Who’s in, who’s out in MS Coast mayors’ races, with city elections just around the corner
Two incumbent mayors on the Mississippi Coast have definitely decided against seeking re-election when four-year terms end June 30, 2025, while most incumbents tell the Sun Herald they’ll be running again.
The mayor of Mississippi’s second-largest city, Billy Hewes in Gulfport, plans to call it quits after three terms. He’s spent 32 years total in public office, including 20 in the state Senate.
“Candidly, I’m tired,” Hewes said. “This job has owned me and that’s typical with most mayors. It runs you. You don’t run it. It’s going to occupy pretty much every moment.”
Hewes is ready to get back to more rock n’ roll with his band, Cut Bait. Not to mention wife Paula Hewes would like to see him around the office. The Heweses own the Hewes Agency insurance company and Billy Hewes Real Estate.
Long Beach Mayor George Bass will also step down after two terms. Bass, 70, was first elected in 2017 and previously served over three decades at the city’s fire department. He battled cancer during his second term and has been in remission since last fall.
“I could’ve flipped a coin,” Bass said of his decision. But ultimately, “I felt like it was time. It’s always good to have a new view, a new perspective.”
Bass said he wants to keep working, likely in another role serving the people. He also wants to spend more time with his family and grandchildren.
Other mayoral candidates are lining up and the names of potential mayoral hopefuls are floating around as the city elections draw closer. The filing period for municipal races is Jan. 2-31, 2025. Party primaries will be April 1, with the general election set for June 3. The winners take office July 1, 2025.
Waveland is the only city on a different election schedule because it was formed under a special charter.
Below is a rundown on who plans to run for mayor of each city in 2025.
Bay St. Louis
Incumbent Mayor Mike Favre is seeking a second term and running as a Republican.. Republican Councilman At-Large Gary Knoblock, elected in 2017, has also announced his candidacy for mayor.
Favre took office seven years ago and said he is running to finish drainage and road work projects started under his administration.
He said one of the city’s largest issues is drainage – rising tides can submerge some waterfront roads – and that he will keep pushing for new wells and pipe lining for the city’s water and sewage system. He would also like to focus on development, he said, including bringing new businesses to state Highway 603 and the Interstate 10 corridor, and improving the harbor and downtown.
Knoblock said he’ll put to work 30 years of business experience as owner of Lightning Quick Signs to improve the efficiency of city services. He said that he also wants to see ordinances enforced consistently and also would work on ongoing drainage and road maintenance.
A fiscal conservative, Knoblock said he fought a previous tax increase and would continue to work to keep taxes down.
Biloxi
Andrew “FoFo” Gilich says he will run for mayor of Biloxi “one more time.” He won a special election in 2015 and full terms in 2017 and 2021.
“We have accomplished quite a lot,” he said, adding that progress will take continued leadership and innovation. “On every occasion and every decision I make will be based on one simple principle: what’s best for Biloxi.”
During this next term, the city will finish the largest infrastructure project Biloxi has ever seen - a $355 million rebuild of streets, water and sewer lines that went under water during Hurricane Katrina.
“I didn’t start it, but I’ll see it completed,” he said.
A key issue will be “making sure Biloxi gets what it deserves,” he said, including BP, GOMESA and tidelands money. “The fight is going to be continuous,” he said.
Gilich said he hasn’t heard yet of any contenders for next year’s election.
Diamondhead
Mayor Nancy Depreo is Diamondhead’s incumbent mayor. She did not respond to repeated calls, messages and a visit to City Council about whether she is running for reelection. She later said she was undecided.
“If I do not decide to run, you will have enough time to find a strong conservative leader,” Depreo wrote on Facebook. Depreo won her position as mayor through a special election in 2020.
Anna Liese has sat on Diamondhead’s City Council for two years, filling her seat through a special election. She’s announced that she’ll be running for Diamondhead mayor as a Republican in November on a platform promoting “smart growth” and making Diamondhead a must-stop exit off Interstate 10.
In addition to serving on the City Council, Liese works as a grant writer.
D’Iberville
He’s already the longest-serving mayor on the Coast and Rusty Quave says, “I am going to run” for a ninth term as mayor of D’Iberville. He doesn’t know of any potential opponents and hasn’t had any strong competition since he was first elected in 1993.
Since then, Quave led the city to become a powerhouse for shopping and restaurants. D’Iberville also landed a casino. Quave says continuing development is going to be the top issue again in next year’s election.
People are pulling back on spending because of inflation and economic uncertainty, he said, yet D’Iberville has the highest sales of Mercedes Benz, BMW and GMC vehicles for dealerships of their size in the country, he said.
National companies are looking at opening stores on Cook Road, he said, and casino developers also are working to bring a second casino to D’Iberville.
One of his goals is to get a hospital or emergency medical center for D’Iberville, Quave said. Another is to start construction on the working waterfront development. Although only Gulfport got BP money this year, he said, D’Iberville has $12 million from previous awards, which could start construction.
Gautier
Mayor Casey Vaughan will be running for a second term, he says, and emphasizing economic development. Vaughan wants to continue working on public-private partnerships for the city.
“I just feel like being a voice for our citizens is important,” said Vaughan, who runs as an independent. “Our growth of our city is important.
Vaughan could have at least one challenger, in what would be a rematch from the last election. Republican Phil Torjusen, who served one term as mayor before Vaughan defeated him in the general election, said he has not ruled out another run and is being encouraged to enter the race.
Torjusen also sees economic development as a big issue and believes the city needs to hire an economic development professional. Not having one, he said, is a real “weakness” for Gautier, which has hired a private company to market the old Singing River Mall site to developers.
Gulfport
Former state Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes has recently announced plans to run for mayor as a Democrat. Williams-Barnes served for more than 10 years in the Mississippi House of Representatives before going to work as state policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Williams-Barnes also is owner-operator of Lockett-Williams Mortuary Inc. in Gulfport.
