A revised, updated edition of the definitive work on Mississippi’s recent political history

“With the bipartisan credibility they earned from their earlier work, Jere Nash and Andy Taggart use their updated edition of Mississippi Politics to cover developments in the past two decades: a time when abortion joined race as a discordant issue, suggestions of a sex scandal marred a US Senate race, the state flag was stripped of its Confederate symbol, the Tea Party rose and fell, and the Republican Party won complete dominance.”
—Curtis Wilkie, author of The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America’s Most Powerful Trial Lawyer

Called “a must-read for any serious student of Mississippi politics” by The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi Politics quickly became the definitive work on the state’s recent political history, campaigns, legislative battles, and litigation, as well as the ways Mississippi both shaped and was shaped by national and regional trends.

First published in 2006, this thoroughly revised third edition expands and updates the narrative from the 2008 presidential election through the mid-2020s. Authors Jere Nash and Andy Taggart add three new chapters and substantially revise every existing chapter, providing fresh analyses of statewide, legislative, and federal elections; leadership changes in both parties; and the shifting dynamics that continue to define Mississippi’s place in American politics.

New coverage includes the Cochran-McDaniel Senate race; Cindy Hyde-Smith’s path to the US Senate; the Republican takeover of the legislature; and the campaigns of Mike Espy, Jim Hood, and Brandon Presley. It also examines such behind-the-scenes developments as the legalization of casino gaming, the state’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina, the building of the civil rights museum, the changing of the state flag, and Mississippi’s central role in the abortion debate that culminated in the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Drawing on more than 150 interviews conducted by the authors and a greatly expanded body of sources, this edition offers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the people, events, and forces that have driven Mississippi politics over the past half-century.

Jere Nash, a native of Greenville, Mississippi, served as a Democratic political consultant for forty-five years and is coauthor of three books on Mississippi history. His most recent book is Reconstruction in Mississippi, 1862-1877, published by University Press of Mississippi.

Andy Taggart is a practicing attorney. He has served as political director and executive director of the Mississippi Republican Party and chief of staff for Governor Kirk Fordice. Nash’s and Taggart’s first edition of this book, Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006, won awards from the Mississippi Historical Society (Best Book on Mississippi History or Biography, 2006) and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters (Top Work of Non-Fiction, 2007).