State Republican Party raises fees for candidates to run for some public offices

If Mississippians want to qualify to run for state office as a Republican, they’ll first have to open their wallets wider than ever.

Mississippi Republican Party leaders voted last year to increase candidate qualifying fees, the amount a candidate has to pay to run for office, to the maximum amount allowed under state law for all federal, statewide and regional offices in the state.  

Mississippi GOP Chairman Frank Bordeaux told Mississippi Today the fee increase is comparable to the figure the Republican Party in other states requires for their candidates to run for office.

“This increase is a way for us to make sure we can continue to provide quality resources to our Republican nominees,” Bordeaux said. 

The Democratic Party, on the other hand, opted to keep their fees the same as prior years. 

Qualifying fees for all political offices, regardless of party affiliation, were previously spelled out in statute. But state lawmakers in 2022 voted to give political parties a range for how much they can charge candidates and allow the party leaders to choose the specific amount. 

The minimum fee parties can charge gubernatorial candidates, for example, is $1,000, and the maximum amount is $5,000. The Democratic Party opted to keep their fee at $1,000, while the GOP decided to raise the fee to $5,000.

New GOP candidate qualifying fees: 

• U.S. Senator: $5,000 (previously $1,000)
• U.S. Representative: $2,500 (previously $500)
• Governor: $5,000 (previously $1,000)
• Other statewide offices: $2,500 (previously $500)
• Transportation Commissioner: $2,500 (previously $500)
• Public Service Commissioner: $2,500 (previously $500)
• District Attorney: $250 (unchanged)
• State Legislature: $250 (unchanged)

Republican state Sen. Joey Fillingane of Sumrall argued in favor of the 2022 legislation during the legislative session and said at the time that the main reasons for the new law was to give parties more latitude to conduct their primary elections and ensure only serious candidates run for office. 

“I think we had a situation not too long ago where maybe a truck driver put his name on the ballot, didn’t campaign, didn’t really run,” Fillingane said. “He was running his 18-wheeler truck and ended up winning a major party primary for a major office in Mississippi. And I think you can argue that was a direct result of having extremely low filing fees in that particular race.”

Fillingane was referring to Robert Gray, a truck driver who won the 2015 Democratic nomination for governor and was handily defeated by former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant. 

Opponents of the recent legislation believed higher qualifying fees could bar candidates from running for office and deter a competitive democratic system. 

The final version of the bill passed the House 84-31 and the Senate 33-10. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed it into law. 

Bordeaux doubted increased fees would keep candidates from entering the Republican primary because serious candidates are usually able to raise larger amounts of money. He pointed to the state’s recent gubernatorial election, when the Republican and Democratic nominees for the office collectively raised over $17 million this past year. 

This is now the first time under the new law that the state Republican Party has raised its qualifying fees. The new fees will primarily impact the Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race next year, when incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker is up for reelection. 

Wicker, a Tupelo resident, has previously announced he’s running for reelection. But two lower-profile candidates, Republican state Rep. Dan Eubanks of DeSoto County and retired Marine Col. Ghannon Burton, announced they intend to challenge Wicker in the Republican primary. 

The qualification period for the U.S. Senate, according to the Secretary of State’s website, opens on Jan. 2 and closes 10 days later on Jan. 12.