Voters in Mississippi will go to the polls June 5 in Republican and Democratic party primaries to select the parties’ candidates for U.S. House of Representatives 3rd Congressional District seat being vacated by Gregg Harper and the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Roger Wicker will be June 5.

The winners of the June 5 primaries will face of in the Nov. 6 general election.

Today, The Natchez Democrat presents profiles of each of the candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, 3rd Congressional District.

Next Sunday’s edition will feature profiles of the U.S. Senate candidates.

Democratic Candidates for U.S. House of Representatives, 3rd congressional district

Michael Aycox

Michael Aycox is a 30-year-old from Newton. He has served as police officer and investigator for the Newton Police Department. He served in the United States Navy as an anti-terrorism specialist until he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Aycox is also Mississippi’s first openly gay candidate for Congress. He is married to his husband Mario, who is currently serving in the Florida Air National Guard.

Aycox said he believes places such as Natchez and Southwest Mississippi deserve stronger leadership than what it has been getting.

“We have segregated a vital part of our community and have made us last in nearly everything of importance,” Aycox said.

As a veteran, Aycox believes in strengthening the Veterans Administration, including improving the VA hospital.

“The VA hospital is a fiasco, and I will greatly improve it quickly, with strong oversight and accountability,” Aycox said.

Aycox also believes health care is not for the privileged and is the right of all Americans.

Aycox said he believes that a college-level education should be provided for any student at no cost, as long as students meet certain requirements, including maintaining a 3.0 GPA or higher. 

A strong believer in the second amendment, Aycox wants to introduce expanded background checks, the creation of a new database under purview of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and increase the legal purchase of firearms to 21.

Michael Ted Evans

Since 2012, Michael Ted Evans has served as a Mississippi representative of District 45, which consists of the Meridian metro area and Kemper, Lauderdale, Neshoba and Winston counties.

Evans has used his experience as a former firefighter, a chicken farmer for the past 17 years and a state legislator to bolster his résumé for his U.S. Congress hopes. With his rural background, Evans has campaigned on his ability to relate to everyday Mississippians.

As a primary focus, Evans has emphasized helping rural Mississippi — specifically highlighting Southwest Mississippi — which he said has been “forgotten” in terms of receiving federal aid from Washington, D.C. As part of that goal, Evans has said he will open up an office in Southwest Mississippi if he is elected to Congress.

Other top priorities Evans has identified are tackling the state’s infrastructure as well as targeting healthcare concerns. Evans has also said he would fight to end federal mandates for standardized testing in order for students to graduate high school.

He has pledged to support Mississippians’ second amendment rights and has also said he will advocate for those who are pro-life.

Republican Candidates for U.S. House of Representatives, 3rd congressional district

Sally Doty

Sally Doty of Brookhaven is serving her second term as State Senator representing District 39.

Doty is an attorney in solo practice in Brookhaven, a graduate of Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi College School of Law.

“I’m . . . a State Senator who gets results in Jackson, because I’m not afraid to put in the work,” Doty writes on her campaign website. “We’ve started turning this country around, but there is much more to do. The stakes are high— our national debt is over 20 trillion, the second amendment is under attack, and Washington can’t seem to function themselves, let alone do anything about it. Enough is enough.”

She writes that she has worked to change campaign laws that have helped to drain the swamp in Jackson.

“I’ll stand with President Trump to roll back regulations on small businesses,” Doty writes on her website, “reform entitlements, and cut government spending, just like I have done in the Mississippi Senate. If you trust me to represent you, I promise to fight to protect our military and veterans, stand up for our farmers and rural Mississippians, put in the work, and defend our special way of life.”

Morgan Dunn

Born and raised in Magee, Morgan Dunn is a newcomer to politics and believes her experience as small business owner and a healthcare executive puts her in a unique position to serve the people of Mississippi.

Dunn, 36, is the founder and director of Vestra LLS, a healthcare consulting firm.

“As a health care specialist, I devoted my entire career to health care,” Dunn said. “I have witnessed how (Obamacare) has crippled our rural health care system.”

Dunn is a graduate of the University of Mississippi. She and her husband Chris have three children and are members of the First United Methodist Church in Magee.

She and her husband own Zip’s Café in Magee. As a small business owner, Dunn said she is the right choice for voters.

