General elections are on Tuesday. See who's running in your MS Coast city
Voters in most Mississippi Coast cities will elect another round of new leaders next Tuesday, ending a busy election season that has already ousted some incumbents and led to tight party runoffs across the region.
The general elections will decide mayor's races in Gulfport, Biloxi, Gautier and Moss Point. City council and board of alderman candidates are also on ballots in several cities.
The elections follow party primaries and runoffs this spring.
The most contentious race may come in Gulfport, where attorney Hugh Keating, a Republican, and former state Rep. Sonya Williams Barnes, a Democrat, are running for mayor.
The race is attracting some attention from national political leaders. Stacey Abrams, a Democrat who in 2018 nearly defeated Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, has contributed to Barnes' campaign and said Gulfport would be 'well-served' by her leadership. Keating is advertising a rally this week with Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican of South Carolina who campaigned for President Donald Trump and was once floated as his possible running mate.
In Biloxi, Incumbent Mayor Andrew 'FoFo' Gilich is facing Andy Linville, an Independent, and Farren Santibanez, a Libertarian. Linville has worked in the healthcare and real estate businesses, and Farren Santibanez is a sixth generation Biloxi resident.
Voters in Gautier will decide between Incumbent Mayor Casey Vaughan, an Independent, and Phil Torjusen, a Republican who served one term as mayor before Vaughan defeated him four years ago.
Moss Point's Incumbent Mayor Billy Knight Sr. is facing Richard McBride, a Republican who also ran for mayor in 2017 and 2021.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 3.
New four-year terms start July 1.
Bay St. Louis
Ward 2: Incumbent Eugene 'Gene' Hoffman IV (R) and Nancy Moynan (D)
Biloxi
Mayor: Andrew 'FoFo' Gilich (R), Andy Linville (I) and Farren Santibanez (L)
Ward 1: Wayne Gray (R), Corey Christy (D) and Stephan Santibanez (L)
Ward 2: Incumbent Felix O. Gines (R), Anthony L. Marshall (D) and Sonya C. White (I)
D'Iberville
Council At Large: Incumbent Joey Bosarge (R) and Crystal Wingo (I)
Gautier
Mayor: Incumbent Mayor Casey Vaughan (I) and Phil Torjusen (R)
Ward 4: Lorenzo L. Fuller Sr. (I) and Joshua 'Josh' Ward (I)
Ward 5: Incumbent Dante L. Elbin (R) and Anthony K. Snow (I)
Gulfport
Mayor: Sonya Williams Barnes (D) and Hugh Keating (R)
Ward 2: Valerie Ewing (D) and Incumbent Ron Roland (R)
Ward 4: Incumbent F.B. 'Rusty' Walker (R) and Dalaney Lee Mecham (I)
Ward 5: Craig Elliott Raybon (D) and B.J. Sellers (R)
Ward 6: Carrissa Corbett (D) and Incumbent Robert 'R.Lee' Flowers (R)
Moss Point
Mayor: Incumbent Billy Knight Sr. (D) and Richard McBride (R)
Ocean Springs
Alderman At Large: Matthew Hinton (R) and Oren Zweig (I)
Ward 1: Greg Gipson (I) and Steve Tillis (R)
Ward 5: Incumbent Robert Blackman (R) and James E. Lewis (I)
Pascagoula
Ward 1: Carlos R. Stallworth Sr. (I) and Michael Rodgers (D)
Pass Christian
Ward 1: Barry Dreyfus (R) and Incumbent Betty Sparkman (I) will both appear on the ballot. Sparkman withdrew from the race in May. The city said her name will still appear on ballots because they were printed before her withdrawal.
Ward 2: Incumbent Regina Charlot (D) and Joseph Piernas (I)
Anita Lee, Mary Perez and Margaret Baker contributed reporting.
