Phil Bryant

Phil Bryant (February 2012)

Dewey Phillip "Phil" Bryant (* 9. December 1954 in Moorhead , Mississippi ) is an American politician of the Republican Party . Bryant, Lieutenant Governor Haley Barbours from 2008 , was the 64th governor of the state of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020  .

Life

Career

Phil Bryant grew up with his two brothers in simple circumstances; his father made a living for the family as a mechanic for diesel engines , his mother was a housewife . Bryant lived earliest childhood in Moorhead before his family moved to the Mississippi capital, Jackson . In order to finance his later studies, Bryant worked as a teenager in the factory of a tire manufacturer for motor vehicles. In Jackson, Bryant also met his future wife, Deborah. He had two children with her.

He graduated from Hinds County's Community College on a scholarship before enrolling at the University of Southern Mississippi . Here he obtained his master's degree in law in 1977 . He then found work as a correctional officer at Hinds County County Jail and was elected Deputy Sheriff that same year . After four years as deputy sheriff, Bryant became an officer in the Mississippi Treasury in 1981 and was an insurance broker responsible for investigating and reporting insurance fraud . He was in this job for 10 years.

Political career

Bryant's decision to go into politics was reinforced after a meeting with then-incumbent US President Ronald Reagan in the White House in Washington, DC in the mid-1980s . 1991 Bryant was for the Republican Party to the Mississippi House of Representatives voted. After five years as an MP, Republican Governor Kirk Fordice appointed him State Auditor of the State of Mississippi in 1996 , an office that Bryant held for twelve years, including under Democrat Ronnie Musgrove , until 2008. During that period, he managed to generate $ 12 million in savings for his state.

In 2007, Governor Haley Barbour elected Bryant to be his running mate , his nominee for Mississippi Lieutenant Governor . With around 58 percent of the vote, Barbour was confirmed as governor, Bryant took the office of lieutenant governor . In 2011, Bryant ran himself for election to governorship. With 61 percent of the vote, he prevailed against his Democratic challenger, Johnny DuPree , mayor of Hattiesburg since 2001 . Bryant's lieutenant governor is Tate Reeves . In the 2015 election , Bryant was elected for a second term. He can not run again in the 2019 election due to a limited term of office ; his office ended in January 2020, which his Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves took over.

Positions

In 2015, Phil Bryant refused to support a legislative initiative aimed at changing the flag of Mississippi to remove the Confederate War Flag . Mississippi Parliament Speaker Philip Gunn advocated that the flag should represent all Mississippi residents. Phil Bryant did not join this position and in February 2016 he declared April Confederate Heritage Month .

In March 2016, Bryant recommended that Ted Cruz be elected President of the United States.

In April 2016, he signed a law that would allow churches and private companies in the US state of Mississippi to refuse services to homosexuals in the future .

Bryant is believed to be a proponent of the death penalty . Under him as governor, six people were executed in Mississippi in 2012 . That's about 28% of all executions (21 through January 2016) in Mississippi.

Web links

• Campaign site (English)
• National Governors Association - Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mississippi Governor Declares April Confederate Heritage Month . jacksonfreepress.com. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
2. ↑ Gov. Bryant endorses Cruz . In: Jackson Clarion-Ledger . Retrieved March 7, 2016.
3. ↑ http://www.taz.de/Homosexuellengesetz-in-Mississippi/!5293389/