Scottish fans showed up in Boston for the World Cup and loved it so much they woke their neighbors at 6:30 a.m. with bagpipes. And the waving neighbors didn’t mind. Instead of complaining, they laughed.

One Scot drove every American highway he could find. A German fan named Freddy has spent weeks touring between matches across the American South, posting about Waffle House at 1 a.m., Texas barbecue, Buc-ee’s, Walmart (”literally like a museum”), ice dispensers, Taco Bell, and Alabama mom and pop side of the road restaurants. He tubed the Chattahoochee, marveled at Mississippi’s beautiful coast, and is now a big fan of our country music. He went so viral that Louisiana locals made him a welcome sign. Local radio stations mention him by name. Celebrities reached out. He even got to meet Ella Langley!

The Japanese are in awe of how big Texas is, and are riding mechanical bulls while wearing cowboy hats. Brazilians are partying in Times Square. Ecuadoreans are rallying at the Rocky statue in Philadelphia. English fans sang Sweet Caroline at a rodeo in Texas. One Swedish lady fell in love with ranch dressing, calling it “crack” she cannot live without. And the Dutch shipped their famous orange fan bus across the Atlantic, turned Dallas into a giant block party, then spent interviews marveling at (again) Buc-ee’s and how warm and welcoming Americans are. And they are all stunned by America’s natural beauty.

They’re marveling at free refills and air conditioning and wide highways. They cannot believe our showers, our SEC stadiums with bald eagle flyovers, our American flags, and our Costcos. They didn’t come for those things. They came for the soccer.

But what they discovered is that none of those things happened by accident, and that the free refill and the waving neighbor come from the same place.

Free refills only happen because we trust people and reward generosity. Walmart’s abundance exists because we allow competition and reward efficiency. Bass Pro Shops has hundreds of guns for sale because we have guaranteed freedoms written into our Constitution. Quality barbecue, endless options, businesses that operate on their own terms, these aren’t government mandates. They’re the natural output of a system that lets people keep what they build and rewards them for ambition and hard work.

In other countries, the barriers are steeper. You need more licenses, more approvals, more capital just to navigate the system. And the margins for failure are smaller.

International visitors aren’t falling in love with consumerism. They’re falling in love with what makes consumerism possible: freedom. Particularly economic freedom. The freedom to try. To build. To fail. To keep your earnings. To pursue excellence because it matters to you, not because the government mandates it.

That same spirit shows up in our American culture, too, not just in the marketplace, but at a family tailgate and the church picnic. Not the version portrayed in leftist headlines, but the real thing. The generous hospitality of strangers. The neighbor who says hello as they pass you on the sidewalk. The waitress who calls you “honey.” The man who won’t let you eat ribs with a fork and knife. The small-town parade. The stranger who takes you on a boat ride to find alligators. The willingness of Americans to help people they have never met. The optimism. The sense that anything is possible. This is the greatest country on earth, and we want to share it with you.

Many visitors arrive expecting a divided, angry country. Instead they find people—especially across rural America—who are curious about them, eager to give, and genuinely proud to share their communities and the country they love so dearly.

They came for the World Cup. What they found was much bigger than soccer. They found a country where ordinary people are still remarkably free to build, create, succeed, fail, start over and pursue lives of their own choosing. They will leave in love not just with America, but with Americans. Because every meal, every store, every highway, and every conversation reminds them: this is a country that actually lets people be free.

That’s what’s worth defending and celebrating.

- Lesley

There were nearly 80,000 Americans there, millions watching online. Democrats and Republicans, red and blue, standing side by side. Military flyover. Zac Brown singing the national anthem, a genuine vet supporter who doesn’t play the political game. Fireworks. For a few hours, we weren’t split into opposing camps. We were just Americans.

It hit me hard because that’s the America I grew up in.

Not the sanitized version. The actual version. Where Democrats and Republicans disagreed but weren’t enemies. We argued about policy. We voted differently. But we shared a deep pride in our country. That was just normal.

I’m not an MMA fan, so I didn’t watch for the fights. I watched for that shared experience. That moment where you remember you’re part of something larger than the current culture war. And it was there. The old version of this country. The one that could hold patriotism without hatred.

One side can’t seem to do this anymore.

The Democratic Party I knew, the one capable of being in a room with Republicans and actually connecting on something real, has been taken over by people who bitterly reject the country’s foundations and our shared ideals.

That’s not me being inflammatory. It’s an observable fact. Their ideology is fundamentally anti-American: Marxist, anti-capitalist, hostile to what built this great nation. This isn’t policy disagreement. It’s contempt for America itself.

Many on the modern left have become deeply uncomfortable with traditional expressions of patriotism and increasingly hostile to the institutions, history, and ideals that have long united Americans. That’s a profound cultural shift from the Democratic Party many of us grew up with. What was once a broad coalition that included proud patriots, blue-collar workers, and mainstream liberals now often elevates voices that seem more focused on America’s failures than its strengths.

That’s why this night mattered.

It reminded us that a shared American identity still exists.That despite our disagreements, we are part of the same national story. It proved we’re still capable of a shared culture. All of us, actually united. Not out of blind loyalty. Out of genuine connection to the country itself. Out of recognizing we’re on the same team even when we disagree on how things should work.

We need more of that—not as a fleeting feel-good moment, but as an actual foundation. The question is whether one side will ever choose to participate again, or whether they’ve decided patriotism is the enemy.

- Lesley

The Mississippi Republican Party’s Lincoln-Reagan-Trump Gala is coming up, and you do NOT want to miss it.