“I know Mississippi. I know it as a wife, as a mother and a small business owner,” Dunn said. “We make payroll every week. We make hard decisions every week that affect our employees, their families and, ultimately, the local economy.”

Dunn said she is a strong conservative who supports veterans and second amendment rights and is committed to repeal and replace Obamacare “piece by piece.” She is also committed to focus on education, local trade policies to protect farmers and reduce regulations and taxes that stifle the economy and innovation.

Michael Guest

Candidate Michael Guest of Brandon is currently serving as the district attorney for Madison and Rankin counties where he has a record of prosecuting 20,000 criminals.

Guest says he is a Christian conservative leader, who attends Brandon Baptist Church where he serves as a Sunday school teacher.

Guest’s campaign literature says he believes in lower taxes and fewer regulations, protecting Constitutional rights, family values, standing up for the unborn, a strong national defends and second amendment rights.

On a recent visit to Natchez, Guest said he would stand up for what is important to Natchez, including supporting legislation to help attract industry to the area and in bringing a proposed interstate through the area.

Guest’s website says he will support tougher border security including building a wall to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking, increasing capacity and capability of local police officers.

Guest worked with media to launch the DA’s Most Wanted, which helped capture dozens of criminals who failed to return to appear in court, his website says, and he is committed to “standing with Israel against terrorist groups; promoting fair trade so America can remain prosperous and our workers can compete on a level playing field.”

Whit Hughes

Congressional candidate and lifelong Mississippian Whit Hughes said his goals are simple: “Jobs and a stronger economy.”

Hughes, who made a name for himself as a student athlete at Mississippi State University on the baseball field and basketball court, got involved with politics in his college years.

After graduating, Hughes worked on campaigns for conservative candidates around the country before moving back to Mississippi.

In the state, Hughes served as the deputy director of the Mississippi Development Authority before becoming in 2013 foundation president and chief development officer of Baptist Health Systems.

If elected, Hughes lists job creation and retention, border security, protecting second amendment rights, infrastructure and education as his top five goals for the state.

Hughes said his lifelong devotion to Mississippi would help him understand and address the state’s issues.

“As I look around our state today, I see a middle-class that is shrinking instead of growing,” Hughes wrote on his campaign site. “I see struggling communities hanging by their last threads of hope. While the challenges we face may be complex, the solutions are simple: better jobs and a stronger economy.”

Perry Parker

After 30 years in international finance, candidate Perry Parker has set his sights on District 3’s congressional seat.

Parker received his MBA in finance from the University of Chicago and entered a 30-year career in international finance that took him to London, New York, Chicago and Santa Barbara.

When he moved back to Mississippi, Parker founded The First, a national banking association headquartered in Hattiesburg.

 “I feel I owe Mississippi so much and I want to serve,” Parker said. “Like many people, my work has taken me elsewhere, but Mississippi has always been my home.”

Though one of his primary goals is closing the income gap in Mississippi, Parker said he would like to tackle many other topics to improve the state if elected.       

“Education, infrastructure, poverty — we all know what Mississippi needs,” Parker said. “Bridging the income gap won’t fix every problem in our state, but if we close that gap, a lot of our issues become easier to deal with. For Mississippi to do better, we have to do something different.”

Katherine “Bitzi” Tate

With more than two decades of educational experience as a teacher, administrator and now an education coordinator at Mississippi State University, Katherine “Bitzi” Tate has based her congressional campaign on limiting government and protecting the freedoms of private citizens. Tate takes the position that, “Just because something is a good idea doesn’t mean that government should do it,” as she said in March at a Business & Industry Political Education Committee forum in Jackson.

Speaking on education, Tate supported limiting government’s role in higher education during last Wednesday’s Republican candidate forum at Meridian Community College, calling the education system “bloated” from over-subsidization by the government.

Tate has also expressed support for second amendment rights, and while addressing the issue of numerous U.S. school shootings this year, she said the root of the problem is not weapons, but rather a lack of parenting for many children in the education system. In that regard, she has also criticized government for subsidizing welfare too heavily.

Another part of Tate’s platform has been to run on the morals the United States was founded upon, which she has said the country largely left behind.

Compiled by The Natchez Democrat staff David Hamilton, Scott Hawkins, Ben Hillyer and Clara Turnage.