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Los Angeles Times
15 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Candidates for California governor face off about affordability, high cost of living in first bipartisan clash
SACRAMENTO — In a largely courteous gathering of a half dozen of California's top gubernatorial candidates, four Democrats and two Republicans agreed that despite the state boasting one of the world's largest economies, too many of its residents are suffering because of the affordability crisis in the state. Their strategies on how to improve the state's economy, however, largely embraced the divergent views of their respective political parties as they discussed housing costs, high-speed rail, tariffs, climate change and homelessness on Wednesday evening at the first bipartisan event in the 2026 governor race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. 'Californians are innovators. They are builders, they are designers, they are creators, and that is the reason that we have the fourth largest economy in the world,' said former Rep. Katie Porter., a Democrat from Irvine 'But businesses and workers are being held back by the same thing. It is too expensive to do things here. It is too expensive to raise a family. It is too expensive to run a business.' Conservative commentator Steve Hilton, a Republican, argued that state leaders need to end the 'stranglehold' of unions, lawyers and climate change activists on California policy. 'I've been traveling this state. Everywhere I go, it's the same story, this heartbreaking word that I get from every business I meet, every family is in such a struggle in California,' he said, with a raspy voice he explained immediately upon taking the stage was caused by a sore throat. The candidates spoke to about 800 people at a California Chamber of Commerce dinner at an 80-minute panel at the convention center in Sacramento. The chamber's decision on who to invite to the forum was based on which ones were leaders in public opinion surveys and fundraising. Making the cut were former Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, Hilton, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Porter and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The sharpest exchange of the evening was between Kounalakis, a Democrat, and Bianco, a Republican. After the candidates were asked about President Trump's erratic tariff policies, Kounalakis cited her experience working for her father's reat estate company as she criticized Bianco for arguing for a wait-and-see approach about the president's undulating plans. 'You're not a businessman, you're a government employee,' she said to Bianco. 'You've got a pension, you're going to do just fine. Small businesses are suffering from this, and it's only going to get worse, and it's driven, by the way, it is driven by Donald Trump's vindictiveness toward countries he doesn't like, countries he wants to annex, or states he doesn't like, people he doesn't like. This is hurting California, hurting our people, and it's only going to make things worse, until we can get him out of the White House.' Bianco countered that Kounalakis and the other Democrat gubernatorial candidates are directly responsible for the economic woes facing Californians because they have an 'unquenchable thirst' for money to fund their liberal agenda. 'I just feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. I have a billionaire telling me that my 32 years of public service is okay for my retirement,' he said. 'It's taxes and regulations that are driving every single thing in California up. We pay the highest taxes, we pay the highest gas, we pay the highest housing, we pay the highest energy.' The Democrats on stage, though largely agreeing about policy, sought to differentiate themselves. The sharpest divide was about whether to raise the minimum wage. On Monday, labor advocates in Los Angeles proposed raising it in Los Angeles County Atkins reflected most of her fellow Democrats' views, saying that while she wanted to see higher wages for workers, 'now is not the time.' Villaraigosa said that while he believes in a higher minimum wage, 'we can't just keep raising the minimum wage.' Kounalakis, though, said not increasing the minimum wage would be inhumane. 'I think we should be working for that number, yes I do,' she said. 'You want to throw poor people under the bus.' California's high cost of living is a pressing concern among the state's voters, and the issue is expected to play a major role in the 2026 governor's face. Nearly half feel worse off now compared with last year, and more than half felt less hopeful about their economic well-being, according to a poll released in May by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by The Times. Nearly exactly a year before the gubernatorial primary next year, the event was the first time Democratic and Republican candidates have shared a stage. It was also the first time GOP candidates Bianco and Hilton have appeared together. Although the state's leftward electoral tilt makes it challenging for a Republican to win the race – Californians last elected GOP politicians to statewide office in 2006 — Bianco and Hilton are battling to win one of the top two spots in next year's primary election. The pair expressed similar views about broadly ending liberal policies in the state, such as stopping the state's high-speed rail project and reducing environmental restrictions such as the state's climate-change efforts that they argue have increased costs while making no meaningful impact on the consumption of fossil fuels. A crucial question is whether President Trump, who both Bianco and Hilton fully support, will eventually endorse one of the Republican candidates. The gubernatorial candidates, some of whom have been running more than a year, have largely focused on fundraising since entering the race. But the contest to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom is growing more public and heated, as seen at last weekend's California Democratic Party convention. Several of the party's candidates scurried around the Anaheim convention center, trying to curry favor with the state's most liberal activists while also drawing contrasts with their rivals. But the Democratic field is partially frozen as former Vice President Kamala Harris weighs entering the race, a decision she is expected to make by the end of the summer. Harris' name did not come up during the forum. There were a handful of light moments. Porter expressed a common concern among the state's residents when they talk about the cost of living in the state. 'What really keeps me up at night, why I'm running for governor, is whether my children are going to be able to afford to live here, whether they're going to ever get off my couch and have their own home,' she said.