America is turning 250, and we’re going to celebrate in style, with great people, great energy, and two incredible speakers:

• U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama

• RNC Co-Chair KC Crosbie

This is the event of the summer. Come fired up, bring a friend, and let’s make some noise for Mississippi and for America.

Seats are going fast so grab yours now!

👉 Register here

We’ll see you June 4th.

You can find more details on the event here.

- Lesley

For many people, Memorial Day has become synonymous with the start of summer. That’s understandable. But it is not just a long weekend, and the work our organization does makes that especially worth saying out loud.

The holiday exists because American soldiers died. In trenches, on beaches, in jungles and deserts, across conflicts stretching back to the Civil War. It began informally, with Decoration day where communities placed flowers on soldiers’ graves each spring, before becoming a federal holiday in 1971. The reason for it hasn’t changed: there are men and women who are not here anymore because they went somewhere dangerous so the rest of us wouldn’t have to.

That sacrifice is directly connected to the work we do every day. The democratic institutions we study, the policies we debate, and the governing frameworks we try to improve do not exist in a vacuum. They endure because generations of Americans fought—and many died—to establish and defend a system of government where citizens have a say in how they are governed.

Free elections, the rule of law, civilian oversight, the ability to openly advocate for change were not inevitable. They were protected at great cost by people who were somebody’s son or daughter, husband or wife, mother or father—many of them barely adults when they died.

We work in policy because we believe good governance matters. Memorial Day is a good day to remember who made it possible to believe that.

The National Moment of Remembrance is at 3:00 p.m. Many communities will hold public ceremonies at local cemeteries and memorials. It’s worth pausing your cookout to remember those men and women.

America did not become the greatest country on earth by accident—but because of the sacrifices of so many willing to defend her and the ideals that built her.

Enjoy the weekend. And take a minute on Monday.

- Lesley

The idea is simple. While politics shifts from election to election, culture is ultimately shaped by families. And on that front, conservatives appear to be winning. Adults in their late twenties and early thirties who identify as conservative are forming families at steady rates, while those who identify as liberal are not.

The data is striking. Roughly seventy-one percent of conservative women in that age group are mothers. Among liberal women, the number is closer to forty percent.

On its face, that should settle the matter. If one side is raising children and the other largely isn’t, then the values of the family-forming side should naturally shape the next generation. Yet that’s not the full picture.

Despite higher birthrates, conservative values continue to lose ground across nearly every major cultural institution: education, entertainment, media, and even among many children raised in conservative homes. The generational handoff that should be happening simply isn’t.

Which raises an uncomfortable question: how can a movement that is having fewer children wield so much influence over the future? The answer lies in institutions.

Any ideology that cannot sustain itself through family life must find another way to survive. If its beliefs are not being passed down biologically, they must be transmitted culturally, through systems that reach children early, consistently, and authoritatively. That is exactly what has happened.

Schools increasingly operate as if parents are obstacles rather than partners. Policies and curricula are built around the assumption that institutional judgment should override parental authority. Media reinforces the same message, routinely portraying parents as outdated or oppressive while presenting teachers, counselors, and activists as enlightened moral guides.

Digital platforms accelerate the process by bypassing parents altogether, delivering values, identity narratives, and social reinforcement directly to children in unaccountable spaces.

Even professionals tasked with caring for children are often instructed to prioritize institutional ideology over family involvement, affirming whatever a teenager expresses in the moment while deliberately excluding parents from the conversation. This isn’t accidental. It’s strategic.

When an ideology does not encourage strong families or long-term commitments, it must rely on access to other people’s children to persist. That requires control over schools, youth programs, extracurriculars, and screens—the very environments that once belonged primarily to families.

The result is a paradox. Conservatives may be having more children, but they are surrendering the spaces that do the most formative work.

Many well-intentioned parents assume that a stable home, good values, and occasional serious conversations will counterbalance what their children encounter elsewhere. But formation doesn’t work like a debate where equal time ensures fairness.

Children don’t adopt beliefs primarily through arguments. They absorb them through repetition, authority, and social reinforcement. They learn what is “normal” by observing what adults treat as unquestionable. And when those cues come for eight to twelve hours a day—from schools, activities, peers, and screens—the outcome is predictable.

A child immersed in those systems will naturally emerge reflecting them. This is the reality conservatives must confront. The challenge is not only birthrates. It is that many of the children who are being born are formed by institutions that do not share their families’ beliefs, priorities, or loyalties.

The solution is not retreat from society, nor is it isolating children from the world. The solution is harder than that.

Conservatives must reclaim the institutions that shape childhood and, ultimately, adult life. That means reasserting parental authority, rebuilding (or rethinking) education, challenging cultural gatekeepers, and creating durable alternatives where families, not bureaucracies, set the terms.

The future will not be decided by who has children alone. It will be decided by who forms them.

- Lesley

On Saturday night at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a man armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives attempted to assassinate the President of the United States and members of his administration. Secret Service agents and law enforcement officers stopped him at a security checkpoint. One officer was shot but survived, protected by a bullet-resistant vest. Trump was rushed off stage.

This is the third assassination attempt on the President in less than two years.

In July 2024, a shooter climbed onto a rooftop outside a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He killed firefighter Corey Comperatore—a husband and father who died shielding his family—and wounded two others before a Secret Service sniper ended the threat. A bullet grazed President Trump’s ear. In September 2024, another gunman was stopped before he could fire at Trump on a golf course in Florida. And now this—from a teacher.

