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BRANDON, Miss. — Today, exactly one year ahead of the August 3, 2027, Republican Primary for Mississippi Governor, Andy Gipson announced his Conservative Common Sense Policy Plan, a detailed seven-point agenda based on Gipson’s core principles of protecting our God-given freedoms, strengthening family values, ensuring representation of the People, restoring public safety, expanding personal freedom and responsibility, lowering taxes, rebuilding local food supply and promoting a healthier Mississippi.
Gipson introduced his plan by saying, “Over the last year I’ve been listening to everyday Mississippians in all 82 counties on what matters most to you, and I’ve personally outlined a detailed policy plan designed to tackle the biggest issues I’ve heard from you, the People. Today I am pleased to announce my Conservative Common Sense Plan for Mississippi.” He continued, “As the only candidate in the race for Governor with combined extensive Executive, Legislative and Private Sector business experience, I am uniquely qualified and positioned to hit the ground running and advance these items as Mississippi’s next Chief Executive Officer. Working with the Legislature and local elected officials, I will provide the leadership necessary to accomplish these agenda items and restore the voice of common sense to the halls of our State government,” said Gipson.
ANDY GIPSON’S CONSERVATIVE
COMMON SENSE PLAN
1. The Renew Mississippi Freedom Plan.
The People of Mississippi want their ballot initiative vote back, and they want more freedom from oppressive government overreach. Gipson’s plan will restore the People’s constitutional right to a ballot initiative in a way that will preserve our core principles and values of life, liberty and private property. It will also reduce and eliminate a host of laws outside the proper scope of government. The Act will restore our God-given constitutional freedoms and return the right of the vote to the People of Mississippi. As part of this initiative, Gipson will further expand Mississippians’ freedom by administratively directing all State agencies under his direction to review and repeal all regulations not otherwise mandated by State or federal law.
2. The Make Mississippi Affordable Again Plan.
The People of Mississippi want lower costs so they can afford to live a better life and raise their families for a better future. This special legislation will reduce the tax burden and cut costs for working and retired Mississippians and their families. Gipson’s plan will:
a. Cut Mississippi car tags in half through an enhanced state legislative tag credit fund. Taxpayers who own a vehicle 10 years or older will also be able to obtain a Permanent Tag for an affordable one-time flat fee;
b. Institute a new per-child tax credit on the purchase of new automobiles;
c. Expand the homestead exemption over a three-year period to reduce and cap or eliminate property taxes on Mississippi homeowners, beginning with senior citizens;
d. Establish a new tax credit for first-time homebuyers;
e. Support President Trump and adopt a Mississippi Ratepayer Protection Plan to guarantee all data centers pay their own way for electricity, not pass the costs on to Mississippi ratepayers;
f. Exempt sales tax for all baby items including infant formula, diapers, baby food and children’s over-the-counter medications;
g. Make childcare more affordable with a new income tax credit for working moms and dads with incentives for employers to adopt new childcare services;
h. Eliminate the marriage tax penalty by fully eliminating the state income tax in year one for all married couples;
i. Stabilize and fully-fund the State Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) for all State retirees, employees and teachers who have worked so hard for decades to earn a safe and secure retirement;
j. Accelerate the full repeal of the State income tax for individuals;
k. Having signed the Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Gipson will veto any new taxes, tax swaps or tax shifts.
3. The Mississippi Safe Communities Plan.
Many Mississippians are deeply concerned and live in fear of rising crime in their local community. To combat rising danger in high-crime areas, and to enhance Mississippi’s disaster response plans, Gipson will take action as Governor on Day One to:
a. Establish a Statewide Multi-Agency Law Enforcement Task Force to deploy and work with local sheriffs, police chiefs and law enforcement officers to fight, deter and hold criminals accountable in high crime areas, with assistance by the National Guard as needed;
b. Establish within MDOC a 400-bed State Juvenile Offender Penitentiary System where dangerous and troubled youth can be removed from our schools and communities, and placed within this stable controlled environment from which they can “earn their way out” through an educational diploma or gaining an employable job trade skill;
c. End illegal immigration in the State of Mississippi by enforcing federal and state law;
d. Dedicate a State Mental Health Rehabilitation Center; assist law enforcement to identify and house those suffering with dangerous mental illness so they can be safely treated, without presenting a danger to themselves or others;
e. Work with the Legislature to increase State benefits for all law enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders, including death and injury benefits, additional access to counseling and mental health supports, and enhanced State retirement benefits;
f. Improve disaster response by pre-staging in all 82 Mississippi counties a plentiful supply of shelf-stable food and water supplies and other life-saving necessities to be accessed immediately upon the occurrence of a disaster. Gipson will also work with the Legislature to establish a County and Municipal Disaster Response Revolving Fund (refundable by federal relief) that can be utilized immediately by local governments in the event of a hurricane, tornado, ice storm or other natural disaster. Gipson will also implement a Pre-Event Disaster Program where private sector vendors remain contracted on standby, before a disaster occurs.