New York Post
15 minutes ago
- New York Post
Who won the first NYC Democratic mayoral primary debate?
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo won Wednesday night's Democratic mayoral primary debate — because his opponents' relentless attacks did more to elevate him than drag him down, a Post panel of veteran campaign strategists said. The thrice-elected Democrat took some gut punches, but there was no knockout blow or major blunder on his part, the political analysts on both sides of the aisle said. 'I tuned in to see a mayoral debate, not a debate about Andrew Cuomo,' quipped campaign strategist Ken Frydman of the nine-person debate moderated by NBC 4 NY and Politico. Advertisement 8 Democratic mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo shakes hands with fellow candidate Zohran Mamdani behind Whitney Tilson at the beginning of the NYC Democratic mayoral primary debate on June 4, 2025. via REUTERS 'By making Andrew the debate, they elevated him,' said Frydman. Because Cuomo was constantly under fire, he got more air time to respond to each jab and by default dominated the more than two hour debate, the political experts said. Advertisement 'Everyone tried to land a punch on Andrew Cuomo, but failed,' said campaign strategist O' Brien 'OB' Murray. 'The first 20 minutes gave Cuomo the center stage, literally and figuratively,' he said, referring to the ex-gov's position in the middle of the group of candidates standing on the dais at 30 Rockefeller Center. 'He handled the attacks and was able to deflect. They actually gave him more airtime than they should have,' Murray said. 8 Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during his spot at the democratic debate. via REUTERS Advertisement Republican campaign strategist Bill O'Reilly said the verbal pummeling Cuomo received from most of his eight primary rivals does not alter his status as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. 'It was Andrew Cuomo vs. the Lilliputians, and the Lilliputians fell short. That's the bottom line,' O'Reilly said. 'Someone needed to trip up the former governor to slow his momentum, but it was clear from the jump that wouldn't happen. Cuomo hasn't lost a step since leaving Albany, and the field lacked the skill to crack him.' Cuomo also counter-attacked, taking shots at his biggest threats in the polls — 33-year-old Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, a state Assembly member from Queens, and City Comptroller Brad Lander. Advertisement 8 Andrew Cuomo and Adrienne Adams hug onstage after the debate. via REUTERS 8 The nine NYC Democratic mayoral candidates Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie, Andrew Cuomo, Whitney Tilson, Zohran Mamdani, Michael Blake and Scott Stringer. POOL/AFP via Getty Images The former governor delivered the best line when he said' '[President] Trump would go through Mamdani like a knife through butter,' O'Reilly noted. Frydman said the candidates and moderators did force Cuomo to squirm to defend his record as governor, including his controversial nursing home policy during the COVID-19 pandemic and his approval of the unpopular 2019 bail reforms. They also tried to make him answer for the spate of sexual misconduct accusations leveled against him — that he denied, but that forced his resignation in 2021. Some of the other candidates had 'break out moments' — including former Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Mamdani, said political advisor Yvette Buckner. 'That will have voters wanting to learn more about them, their policies and their candidacy,' she said. Advertisement Frydman, too, said Adams' performance 'moved the needle' for her campaign, which has been slow to gain momentum despite support from state Attorney General Letitia James. 'She introduced herself to Democratic voters well enough on substance to move up in ranked-choice voting,' he said. But Cuomo's comfortable lead over second place Mamdani in recent polls should hold, Frydman said. O'Reilly agreed, but said Mamdani remains Cuomo's 'greatest threat' for the nomination in the June 24 primary. Advertisement 8 Brad Lander and Michael Blake shake hands after participating in the debate. via REUTERS 8 Jessica Ramos is spotted leaving the NYC Democratic Mayoral Debate at NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NY on June 4, 2025. Christopher Sadowski Two of the panelists agreed that Lander is competent, but his persona didn't translate on TV. 'He oozes insincerity in a car-salesman-type way,' O'Reilly said. Advertisement But he said Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie's sincerity came across 'easily,' calling him a rising star in the Democratic Party. 8 NY Gov. Kathy Hochul leaves NBC Studios after the debate. Christopher Sadowski 8 Zellnor Myrie talks to reporters after leaving the debate stage. Christopher Sadowski Murray concurred, saying Lander has a 'stage presence for radio and a delivery for print. He confirmed why he has his wife and daughter on videos, instead of himself.' Advertisement Another candidate, former City Comptroller Scott Stringer who previously ran for mayor in 2021, didn't break through, the panelists said. 'Stringer was Stringer — flat and after a second run for mayor still didn't connect to voters,' Murray said. All but two of the Democratic contenders will debate again on June 12, save for Blake and state Sen. Jessica Ramos, who failed to meet the campaign funding threshold. Nine days of early voting will precede the primary, beginning on June 14.