I wrote after Butler that while the shooter himself is responsible for his actions, the left helped create that moment with their constant rhetoric demonizing their political opponents and normalizing extreme language. Every word of that piece still stands. But what has changed since then is that the violence hasn’t stayed aimed only at Trump. It has spread, and the violent rhetoric has been ratcheted up.

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in front of 3,000 people at Utah Valley University. His alleged killer left behind a written confession that said he “had enough of his hatred.” Investigators found the shooter had grown increasingly radicalized—consumed by leftist ideology—in the months leading up to the shooting.

Let’s be very clear about the environment that produced three attempts on a sitting president and the murder of a leading conservative voice.

It didn’t come from nowhere.

Joe Biden stood at a podium and said it was “time to put Trump in a bullseye.” Congressman Dan Goldman—a member of the committee that oversees the Secret Service—told MSNBC that Trump “has to be eliminated,”—later claiming he meant it politically. These are not fringe bloggers. These are powerful men with platforms and responsibility, and they chose that extreme language.

Former FBI Director James Comey posted a photo to Instagram of seashells on a beach arranged to spell “8647.” He unconvincingly feigned ignorance about what it meant. That meaning was not obscure. As the dictionary even notes— “86” is slang for killing someone—and 47 is the number of Trump’s presidency. The number had been circulating on TikTok, printed on t-shirts and bumper stickers, sold openly on Amazon and Etsy, and worn at protests. A Pennsylvania county Democratic Party chairwoman was photographed at a “No Kings” rally holding a guitar that read “FDT 8647.” These aren’t isolated incidents of simply bad taste. They are an intentional radical leftist movement.

The left spent years building a narrative that Trump was not merely a political opponent to be defeated, but an existential threat to democracy itself—a Hitler, a fascist, someone who, if not stopped, would end America as we know it. When you tell people that, some believe you. And some decide they are the ones who must act.

The mainstream media fed this machine faithfully and enthusiastically for years:

• Jimmy Kimmel, ABC late-night host—the Thursday night before this happened told Melania Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner: “You have a glow like an expectant widow.” Who does that?

• Rachel Maddow told her MSNBC audience that Trump was using the same rhetorical playbook as Hitler and Mussolini—and that it worked then, so it would work now.

• MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch declared on air that “people need to start taking to the streets” because Trump was “a dictator.”

• Rep. Ayanna Pressley went on MSNBC and called for “unrest in the streets for as long as there is unrest in our lives”—while cities across America were already burning.

• Sen. Chuck Schumer stood on the steps of the Supreme Court and pointed his finger at two sitting justices by name, telling them they had “released the whirlwind” and “won’t know what hit you.”

• Rep. Maxine Waters told supporters to find Trump Cabinet members in restaurants, gas stations, and department stores and “create a crowd” and “push back on them”—telling them they are “not welcome anymore, anywhere.”

• Eric Holder, the former Attorney General of the United States, told a campaign crowd: “When they go low, we kick.”

• MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace asked on air how anyone could resist the temptation to “wring the neck” of the White House press secretary.

• Actor Robert De Niro announced that he’d like to “punch” Trump “in the face.”

• Johnny Depp asked a crowd of thousands, “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?”

• Broadway actress Carole Cook told a TMZ camera, “Where is John Wilkes Booth when you need him?”—and when asked directly if that meant someone should kill Trump, she replied, “Why not?” Her husband stood beside her and said under his breath, “Someone should.”

• Madonna told the Women’s March she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”

• A Missouri state senator, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, was investigated by the Secret Service after publicly expressing hope that Trump would be assassinated.

This is not a list of just a few isolated hotheads. This, and more I’ve not listed here, is a long-standing pattern—politicians, media figures, celebrities, and party officials—normalizing the idea that Trump and those who support him are not just political opponents, but existential threats who must be stopped by any means necessary. When you spend years telling people that the man in the White House is Hitler, that his supporters are fascists, that democracy itself hangs by a thread—you do not get to act surprised when someone decides to be the one who acts on it.

The left created a climate where political violence became not just thinkable, but for some, morally righteous. The White House Correspondence Dinner shooter didn’t travel across the country with a shotgun, a handgun, and a cache of knives because he woke up one morning and decided to be evil. He traveled across the country because people with microphones and press credentials and congressional seats spent years telling him—and millions like him—that it was the right thing to do.

The left created a Permission Structure for political violence—one where violence becomes thinkable—and for some, justified.

And now, the pattern continues, at the Washington Hilton—the same hotel where John Hinckley Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981—a man who called himself “The Friendly Federal Assassin” declared his actions were “righteous.” In writings shared with his own family minutes before the attack, he stated: “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. ” Every word of that statement is a lie—lies smugly repeated so often by leftist politicians and mainstream media that a radicalized man in California boarded a train to Washington believing he must act upon them.

The shooter in Butler in 2024 acted within weeks of a Biden White House that had saturated the airwaves with the message that Trump was a dictator who had to be stopped. The shooter in Utah in 2025 acted within an atmosphere where “8647” merchandise was sold openly, where a former FBI director played dumb about the assassination code, where a Democratic county chair raised a guitar bearing the phrase at a public rally. And now this shooter in Washington, a public school teacher, traveled thousands of miles “hellbent” on killing Trump and his administration.

These moments do not occur in a vacuum. They are the harvest of seeds that powerful people deliberately planted.

After Butler, I urged that violent rhetoric has no place in political debate in America and our nation desperately needs healing. I believe that is still true. But healing requires honesty. And the honest truth is this: the left created a climate of encouraging political violence against conservatives, dressed it in the language of resistance and protecting democracy, sold it on merchandise, broadcast it from the halls of Congress to cable news rooms—and then acted shocked when someone acted on it.

