Democratic leaders visit MS Coast to rally vote in high-stakes Gulfport election

Suddenly, after months of relentless campaigns, the national political leaders who arrived this week in Gulfport are trying to force new urgency into the last days of the mayor’s race.

“We don’t quit,” Democratic politician and activist Stacey Abrams said at a Sunday campaign stop in Gulfport several miles from where she grew up. “They’ve been trying to stop us for 200 years. And what we are going to do instead is show up.”

Abrams appeared with U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson to campaign for mayoral candidate Sonya Williams Barnes at an event advertised as a kick-off to the election on Tuesday. In impassioned speeches, the Democratic leaders called the race a “bellwether election” that could signal broader change across Mississippi and even the country.

But the appearance of two prominent Democrats was also a sign of how tense the race has become. Abrams spoke four days after Mississippi’s Republican Attorney General said she was investigating Barnes following Republican complaints that some locals gave restaurant vouchers to voters in what the party calls a violation of state law. Barnes and other Democrats have dismissed the accusations as a false and politically-motivated distraction.

And conservatives are energized too. At a Friday rally for Republican candidate Hugh Keating, top leaders warned their party that the race was close and pleaded that they vote. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina spoke alongside U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell and outgoing Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes.

“Call your friends. Call your neighbors,” Scott told the crowd on Friday. “This is a race that will require you to go the extra mile.”

Contentious race nears end

About 200 people gathered on a usually-quiet stretch of 31st Avenue to hear Abrams, Barnes and Thompson, who also pleaded that residents urge everyone they know to vote. The leaders said federal cuts by the Trump administration were worrisome for Gulfport and told supporters Barnes would be an ally they could turn to in local government for help. “All you have to do is go out and vote,” Thompson said. The crowd, sweating in the heat, clapped and cheered approval.

Turnout, often low in local elections, has already been notable: City officials said last week they had received over 1,000 absentee ballots compared to just 177 during the last mayoral election. Barnes won the April Democratic primary with 3,316 votes — over 600 more than outgoing Republican Mayor Billy Hewes won in the 2021 general election. Keating had no opponent in the 2025 Republican primary.

Abrams said she came to Gulfport after she heard some Republicans had called her an outsider part of a national Democratic effort to turn Gulfport blue.

“With President Trump’s success, the Democrats are pretty angry right now,” Hyde-Smith told the Republican rally on Friday. “This is called revenge, getting back and gaining ground,” she added. “We can’t seem to get the national Democrats out of this race.”

Barnes has said she alone is responsible for running her campaign and called similar statements divisive. Abrams spent much of her childhood in the city, and she and Barnes are the children of United Methodist ministers who were friends.

Still, Keating said last week that the Attorney General’s investigation is concerning to Republicans. How fast it will proceed is unclear because the Attorney General’s office does not comment on open inquiries. Barnes did not address the investigation on Sunday but said last week she had met with two of the Attorney General’s investigators.

Both campaigns have been calling residents and knocking on doors in a last-ditch effort to encourage turnout and lure undecided voters before polls close on Tuesday.

“We can’t quit,” Keating said Friday. “We’re noticing some very positive results.”

“We need to win,” Barnes told voters on Sunday. “But we can win only with you.”

Anita Lee contributed reporting.

This story was originally published June 1, 2025 at 4:56 PM.