4. The Governor’s School of Excellence Plan.
Mississippians want new ideas and further improvement in education, and they are concerned about the effects of AI on their child’s wellbeing and independent learning. Andy Gipson has always believed every child in Mississippi deserves a great education, and equal educational opportunity. Gipson’s education plan will build upon recent improvements in Mississippi education. Today, despite recent improvements, far too many Mississippi schools and school districts do not have sufficient qualified teachers to be able to offer advance placement courses to students in local schools. Under Gipson’s Governor’s School of Excellence Plan:
a. Advanced placement courses, particularly STEM courses, will be offered and taught by Mississippi’s best and most qualified advanced course teachers, through remote teaching technologies (such as Zoom), with lessons made available in every school classroom within the State of Mississippi, from the North Delta to the Coast and all points in between. The best qualified Mississippi teachers from the Mississippi schools will be recruited and compensated with additional earned pay to offer these courses through remote teaching technologies to every willing and participating child in every school in Mississippi. Local classroom teachers will oversee the advanced course students in person. Participating students who enroll in these advanced courses, including STEM courses, will have access to the best educational resources available in Mississippi. Those students who enroll and complete the advanced coursework will receive a Governor’s School of Excellence Scholarship toward attending a Mississippi college or university, provided they execute a commitment to remain in Mississippi for at least ten years following graduation from higher education;
b. Gipson’s education plan will implement safeguards for all schools to protect our children from online threats, cyber-bullying and other online dangers, including the risk of using AI as a “crutch;”
c. The Plan will require in-person teaching procedures in every school district to ensure that students are not utilizing predominantly digital resources such as Artificial Intelligence as a means to pass required instructional tests, but are in fact learning and retaining the material on their own, in a way to develop their God-given learning, reading, writing and critical thinking skills.
d. Establish a statewide School Choice Working Group with all affected stakeholders including public schools, private schools, parents and homeschoolers to research our neighboring states’ programs and effects, and based on these findings, reset the policy conversation to find the best path forward on school choice for the parents and children of Mississippi.
5. The Real Jobs for Real People Plan.
The People of Mississippi find themselves in a world and job situation that is rapidly changing with the advent of Artificial Intelligence. Gipson’s economic plan is focused on recruiting and retaining Real Jobs for Real People – jobs that cannot or are unlikely to be replaced by AI including food production, value-added processing, construction and trade vocations, energy, commerce and logistics, healthcare, education and more. Regardless of what AI holds for the future, this Plan ensures our People will continue to have access to real and meaningful work. Gipson’s Real Jobs Plan will:
a. Restore and re-emphasize vocational and technical as well as advanced trade and skills training in all local school districts, with continued emphasis to build on these skills through our local Mississippi community colleges;
b. Adopt a Strategic Ports and Commerce Logistics Plan to enhance and improve transportation and logistics, creating more jobs around Mississippi’s many ports and harbors;
c. Prioritize and initiate a 10-Year Major Highway Construction, Widening and Improvement Plan, with a dedicated new Commerce Road and Bridge Improvement Fund designed to assist MDOT, counties and municipalities to construct and improve roads and bridges and enhance the flow of commerce in Mississippi. This initiative will be funded with dedicated new use tax revenues diverted from the general fund, coupled with a sales tax percentage diversion to counties;
d. Reactivate Mississippi’s Energy Industry, by drilling for oil and gas and recharging our numerous dormant oil wells through Enhanced Oil Recovery. Across several Mississippi counties it is estimated some 10 million barrels of oil remain untapped, and the energy and energy service industry will be a major job creator for Mississippians, plus a source of new revenues for counties; and
e. Innovate and renew Mississippi’s Wood Industry. Gipson will partner with our institutions of higher learning and land grant universities to develop, find and commercialize new and innovative uses for Mississippi’s abundant wood and timber resources. In a digital world where paper is in less demand, we must find a way to keep Mississippi’s second largest industry active and commercially viable and recruit new and additional wood mills for these new purposes.
f. Mississippi’s water resources are indispensable. Gipson will develop a Strategic Water Plan and work with our community colleges and universities to create new degrees and specialties in water management, aquifer recharge and other new technologies so Mississippians can continue to benefit from abundant water supplies for generations to come.