Three attempts on the life of a sitting president. A 31-year-old conservative Christian leader shot dead in Utah. A Secret Service agent sent to the hospital after taking a bullet to his vest in Washington.

When does it stop?

It stops when the people who lit this fire are honest about what they’ve done. Not with a press release. Not with a brief statement expressing that “there is no place for violence in our democracy. ” With a real reckoning about their violent rhetoric, the merchandise, the coded language, the years of telling their base that the other side wasn’t just wrong—it was dangerous, and it now has to be eliminated.

God has spared this president three times now. Whether that registers as a warning—to the nation, and to those whose words helped create these moments—is the question every American should be asking. History will not be kind to those who lit this fire and called it resistance in the name of “protecting democracy.”

The only question is how many more people have to bleed before the left is made to answer for it.

- Lesley

I argued that these moments—honoring God, doing hard things like no other nation, and living up to our unique values of “leave no man behind”—are moments that remind us who we still are underneath all the noise, bitterness, and exhaustion of the past divisive decade. The cultural moments which have always brought us together as a nation—no matter black nor white, Democrat nor Republican. Moments we desperately now need as a nation to bring us back together.

But I didn’t expect another one this soon.

On Sunday afternoon at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Mississippi State baseball star and Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jake Mangum threw a baseball into the left-field stands between innings. He wasn’t obligated to. He wasn’t performing for a camera. He just noticed a little girl in the second tier pointing to his name on the back of her white jersey—the kind of thing a new player in a new city might miss. Mississippian Jake Mangum didn’t miss it. He did not hesitate.

He pointed right at her and threw the ball her way. Her brother—maybe upper elementary school age, glove already on—made the catch. And then, without a second’s hesitation, without anyone telling him to, without anyone watching him closely enough to judge what he did next, that little boy turned and gave the ball to his sister.

And she wrapped her arms around him in a moment of pure joy and thankfulness. Their dad pumped his fists in the background.

You can watch the clip here.

And after it was was posted, the comments came pouring in:

“She hugged him like he was her hero.”

“That little handoff just melted the whole stadium.”

“Everyone’s watching the catch, nobody’s noticing the kid didn’t even hesitate before giving it away. That instinct? You can’t coach that.”

No. You cannot. That’s the point.

When non-traditional sports outlets—not just the sports press, but culture and commentary outlets like the Daily Wire and Babylon Bee—ran this story, something was being recognized that goes well beyond baseball. This wasn’t covered just because of a catch. It was covered because people are hungry for this cultural moment together. They are hungry for proof that we are still who we thought we were.

Jake Mangum is from Jackson Prep, Mississippi State, and Pearl, Mississippi—and he has never forgotten it. Nor what was instilled in him in this special state and from his dear family.

When he saw a little girl pointing to his name in that stadium, he didn’t see a photo opportunity. He saw someone who mattered. That instinct? You can’t coach that either.

That is Mississippi. That is America. And on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh, it was all of us.

And Mangum described it the only way a man raised with these American values could: That’s what it’s all about. It is. It always has been.

We have been told for more than a decade that this country is too broken to come back. That the values are gone. That the culture is lost. That the kindness, the courage, and simple human decency that once defined us are all relics — something we romanticize but cannot recover.

I don’t believe that. I have never believed that.

I believe we are still America, in the astronauts who pray before they ride rockets and look back at creation with wonder. In our soldiers who never left our pilots behind in Iran. In the fathers who raise sons who don’t even hesitate to give when someone else needs. In the Southern ball player who gives a little girl and boy in Pittsburgh core memories of pure kindness.

The voices that hate this country got very loud for a very long time. But they were never louder than who we are as a nation.

America is not lost. She is still right there, in the stands, wearing a jersey with her favorite Pirates’ name on the back. She is still right there in an outfielder from Mississippi who never forgot how to care for the people right in front of him. Our nation is still here. She never left. She just needed to be reminded who she is.

And Jake Mangum, Mississippi could not be more proud of you.

- Lesley

This ran in the Magnolia Tribune on Thursday.

Here’s your recap:

• SB 2103 (Sen. Angela Hill): Protects parental rights by preventing counselors from hiding critical information about children from parents.

• SB 2322 (Sen. Angela Hill): Requires driver’s licenses to reflect biological sex and blocks illegal use of out-of-state licenses.

• SB 3124 (Sen. Josh Harkins): Expands the Pregnancy Resource Tax Credit to individuals, strengthening support for pro-life centers.

• HB 1613 (Rep. Celeste Hurst): Cracks down on the illegal distribution of abortion drugs across state lines without medical oversight.

• HB 1758 (Rep. Lee Yancey): Ensures foster children can keep benefits intended for them.

• SB 2126 (Sen. Angela Hill): Prevents violent criminals and sexual predators from changing their names to hide their past.

• SB 2821 (Sen. Jeremy England): Makes the sexual abuse of a child a capital offense.

• HB 1224 (Rep. Joey Hood): Holds online platforms accountable for exposing children to predators and harmful content.

• HB 525 (Rep. Kim Remak): Establishes mandatory minimum penalties for sexual battery.

• SB 2588 (Sen. Jeremy England): Requires voter roll verification using federal data to ensure only U.S. citizens vote.

• SB 2114 (Sen. Angela Hill): Makes illegal immigration a state crime with stronger enforcement penalties.

• HB 538 (Rep. Lee Yancey): Strengthens enforcement against sanctuary city policies.

