Mississippi Republican Party - Policy Positions

Policy Positions

While Mississippi Republicans take positions on a wide variety of issues, some of the noteworthy ones include:

• Abortion - "Protecting and securing the 'life, liberty, and property' of Mississippians begins first with guarding the life of the unborn child. Our policies should honor the sanctity of innocent human life." In November 2011, Governor Haley Barbour voted for Mississippi Initiative 26. Initiative #26 would amend the Mississippi Constitution to define the word “person” or “persons”, as those terms are used in Article III of the state constitution, to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.
• Education - "Our instructors must have the freedom to teach, our students must have the opportunity to learn, and our policies should focus on the classroom – not the boardroom."
• Energy policy - The Republican Party believes there needs to be a balance in the use of both renewable and non-renewable energy resources.
• Voting rights - In January 2009, Republican Senator Joseph Filligane put forward Mississippi Initiative 27 which would amend the Mississippi Constitution to require voters to submit a government issued photo identification before being allowed to vote. This initiative passed on November 8, 2011
• Private property - Republican Party members supported Mississippi Initiative 31 on the topic of eminent domain. Initiative #31 would amend the Mississippi Constitution to prohibit state and local government from taking private property by eminent domain and then conveying it to other persons or private businesses for a period of 10 years after acquisition.
• Taxes - The Republican Party believes in cutting taxes.