6. The Mississippi Food Supply and Jobs Plan.
We the People want good, healthy and affordable food year-round for our families. The People want a strong local food supply, safe, farm-raised, less processed nutritious food. Andy Gipson is convinced that we must end our local and national dependence on foreigners and foreign food and bring back value-added year-round food processing for Mississippi. Gipson’s local food supply and jobs plan will:
a. Establish three regional Mississippi food processing hubs for the year-round processing, storage and distribution of local food products for local stores, restaurants and consumers;
b. Recruit and attract private sector food processing and cold storage businesses to these food hubs Mississippi;
c. Work with the Trump Administration to cut red tape and increase more access to good local food;
d. Reshore processing and other value-added jobs to Mississippi instead of moving these jobs out of the state or country;
e. Rebuild Mississippi’s Gulf Coast seafood industry to retain and expand local seafood and related jobs;
f. Work with our federal delegation and Congress to pass the Northern Gulf Estuary Protection Act, to protect our Mississippi Gulf Coast shrimp, seafood and natural resources from further damage by man-made freshwater intrusion.
g. End the improper influence of foreign countries, especially Chinese influence, in regards to all aspects of our food supply chain.
7. The Make Mississippi Healthy Again Plan.
The People of Mississippi want to be healthier, and they want healthier children and families. Building on his work as Ag Commissioner, Gipson will deploy an all-of-state government approach to making Mississippi healthier. Through an emphasis on eating fresh, nutritious and local food, coupled with regular activity and exercise, Mississippians can reap the benefits of better health and better health outcomes. In particular, Gipson will maximize use of President Trump’s Rural Health Transformation Program to better serve Mississippi’s people, hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers. This Plan will:
a. Connect all Mississippi schools with local food hubs for direct, year-round access to purchase local fresh farm-raised foods for Mississippi students; the same for Mississippi prisons;
b. Direct the Mississippi Department of Health to emphasize and promote the natural benefits of exercise and a healthy diet and eating local produce, meat and other healthy foods;
c. Eliminate sugary and other unhealthy snacks from all SNAP benefits and require reasonable work requirements for welfare beneficiaries;
d. Aggressively deploy and utilize the Trump Administration’s Rural Health Transformation Funds to achieve these goals, as well as better access to healthcare throughout the Mississippi;
e. Adopt comprehensive Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Reform to help lower Mississippians’ pharmaceutical costs.
f. Implement a private sector Mississippi Comprehensive Health Insurance Risk Pool to provide health insurance benefits for Mississippians with pre-existing conditions and those who cannot otherwise obtain basic health insurance;
g. Enhance access to Mental Health resources and services throughout Mississippi;
h. Work with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and local volunteers to develop a year-round voluntary program of outdoor activities at our State Parks and other public lands for wholesome outdoor recreation and activity among local children and youth; promote hunting and fishing among our young people through an official “Take-A-Kid Outdoors” Hunting, Fishing and Outdoors Initiative.
i. End Child Hunger in Mississippi. Work with private Mississippi nonprofit organizations, churches, faith-based organizations and local food banks to develop and execute a charitable, private nonprofit strategic plan to make sure no child ever has to go hungry in Mississippi.
Gipson closed, “As we head into the final year of this campaign, I am excited about our enthusiastic, conservative grassroots base of support, and I look forward to seeing everyone on the campaign trail. As a longtime proven conservative leader, Mississippians know I will get the job done. My Conservative Common Sense Plan shows that I’ve been meeting and listening to Mississippians on the issues that matter most. This summer and fall I’ll continue meeting with voters as well as business and community leaders to work out and fine-tune the details. The voters of Mississippi want real change that can only come about through long-range planning and hard work. For Conservative Common Sense, vote Andy Gipson for Governor next August 3rd. Thank you!
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