These aren’t small wins. They’re foundational.

From protecting parents and kids, to strengthening election integrity, to enforcing the rule of law, Mississippi didn’t just talk about conservative principles this session. It acted on them.

That’s what leadership looks like.

Thank you to Gov. Reeves, Speaker White, Lt. Gov. Hosemann and the lawmakers who fought to get these bills across the finish line. The impact of this work will be felt by families across Mississippi for years to come.

And while there’s always more to do, this session proved something important: when people step up and stay the course, real change happens.

- Lesley

”The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalm 19:1

On Easter Sunday, as the Artemis II crew hurtled through deep space — farther from Earth than any human beings had traveled in more than fifty years — NASA pilot Victor Glover was asked if the crew had a message to share for the holiday. He hadn’t prepared anything. What came out was something not from a speechwriter; it just naturally flowed from this Christian man’s heart and his unfiltered reflection as he looked back on God’s awe-inspiring creation:

“As we are so far from Earth and looking back at the beauty of creation, I think, for me, one of the really important personal perspectives that I have up here is I can really see Earth as one thing. When I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us, who were created, you have this amazing place, this spaceship.”

He reminded us this wonder, this planet, is a special gift to us all from our Creator:

“You’re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos. Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special. But we’re the same distance from you, and I’m trying to tell you — just trust me — you are special. In all of this emptiness — this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together.”

— NASA Astronaut Victor Glover, Artemis II Pilot, Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026

A man of deep faith, Glover has said that his career is built on a foundation of faith — and that there are no atheists on top of rockets.

From a spacecraft aptly-named Integrity, circling the Moon on Easter Sunday, a decorated Navy combat pilot and astronaut delivered a gospel message to eight billion people on the planet below.

And this American astronaut humbly made sure we all heard it.

The Night America Held Its Breath

On the evening of April 10, 2026, something remarkable happened across America, something reminiscent of times we thought were long-gone in our now deeply-divided nation. NASA reported bars and baseball stadiums lit up their giant screens with the live feed of Artemis II returning to earth and those watching fell silent. Tens of millions of Americans tuned in across countless streaming and broadcast platforms simultaneously — young and old — to watch four astronauts come home from the far side of the moon after a ten day mission. It was a much-needed shared cultural moment.

At exactly 8:07 p.m. Eastern time, right on schedule, the capsule Integrity splashed down in the Pacific Ocean approximately 50 miles off the coast of San Diego. Mission Control called it “a perfect bullseye splashdown.” Commander Reid Wiseman then radioed that all four crew members were doing well. We all exhaled as Americans.

Commander Reid Wiseman, Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — had traveled a total of 694,481 miles, reaching a record 252,756 miles from Earth at their farthest point—farther than any human being in history. They flew within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface. They saw the planet the way God wanted us to see it — beautiful and overwhelmingly awe-struck.

More Connected Than We Knew

In 1969, an estimated 600 million people worldwide watched Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon — roughly one in five people on the entire planet at the time. In America, it was a shared cultural moment unlike almost anything before nor since. Families crowded around radios or tiny, single black and white television sets. Neighbors gathered on porches. A nation that was deeply divided by the turbulence of the 60’s era, was for one night, simply and completely American together.

As Buzz Aldrin was walking on the moon with Armstrong, he quoted Psalm 8:3-4: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained; What is man that thou art mindful of him?” Friday night felt like that.

Our nation is arguably more divided than even 1969–and yet the world watched together — not as rivals, not as ideological opponents— and our astronauts acknowledged and welcomed our world allies who support us. We came together as we watched other human beings do the extraordinary thing that makes us unlike any other.

But for our country, after the weariness of the past years of unnecessary battered division, tonight was something more personal than a shared big world moment. It was a reminder of who we are as Americans. It was a mirror held up to all. To remind us of what we thought we lost. And give us hope that we can come back together.

This Is Who America Is

What you watched on Friday night took thousands of people working behind the scenes for countless years so that four people could be the face of bravery and so that we could start to reclaim who we are as a country. “We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” —JFK

This is American grit. American ingenuity. American bravery. The stuff of our forefathers and mothers. These are our values and our hard fought culture for 250 years.

This is the America I grew up with. The America that did not just talk about being strong and good.

Yet tonight’s America is what we were in danger of losing — not because she ever stopped being real, but because the voices that hate her got very loud for a very long time.

NASA’s Gift to America

NASA gave America a gift tonight — and they gave it especially to our young people. Thousands of kids looked up at giant screens and watched a spacecraft fall from the sky, slow to 20 miles per hour under three enormous parachutes, and settle into the Pacific Ocean exactly on schedule, exactly on target. They watched Navy helicopters lift four American heroes off a small inflatable raft in the middle of the ocean and carry them to safety. THAT is America.

Some of those kids decided what they want to do with their lives. They don’t have words for it yet. But they will. A future engineer, a future astronaut, a future flight controller, a future Navy diver was sitting in those stands, and something clicked into place. Just as a generation of Americans watched Apollo 11 in 1969 and a wave of scientists, pilots, and dreamers was born, tonight dreams were born, too.

That is a gift that does not expire.

And it doesn’t stand alone. The recent rescue of our downed pilots in Iran — another moment of American grit and precision under pressure — reminded us of the same truth: the people who carry this country on their shoulders have not changed. The courage, the training, our values, the refusal to leave anyone behind — it is all still there. It never left. It just needed to be seen.

