Governor Ronnie Musgrove's Announcement

Musgrove Declares Candidacy for U.S. Senate

“We Need a Senator Determined to Change

The Washington Way of Doing Things.” 

Former Governor Ronnie Musgrove announced his candidacy today for the Mississippi U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Trent Lott. “There is a complete disconnect between what they argue about in Washington and what people worry about at home,” said Musgrove.

In a series of events in Tupelo, Jackson, Hattiesburg and Gulfport, Musgrove strongly condemned the fiscal and economic policies of Congress, including “the deficit spending, the pork barrel earmarks, the spending money they don’t have and wasting the money they do have.”

“Congress has spent years turning a blind eye to illegal immigration and a deaf ear to the economic fears of the middle class,” continued Musgrove. “Our national debt is weakening our position in the world and bankrupting what we can do here at home. And on top of all that, we’re losing jobs to countries overseas and are on the verge of a recession.”

Musgrove drew contrasts with interim senator Roger Wicker, pointing out how Wicker has voted repeatedly in Congress against pay-as-you-go budgeting and in favor of raising the national debt limit, increasing the deficit, and for billions of dollars in special interest pork. Musgrove singled out Wicker’s support of earmarks like the $400 million “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska, and other “national priorities like another concert hall in New York, a National Mule and Packers Museum in California and a Prison Museum in Kansas.”

“Mr. Wicker,” said Musgrove, “don’t tell us you had to vote for all of this nonsense in order to bring our share of pork home. Saying that ‘everyone else does it’ isn’t good enough anymore.”

Musgrove drew other contrasts with Wicker, citing Wicker’s votes for weaker penalties for hiring illegal aliens and for voting five times against funding for tougher border security. “Roger Wicker will spend your tax dollars on a mule museum but not on more border guards. If that doesn’t say something about his priorities, then I don’t know what will.”

“When you get failing grades from the National Taxpayers Union and the Club for Growth,” continued Musgrove, “you have no business calling yourself a fiscal conservative. And sending sugar plums to New York and California doesn’t sound very Mississippi to me.”

Citing his experience as a governor who balanced every budget and cut state spending rather than raise taxes, Musgrove declared “I’ll vote against the Democrats when I think they’re wrong, and I’ll vote with the Republicans when I think it’s best for Mississippi. But the most important thing is this -- if we’re going to get this country back on sound footing, we’ll need a senator who knows how to say no.”

Referring to his years as governor, Musgrove said “Our spending was smart, our economy was growing, we were investing in education and we were attracting jobs and investment. We did it by working across political lines and watching the bottom line. That’s the kind of federal government this country needs and this state deserves. And that leadership and example has to start in Washington.”