasons: political power and money.”

Presley has also worked to secure the support of younger voters – he himself, along with his supporters, have become mainstays at tailgates and other events at colleges across the state – and Indigenous voters.

Despite that traction, he is up against an incumbent. Reeves, 49, has largely run an “us-versus-them” campaign, painting Presley as an outsider who is divorced from the lives of average Mississippians and functioning as a puppet for national Democratic interests.

Reeves, a former investment banker, grew up in Flowood, a suburb of Jackson, and his father owns a multimillion-dollar heating and air conditioning business.

Reeves attended Millsaps College, a private liberal arts college, where he joined Kappa Alpha Order, a fraternity known for its old south ball, in which members and their dates dress as Confederate soldiers and antebellum ladies (the national organization banned the wearing of Confederate uniforms to old south parades in 2010, but the practice stands).

On bid day, when they were both students at Millsaps, the acclaimed writer and MacArthur grant winner Kiese Laymon got into an altercation with two fraternities on campus, including Kappa Alpha. Fraternity members wore Confederate capes and afro wigs, and some blackened their faces, Laymon, who played basketball against Reeves throughout high school, remembered years later.

In 2020, Laymon wrote about “the heartbreak of seeing the future governor of Mississippi in that group of white boys, proudly representing the Kappa Alpha fraternity and its confederate commitment to Black suffering”.

Though Presley has outraised Reeves, Reeves has more campaign cash on hand going into the final stretch of the election, the AP reported. Presley started the year with just under $730,000 in his campaign fund. Since then, he has raised about $7.9m, of which he has about $1.8m on hand as of last month. Comparatively, Reeves started the year with almost $7.9m across two campaign accounts. Since then, he has raised about $5.1m. At the end of last month, he reported about $4.2m cash on hand.

Presley has long tried to debate Reeves.

Finally, after months of Presley calling for a debate, including proposing five and accepting invitations from television stations and the Mississippi NAACP, Reeves agreed to one debate – to take place a week before the election.

In a tweet posted last week, Reeves wrote: “Pleased to announce that the first Gubernatorial debate will be on November 1st at 7:00 PM on WAPT! I’m looking forward to talking about our record on jobs and schools, and dispelling the lies funded by out-of-state liberals.”

Presley’s team is not scared to turn that rhetoric against his rival. Using a slogan made popular by Maga supporters, weeks ago the Presley campaign launched a commercial featuring Republicans, including former elected officials, all rallying behind Presley.

“I’ve got three words for you,” the commercial says. “Let’s go, Brandon.”