The Next Frontier

Artemis II was not the destination. It was the proof of what we can do together — the test that showed we can send human beings around the Moon and back and bring them home safely. Artemis III will land Americans on the lunar surface. After that, a permanent lunar presence. After that, Mars.

The frontier has always been part of the American identity. It is in our bones — the belief that the next horizon is worth crossing, that the unknown is an invitation rather than a warning. We are, at our best, a people who will not stop exploring, learning, pursuing, building.

Victor Glover looked out at the universe from the edge of it and reminded us that God put us here for a reason. He saw Earth as one thing — one oasis, one home, one gift. And then he and three of his fellow astronauts came screaming back into our atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour, trusting God, the math and the engineers, the Navy and the parachutes, and they landed in the Pacific Ocean at exactly 8:07 p.m., right on schedule.

That is who we are. That has always been who we are. And Friday night, we remembered.

It was a very good night to be an American.

- Lesley

We want to start off by thanking Governor Tate Reeves, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann, and Speaker Jason White for their leadership and partnership with us and others in the fight for these Republican bills.

We also want to thank a main key coalition partner, Mississippi Federation of Republican Women—a record twelve of the bills we both supported together passed! We also thank those in the faith community for being united in the fight like never before. Relationships and coalitions like all of these truly matter, and we thank them!

I outline these real wins below.

Not symbolic wins. Not messaging bills. Actual policy changes that will affect real people. And the reason is simple: People like you spoke out and showed up.

🏛️ Parents and the Non-Crazies Are Starting to Take Back Ground

For years, parents have been pushed out while liberals captured institutions, and somehow, common sense became controversial.

We pushed back in concrete ways this session.

With Senate Bill 2103 from Sen. Angela Hill, we are saying that the system can’t quietly cut parents out of major decisions about their own children. Counselors in Mississippi will no longer have to abide by the radical American School Counselor Association Code of Ethics, which included keeping a child’s gender confusion hidden from parents.

That shouldn’t be controversial. But in today’s world, it is. This bill is headed to the Governor.

And with SB 2322, also from Sen. Hill, Mississippi drew a line and said something even more basic: Truth still matters. The sex on your driver’s license must match your sex at birth. And illegal aliens can’t drive in our state with fake licenses. This bill is headed to the Governor.

These aren’t flashy ideas. They’re foundational ones. And that’s exactly why they matter. Thank you Senator Hill for leading on both of these issues and staying the course to the very end!

We can celebrate wins, but we can also look at what didn’t pass. Sen. Josh Harkins’ SB 2676, which would have stopped DEI-driven investing and SB 2714, which would have protected conservative Mississippians and people of faith from debanking financial discrimination—both fell short. That fight isn’t over. It’ll be back.

👶 Being Pro-Life Means More Than One Vote

It’s easy to say you’re pro-life in Mississippi. It’s harder to build a system that actually supports life. That’s where this session made real progress.

With SB 3124 from Sen. Harkins, Mississippi will strengthen support for the lifesaving work of our pregnancy resource centers by extending this Pregnancy Resource Tax Credit to individuals, not just businesses. Real support doesn’t come from slogans. It comes from communities. Thank you Sen. Harkins for this much needed reform and for always being a strong Pro-Life advocate! This bill is headed to the Governor.

With an amendment to House Bill 1613 from Rep. Celeste Hurst, Mississippi took on a growing, dangerous, and disturbing problem for women most people don’t even realize is happening: abortion-inducing drugs are being shipped across state lines, with no doctor, no exam, and no follow-up. Mississippi women are literally delivering their babies in the toilet with no medical oversight. This bill puts an end to that. Thank you Rep. Hurst for your strong, unwavering leadership to protect women from this dangerous distribution of harmful drugs without physician assistance. What a HUGE protection and win for Mississippi women. This bill is headed to the Governor.

And HB 1758 from Rep. Lee Yancey will let foster children keep benefits that were meant for them. It’s a quieter reform, but an important one. And it’s one of those changes that makes you wonder: Why wasn’t it always this way? Thank you Rep Yancey! This bill has been signed into law by the Governor!

🛡️ Protecting Kids Isn’t Optional

Some issues shouldn’t be partisan. Protecting kids is one of them. And yet, it takes real effort to get meaningful protections passed.

This session, lawmakers stepped up.

• Sen. Hill and Republican lawmakers made sure sexual predators and violent criminals can’t erase their past by changing their names with SB 2126. This bill has been signed into law by the Governor!

• Sen. Jeremy England’s SB 2821 made it a capital offense to sexually abuse a child. This bill is headed to the Governor.

• THIS ONE IS HUGE! Rep. Joey Hood’s HB 1224 Keeping Kids Safe Online Act addresses a threat that exists in every home with a smartphone. This measure passed the Senate unanimously and the House by huge margins—95 to 17. And for good reasons. Parents are realizing online platforms can be dangerous for kids. And kids are looking to parents and lawmakers to help protect them. Studies and internal whistleblower documents show that social media sites are gateways where children are being exposed to child predators, human trafficking, sextortion, and even child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This bill sets the pace for the rest of the country by providing effective remedies parents and the Attorney General can use to hold online platforms accountable for knowingly and willfully putting kids in harm’s way. This bill is headed to the Governor. I want to especially thank Rep. Joey Hood who courageously led the way on this bill from the beginning and Sen. Brice Wiggins who was a champion in the Senate. We are grateful for you both in your very real efforts to protect Mississippi kids from online predators and Big Tech’s addictive harm. This bill is headed to the Governor.

• HB 525 from Rep. Kim Remak creates mandatory minimum penalties for sexual battery. This bill is headed to the Governor.