“Gulfport holds a very deep meaning for me and to me,” she said. “It’s where my roots are. It’s where I’ve dedicated much of my career, my business. Gulfport has tremendous potential but there are some pressing issues that I think we should tackle.”
She said that she would work across party lines and wants to see collaboration on issues facing the city, such as economic opportunities, housing and health care. As mayor, she said, she would work for a “vibrant, inclusive future.”
Gulfport attorney Hugh Keating previously announced plans to run for mayor as a Republican. Keating is a well-known resident of the city, serving as an officer in a downtown Gulfport law firm established more than 40 years ago and today known as Dukes, Keating, Hatten, McRaney and Blum.
Keating also has been active in civic life and has served as the city’s outside general counsel since Mayor Hewes took office in 2013.
“I’ve always been inclined to be public-service oriented, so here I go,” he said.
Keating said he wants to make sure all parts of the city get attention, hopes to add more officers to the Police Department and would work to develop the Blue Economy, which includes many fields that revolve around the coastal environment.
Gulfport Councilman R.Lee Flowers is thinking about getting into the race. Flowers worked for many years as an engineer at Ingalls but since 2018 has worked as a financial advisor based in Gulfport for Edward Jones.
“Literally, it’s just about serving your community and having a vision that would incorporate the entirety of the community,” Flowers said. Flowers wants to take the time to put in place processes that prioritize work the city needs, from drainage to road improvements. He doesn’t believe in “quick fixes” but rather in putting in the work to make sure the city has its priorities straight.
Long Beach
Mayor George Bass declined to speculate on who might run for his role. So far, no names have emerged in the race.
Bass, a fifth generation Long Beach resident, has focused on drainage, development and infrastructure improvements while in office. He is also prioritizing a project to enhance the city gateway on Highway 90. He will leave office before some of those projects are complete. But he vowed to help the next mayor transition to the job.
Bass also said he is “overwhelmed with gratitude” for citizens who voted him into office.
“I hope I’ve rewarded them,” he said, “and met what they wanted and expected out of me.”
Moss Point
Mayor Billy Knight is counting on a second term because, he said, “I want to finish the job.
“I’m excited about doing it, as a matter of fact,” he said, “because of the progress we’re making and the continuing opportunities we have in Moss Point.”
The Democrat has spent 40 years in public service. He said the relationships that he’s established over the years have helped him land state and federal support for projects such as Interstate 10 corridor expansion designed to bring in new businesses.
Knight also has worked to establish community policing designed to curb crime and is overseeing a riverfront makeover, with an old recreation center recently demolished. Knight said the next step will be designing a new town center that includes public space for events, retail, other businesses and housing.
Howard Bailey, who ran for mayor as an independent in the last election, said he’ll run this time as a Democrat. He said people thought the race was over once Knight won the Democratic primary, not realizing he had a challenger in the general election.
Bailey said he would do some things differently this time and work to get his name out.
Ocean Springs
In Ocean Springs, Alderman At-Large Bobby Cox plans to challenge Mayor Kenny Holloway in the Republican primary.
The Ocean Springs native, who owns the family barber shop that his father opened in 1961, has served on the board for 13 years. He said constituents have encouraged him to run and his family is behind him.
Cox said he wants to bring more transparency to Ocean Springs government. Some residents have complained the city is moving forward on plans without enough notice, such as a sweeping urban renewal plan that labeled some downtown residential properties as “blighted” and recommended redevelopment. That plan has been scrapped.
More generally, residents are calling for better management of growth, especially downtown and on Front Beach. They’ve formed a group called Save Ocean Springs and are focused on improving the quality of life in the city, The group also is encouraging residents to run in the municipal election.
Cox said he wants to preserve the charm and character of Ocean Springs, but added: “Development is very important to a community. You have to have development to grow. Sometimes, it’s hard to control what private entities do on their land.”
As for the incumbent, Holloway plans to run for a second term and said he wants to finish what he started, including services for a newly annexed area. Holloway, a real estate broker who owns Holloway Real Estate Services and HRES Commercial and Development, said his business experience and work ethic are advantages in the mayor’s job.
He said that he’ll continue to work for state funding to complete major projects and to attract the kind of growth the city needs, including a high-end hotel.
“Ocean Springs has been discovered,” Holloway said. “People want to come live in Ocean Springs, they want to invest in Ocean Springs. They’re coming to us.”
Pascagoula
Mayor Jay Willis, a Republican, has held office since 2021 and will be seeking re-election.
Growing the city and inviting tourists are his primary aims if re-elected.
“Our city leadership has accomplished a great deal together over the past three years. Pascagoula has experienced unprecedented economic growth and private investment,” Willis said.
Willis, a retired dentist and consultant, said he has not heard of any competition for the office.
Pass Christian
Incumbent Mayor Jimmy Rafferty confirmed he will run again.
Rafferty, a Pass Christian native, took office as a Republican in 2021 after longtime Mayor Chipper McDermot left the role.
Rafferty said the city has progressed on development and safety, including limiting where golf carts can cross Highway 90 and attracting new grants for building projects. He said his re-election campaign will focus on development that attracts people and money for local businesses but does not change the spirit of Pass Christian.
“My whole focus has been to develop downtown,” he said. “I want to see that developed in a measured way.”
Alderman at Large Kenny Torgeson will challenge Rafferty.
Torgeson has served three terms as a Republican Alderman at Large and also runs Torgeson Motors Inc. He said some residents are wary of the mayor’s “measured growth.”
Torgeson said he is running in part to take the city “back to basics” by focusing on parks and recreation, repairing street lights and drainage and improving the harbor.
This story was originally published July 16, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
