Audio articles are automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story; however, this audio has not been reviewed for accuracy and may contain errors. Read more about how we use AI to increase access to our reporting.
Mississippi state Auditor Shad White on Monday announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2027, calling himself a pro-Trump candidate who will “shut down Jackson’s Good-Old-Boys Club.”
The announcement comes after White said repeatedly over the past year that he was considering a run for the state’s top job. White was set to kick off his campaign at an in-person announcement in Laurel, and published a video in which he vowed to bring down a network of government insiders.
“There might be two parties in Jackson, but there’s only one good-old-boys club,” said White. “They tried to ban my office from even looking for government waste. As governor, I’m shutting the whole rotten system down.”
Other Republicans considering entering the race for governor include Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, former U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, and billionaire businessman Tommy Duff.
On the Democratic side, Priscilla Williams Till, a civil rights advocate and distant cousin of Emmett Till, has entered the race along with Ivana Williams, a former Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper who is suing over her termination.
In an interview with Mississippi Today ahead of his announcement, White said his campaign would focus on addressing household costs by cutting fraud, waste and abuse in state government. And he didn’t back away from his support of President Donald Trump, whose popularity has soured nationally, costing down-ticket Republicans in the midterm elections.
“As long as you are willing to take on that (good-old-boys) club and do what is best for the people of Mississippi,” White said. “I think that will have broad appeal, and I think you can absolutely both energize the people who voted for President Trump two years ago and win a general election in Mississippi.”
A native of Sandersville in Jones County, White is a former Rhodes Scholar and graduate of the University of Mississippi and Harvard Law School.
His career in state government began when he served as director of policy to then-Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant in 2011. In 2018, Bryant appointed him state auditor to replace Stacey Pickering, and White won the office unopposed in 2019 and was re-elected in 2023. He also serves as an attorney in the Mississippi National Guard and was recently deployed to the Middle East for several months.
White’s tenure as auditor has largely been defined by his role in investigating the state’s TANF welfare scandal, the largest public fraud scheme in state history. That ignited a legal battle with former NFL star Brett Favre, a close friend of Donald Trump Jr., who sued White, alleging defamation over comments White made in a book he wrote about the scandal and in media interviews.
White has filed a countersuit asking a court to require Brett Favre to repay welfare funds, but White’s authority to do so was later contested successfully by Fitch, an issue that could arise on the campaign trail.
Republican candidates running for governor in Mississippi appear to have been working hard to win over Trump and his supporters, often in strikingly similar terms.
Some political observers and conservative commentators have wondered whether White’s battles with Favre could cost him Trump’s endorsement, but White has said his relationship with the administration remains strong.
Alex Meyer, a former White House official for President Donald Trump, is set to host a fundraiser in Oxford for White on Wednesday.
While many polls indicate Trump’s approval rating has cratered, his endorsement is still considered a powerful factor in Mississippi Republican primaries.
White has earned a reputation for a brand of pugilistic politics, whether it was trading barbs with a Democratic lawmaker at a public hearing or threatening to sue a former Republican lawmaker at another.
Meyer previously told Mississippi Today he thinks that style could help White win over Trump’s base.
“Shad has a lot of the energy that I see in the Republican primary electorate in Mississippi, and across the country. They’re looking for someone who will go to war and will fight for them,” Meyer said.
White has over $3.8 million in cash on hand, leading a fundraising battle that is sure to accelerate before the Aug. 3 primary.
White’s announcement comes as Mississippians are waiting to see who won the nail-biter U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom. Colom has been leading as final votes are counted, and his potential victory has been a political earthquake in ruby red Mississippi, which hasn’t sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982.
The results have stunned the nation, and could result in more investment and attention from national Democrats. White said it shows candidates must be focused on reigning in consumer costs. His pitch will be to target fraud in state government and use savings for tax relief, including lower car tag fees and grocery taxes, continued phase-out of the state income tax and property tax freezes.
“I think if you’re running for governor or really any other state office, it is clear that it’s incumbent on you to have a very clear plan about how to help normal working families,” White said. “That’s the stuff that we have to start talking about and execute to give voters faith that we understand what they are going through every single day.”