There’s more to do here. But this was real movement.

🗳️ Trust in Elections Doesn’t Happen Automatically

Confidence in elections isn’t something you can demand. It’s something you build. Step by step.

With SB 2588 from Sen. England, Mississippi will now verify voter rolls using existing federal data, bringing basic accountability to our elections to ensure only US citizens vote. Thank you Sen. England for your strong work on this crucial bill! This bill has been signed into law by the Governor!

🇺🇸 Laws Matter, And They Have to Be Enforced

With SB 2114 from Sen. Hill, illegal immigration will now be a state crime, with enhanced enforcement and penalties for criminal illegal aliens. And HB 538from Rep. Yancey will put teeth in our state’s prohibitions against sanctuary city policies. Thank you Sen. Hill and Rep. Yancey for your strong work! Both bills are headed to the Governor.

That’s basic, but it matters.

⚠️ And Here’s the Reality

Not everything passed.

Not one bill to restore work requirements and reduce welfare abuse made it across the finish line this session. Do we just love a government welfare program in Mississippi, or what? How many of our citizens will be added to the government dole until we say this is not good policy?

Parent’s right to choose the best education for their children failed, protecting Christians and conservatives from being debanked failed, even stronger protections to protect kids online failed, and legislation to end public schools’ hostility to religion failed. These aren’t issues that go away. They’ll be back in front of lawmakers next year, and your voice will matter again when they are.

That’s not failure. That’s the scoreboard at halftime.

🙏 Final Thought

If you’ve felt like nothing changes, I get it. But this session is a reminder that things can move in the right direction. It might not be pretty, but when Mississippians step up, it shows.

And it’s all because of people like you who refused to sit it out.

So thank you. Grateful to be in the fight with you.

We look forward to Governor Reeves signing the rest of these conservative bills into law!

- Lesley

Pro-Life legislation moves

House Bill 1613, which bans dangerous abortion-inducing drugs from being mailed into Mississippi, advanced out of the Senate and will be returned to the House for another vote. Thank you to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and the Senate.

An amendment to HB 1613 by Rep. Celeste Hurst creates a felony offense for out-of-state providers who mail or distribute chemical abortion drugs into Mississippi, targeting the growing and dangerous practice of sending powerful abortifacients across state lines with no medical exam, ultrasound, oversight, or medical follow-up.

These website mail-order abortion pills can cause severe bleeding, infection, or incomplete abortions. Yet women and young girls are often left alone to manage serious complications without a physician’s oversight, even delivering a baby alone in their bathroom.

Keeping Kids Safe Online Act

HB 1224, the Keeping Kids Safe Online Act (sponsored by Rep. Joey Hood), was amended with a strike-all adding education-related provisions from the Senate Judiciary A Committee substitute. This broadens HB 1224’s protective scope into the digital literacy and school-based context. The bill will now go to conference.

We believe HB 1224 can be further amended to provide targeted, complementary protections for minors who have already created accounts in compliance with the existing Walter Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act.

We urge legislative conferees to add changes to ensure minors who have created online accounts cannot:

• Share their name, image, or likeness without parental consent

• Access material that is harmful to minors.

These provisions would complement existing legal protections provided under the Walker Montgomery law.

Bill targeting debanking revived

A week after the Senate killed HB 1597, the Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Mississippians bill has been revived in the House through Senate Bill 2714. This bill addresses elite big bank “debanking” at the state level — the closure of bank accounts because of conservative political or religious views. Elites just don’t like people of faith and gunowners.

It easily cleared the House, and the amended bill will now go back to the Senate and returned for concurrence. Thank you to Speaker White and the House for bringing this back.

House considers death penalty for child sex crimes

Rep. Jansen Owen added a reverse repealer to Senator Jeremy England’s SB 2821.

If enacted, persons convicted of a sex crime against a child under the age of 12 could face the death penalty. Thank you Sen. England for moving this crucial bill through the Senate, and thank you Rep. Owen for presenting in the House.

What else?

SB 3124 — The Pregnancy Resource Act would expand the definition of individuals eligible to claim the state tax credit for donations to pregnancy resource centers and increase the total amount of credits that can be issued each year. It was tabled subject to call. (Sponsored by Sen. Josh Harkins.)

HB 1758 — The Foster Youth Earned Benefits Protection for Success Act ensures that earnings and benefits are preserved for the child’s future rather than being used to offset the cost of their care in state custody. It cleared the Senate and is headed to the Governor. (Sponsored by Rep. Lee Yancey.)

SB 2588 — The Safeguard Honest Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act cleared the House and was returned to the Senate for concurrence. It will require the Secretary of State to run voter rolls through the federal SAVE database to verify citizenship. (Sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England.)

SB 2114 — Provides enhanced enforcement and penalties for criminal illegal aliens. It passed the House. (Sponsored by Sen. Hill.)

SB 2828 — The Money Transmission Modernization Act will soon be headed for conference after passing the House. It targets criminal illegal aliens sending large amounts of money overseas without paying Mississippi taxes by requiring licensees to charge a refundable fee for international wire transfers. (Sponsored by Sen. Hill.)

SB 2126 — Requires birth certificates to reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth and prohibits changes unless a clear error occurred. It also prohibits sex offenders from changing their names. It passed the House but with amendments: only provision left is prohibition against convicted sex offenders from changing their name except due to marriage or divorce. (Sponsored by Sen. Hill.)

SB 2322 — Requires driver’s licenses to reflect sex assigned at birth unless a clear error occurred and was amended to invalidate driver’s licenses held by illegal immigrants. It cleared the House with amendments. (Sponsored by Sen. Hill.)