26 minutes ago
David Jolly, a Trump critic, former GOP congressman, to run for governor as Democrat
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A former Republican congressman and vocal critic of Donald Trump says he wants to become governor in the president's adopted home state of Florida, and that he's running as a Democrat. David Jolly formally announced his bid Thursday, becoming the latest party convert hoping to wrest back control of what had been the country's premier swing state that in recent years has made a hard shift to the right. Under state law, term-limited Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis can't run for reelection in 2026. Even as Florida serves as a place for the Trump administration to poach staff and test policies, Jolly says he's confident that issues such as affordability, funding public schools, and strengthening campaign finance and ethics laws will resonate with all voters in 2026. He predicts elections next year will herald nationwide change. 'I actually think Republicans in Tallahassee have gone too far in dividing us. I think we should get politicians out of the classrooms, out of the doctor's offices,' Jolly said. 'I think enough people in Florida, even some Republicans, now understand that. That the culture wars have gone too far,' he said. Jolly was first elected to his Tampa Bay-area congressional seat during a 2014 special election, and was reelected for one full term. The attorney and former lobbyist underwent a political evolution that spurred him to leave the Republican Party in 2018 to become an independent and then a registered Democrat. And he has built a national profile for himself as an anti-Trump political commentator on MSNBC. Jolly said he has considered himself 'part of the Democratic coalition' for five or so years, and believes in what he sees as the party's 'fundamental values' — that government can help people, that the economy should be 'fair' to all, and that immigrants should be celebrated. 'I struggled to exercise those values in the Republican Party,' Jolly said, continuing: 'The actual registration as a Democrat wasn't a pivot. It was a kind of a formality.' Jolly has broken from his old party on immigration, as Florida lawmakers race to help Trump fulfill his promise of mass deportations. Jolly skewered Republicans who he said have 'conflated immigration and crime,' which he described as wrong and immoral. 'If you were born here or if you immigrated here, or if you're a Tallahassee politician who steals Medicaid money, we're going to be tough on crime,' Jolly added, referring to a probe into the use of Medicaid settlement funds by a charity associated with first lady Casey DeSantis. Jolly's gubernatorial run as a Democrat draws comparisons to the failed bid of former Republican congressman-turned-independent-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist, who lost to DeSantis in 2022 by 19 points. It was Crist, running as a Democrat, who ousted Jolly from his congressional seat in 2016. Jolly joined the Florida Democratic Party at what is arguably one of its most vulnerable points in years. Florida currently has no Democrats elected to statewide office, and there are now 1.2 million more registered Republicans than Democrats, according to the state's active voter rolls. The GOP has made significant inroads in formerly Democratic strongholds in the state, such as Miami-Dade County. The day that Jolly announced his new affiliation, the-then top Democrat in the Florida Senate, Jason Pizzo, revealed he was leaving the party, declaring that 'the Democratic Party in Florida is dead.' Pizzo, a former prosecutor, has said he'll launch his own run for governor as a candidate with no party affiliation.