By all accounts Tommy Duff’s talk at the Rankin County Republican Executive Committee’s Lincoln-Reagan-Trump dinner was a political home run. I say talk because the potential 2027 candidate for governor had no script and conversationally discussed his business successes along with Mississippi’s opportunities and challenges. The home run description derives from the size and composition of the crowd, the intense media coverage, and comments by several seasoned politicos who attended.
Several hundred Republican big leaguers, epitomized by former Gov. Haley Barbour and former House Speaker Philip Gunn, filled up The Refuge Convention Center at the Flowood Sheraton to hear Duff talk. That was quite a turnout for a not-yet-full-fledged politician. In extensive articles, Jackson Jambalaya described the crowd as “Republican royalty,” Super Talk as a “who’s who” of “the state’s movers and shakers,” The Magnolia Tribune as a “packed crowd,” and Mississippi Today as “a room full of Republican insiders.” Secretary of State Michael Watson introduced Duff following an invocation by Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson. Mississippi GOP chairman Mike Hurst also delivered prepared remarks. But, “none of those speakers caught the attention of the crowd like Duff,” reported Super Talk. “All eyes were glued to him and each ear soaked in every word he spoke.”
While Duff has not formally announced his candidacy, he did enter the political realm earlier this year by forming a political action committee. “Duff PAC brands itself as an organization ‘supporting conservative candidates and advancing policies that promote opportunity, freedom, and prosperity across Mississippi,’” reported Super Talk. The Tribune described the PAC as playing a “behind-the-scenes role in GOP politics.” Jambalaya called Duff a “strong donor of Republican politicians. Mississippi Today reported Duff’s PAC promoted the fundraising for the dinner with proceeds going to the county executive committee. Duff’s talk resembled remarks he has made to media and non-political groups around the state since last December. But this talk in Rankin County, the heart of Republican conservatism, was apparently a first. Mississippi Today reported Duff’s advisors characterized it as “the first political speech of his life.” (One politico gave kudos to Duff’s political advisor Josh Gregory for so well preparing his client.) Duff and his brother Jim own Southern Tire Mart and Duff Capital employing 15,000 people nationwide, around 1,200 in Rankin County. If Duff’s reception continues like this, what looked like a heavyweight Republican free-for-all featuring Andy Gipson, Philip Gunn, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, Attorney General Lynn Fitch, State Auditor Shad White, and former Cong. Gregg Harper could turn into a walkover. “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens…a time to search and a time to give up” – Ecclesiastes 3:1,6. Crawford is the author of A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.
22 comments:
I wish he had run in 2019
Waller, Act 2
Duff walks on water.
I will disagree. He sounded like a Republican the other night. When I heard Waller speak at the Grab and Grope luncheon in Madison in the run for the primary, I wondered why he was running in the Republican primary because he sounded more like a Democrat than a Republican. Not a knock, just what the policies he promoted were.
i hope duff runs and wins. i want someone like trump who can't be corrupted.
When money talks people listen. So what else is new?
duff is a breath of fresh air in a state where everything is the usual............including the politicians.
Interesting that Duff's comments were preceded by a prayer by 'the hat'.
Frontier Strategies on a roll
Why would you insult Mr. Duff?
Thomas Duff could be an awesome governor, but he has obstacles to overcome with a lot of the Mississippi electorate - most of which have not been reported. Some of these can be overcome with cash.
Political Novice - lack of statewide name recognition
Mormon
Divorced Twice
Money/Influence behind Phil Bryant
Layoffs at KLLM & Frozen Food Express the last 2 years
Any individual with a lot of business success has skeletons - Mississippi Today will find them
Can he run for AG too?
If he runs and wins, what will/can he do about the Entergy/Amazon Data Center disaster that is about to erupt?
I dont see why him being a Mormon is such a big deal. I am also LDS. I think it would be fantastic if our population in Mississippi grew large enough for our own Temple.
Uh oh. You done did it now. You said the word "temple." That's going to bring the Nazis out of the woodwork now.
Shad is a Catholic. That's not necessarily "mainstream" in Mississippi either.
he can call President Trump and ask for some funding for Nuclear Reactors for a new LDS-owned Nuclear Power startup. I think 3 new Westinghouse AP1000’s distributed throughout the state should do the trick.
the fish nails it at 1:39.............''temple '' is a political dirty word around mississippi.
true...people here would not vote for john kennedy for president because he was a catholic.
It was interesting night at the Refuge Hotel in Flowood. Curiosity was the draw. Like going to the zoo. You want to see the new attraction, a billionaire running for Gov. About 550 showed up to see how he would measure up to the others mentioned to run. It was a nice speech. A little long. No notes. Most of what he talked about was his life so it wasn’t complicated or hard to remember. He has given this speech dozens of times. Giving Josh Gregory credit for Duff recounting his career is a joke. The question is from that evening , would you vote for Duff for Gov. after hearing him speak? Did you get that Ross Perot feeling? Did he stir your emotions? Only the people in the room that night could answer that question. I have yet to talk to anyone there that night that said they were interested in voting for Duff after. Remember, going to the zoo doesn’t mean you want to go buy an elephant.
Yea, all those things disqualified him from holding any political office. Because, as we all know, only the most “clean” people get to serve as politicians.
Think about this: So far, we have nothing but a stable of Mississippi politicians who have accomplished nothing more than increasing their own PERS purse.
The Hat, who Phil Bryant put in the position of Ag Czar to get him out of the legislature because he was a needle in Phil's side.
The Red Dress Gal who Haley brought onto the scene and advanced her through three or four high level jobs that she never understood. And now she's our Attorney General who has never been in a court room.
The childlike State Auditor who, when he's not acting childlike, is acting like a child.
Rumors of the immediately prior Light Governor who is arguably the most arrogant politician this state has ever witnessed.
The current Light Governor who would be a fool to run, given his age, his vacillating between being a democrat and a....democrat.
Who did I miss?
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