A new candidate has entered the race to be Mississippi’s next secretary of state.
On Thursday morning, Whitney Lipscomb broke the news on Mornings with Richard Cross that she is running for the state office. Lipscomb, the general counsel for the Republican Attorneys General Association, said that, if elected, she would use her platform to keep the integrity of Mississippi’s elections, establish an enhanced security division to crack down on election fraud, ensure that Mississippi is the easiest place to open a business, and also make it easy for any Mississippian to earn an honest living. Additionally, Lipscomb noted that she would use her platform to provide monetary relief for military veterans who own a business.
“One thing I want to do in office, if I am lucky enough to be elected, is to establish an enhanced election security division,” Lipscomb said. “Right now we have an election fraud hotline, but [my] hotline would be staffed by trained investigators. It’s not just about fraud; it’s about irregularities. If there are problems the day of the election, you have people who are actually going to deploy from that hotline to see what’s going on.”
The Mississippi secretary of state primarily oversees elections statewide. The office also covers several other areas, with services ranging from maintaining a registry of businesses to regulating all charitable organizations statewide.
“One of the most important things the secretary of state’s office does as well is business. It’s like the front door to the state. Every regulation runs through the secretary of state’s office,” Lipscomb said. “I want to make sure that Mississippi is the easiest place to open, start, and grow a business, and the easiest place to go to work. … With that, one of the things I also want to do if I’m lucky enough to be elected is, for our veterans, to waive the business filing fee. If you’ve served this country and you come back and want to start a business, provide for your family, we should do you the service.”
Lipscomb, an Ole Miss School of Law graduate, went on to work as an attorney at Balach & Bingham LLP until 2016. Lipscomb has worked as the deputy chief of staff for former Gov. Phil Bryant and as a deputy attorney general under Attorney General Lynn Fitch. In 2025, she left the attorney general’s office for her current role.
Lipscomb joins Democrat-turned-Republican Shuwaski Young in the GOP primary field seeking the state position. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson announced in April 2026 that he would not seek a second term overseeing the agency. Instead, he is looking to fill an upcoming vacancy in the lieutenant governor’s office, with current officeholder Delbert Hosemann being term-limited.
Primary elections in Mississippi’s 2027 election cycle will be held on Aug. 3. The general election will occur on Nov. 2.