HB 538 — Prohibits government entities or employees from interfering with federal immigration enforcement. It passed the Senate. (Sponsored by Rep. Yancey.)

SB 2676 — Discourages the State Treasurer from using proxy advisors that promote ESG or DEI priorities. It cleared the House. (Sponsored by Sen. Harkins.)

HB 525 — Creates mandatory minimum penalties for sexual battery. It cleared the Senate. (Sponsored by Rep. Kim Remak.)

SB 2821 — Capital sexual battery; create crime of. It was returned for concurrence. (Sponsored by Rep. England.)

Anything amended by the opposite chamber returns to the original chamber, where lawmakers can either accept the changes and send the bill to the Governor or invite a conference committee to hash out the differences before voting on a final version.

These decisions will largely be worked out in the final days of the session, as attention once again turns to appropriation and finance bills.

We thank all our Mississippi conservative lawmakers who have sponsored and helped advance these conservative, common-sense Republican bills. Other Republican states all around us have done it—now is Mississippi’s time!

We’re less than a month away from Sine Die. Stay tuned.

- Lesley

Here’s a look at where we stand today.

The Good

House Bill 1613, which bans dangerous abortion-inducing drugs from being mailed into Mississippi, advanced out of the Senate Judiciary B Committee.

An amendment to HB 1613 by Rep. Celeste Hurst creates a felony offense for out-of-state providers who mail or distribute chemical abortion drugs into Mississippi, targeting the growing and dangerous practice of sending powerful abortifacients across state lines with no medical exam, ultrasound, oversight, or medical follow-up.

These website mail-order abortion pills can cause severe bleeding, infection, or incomplete abortions. Yet, women and young girls are often left alone to manage serious complications without a physician’s oversight. Even delivering her baby into the toilet—alone in her bathroom. It’s heart-breaking.

We are grateful to Sen. Joey Fillingane and the Republican members of the Judiciary B Committee for their support.

The Bad

The Senate Accountability, Efficiency, and Transparency Committee did not advance HB 1310, the Mississippi Open to Religion Act (the TX “Coach Kennedy case and law”), and it is now dead. This bill would have provided a structured, constitutionally sound framework for voluntary religious exercise in public schools while including the strong safeguards to prevent coercion by mandating written parental consent and “not within earshot” protections.

We appreciate the hard work of Rep. Charles Blackwell and Rep. Jansen Owen in the House.

Another bill that died in the Senate was HB 1597, the Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Mississippians. This addressed government-driven “debanking” on a state level—the closure of bank accounts because of conservative political or religious reasons.

Rep. Shane Aguirre and his colleagues in the House understand that banking discrimination is a serious issue and are looking at possible avenues to pass banking protections this year. One such bill is SB 2714.

However, no legislation is dead until it is dead dead, so we remain committed to these issues and are actively looking for other legislative vehicles. We will keep you posted.

The What?

HB 1224, the Keeping Kids Safe Online Act, was turned into a study committee. We are grateful to Judiciary A Chairman Brice Wiggins for continuing to work on this legislation and get it out of committee.

Studies show it takes only two minutes for a predator to contact a child through social media, and cases of sextortion, kidnapping, and rape are increasing.

We trust our lawmakers will do the right thing to protect Mississippi children.

Other Key Bills still alive

SB 3124: The Pregnancy Resource Act expands the definition to individuals to be able to claim the state tax credit for donations to pregnancy resource centers and increases the total amount of credits that can be issued each year. (Sponsored by Sen. Josh Harkins.)

HB 1758: The Foster Youth Earned Benefits Protection for Success Act ensures that earnings and benefits are preserved for the child’s future rather than being used to offset the cost of their care in state custody. (Sponsored by Rep. Lee Yancey.)

SB 2588: Safeguard Honest Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act. Requires the Secretary of State to run voter rolls through the federal SAVE database to verify citizenship. (Sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England.)

SB 2103: Removes the requirement that school counselors abide by the American School Counselor Association Code of Ethics, including provisions that allow counselors to keep a child’s gender confusion from parents. RADICALLY amended, however. TBD. (Sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill.)

SB 2114: Make communities safer by providing for enhanced enforcement and penalties for criminal illegal aliens. (Sponsored by Sen. Hill.)

SB 2828: Money Transmission Modernization Act. Targets criminal illegal aliens sending large amounts of money overseas without paying Mississippi taxes by requiring licensees to charge a refundable fee for international wire transfers. (Sponsored by Sen. Hill.)

SB 2126: Requires birth certificates to reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth and prohibits changes unless a clear error occurred. Also prohibits sex offenders from changing their names. (Sponsored by Sen. Hill.)

SB 2322: Requires driver’s licenses to reflect sex assigned at birth unless a clear error occurred. Amended to invalidate driver’s licenses held by illegal immigrants. (Sponsored by Sen. Hill.)

HB 538: Prohibits government entities or employees from interfering with federal immigration enforcement. (Sponsored by Rep. Yancey.)

SB 2676: Discourages the State Treasurer from using proxy advisors that promote ESG or DEI priorities. (Sponsored by Sen. Harkins.)

⏰ March 11th is the deadline for ORIGINAL FLOOR ACTION on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in the other chamber. Meaning, this is the deadline for:

• House bills that cleared Senate committees to be debated/voted on the Senate floor.

• Senate bills that cleared House committees to be debated/voted on the House floor.

There’s a long way to go, and not a lot of time to get there.

Thank you for your calls and support. We’ll keep you posted.

An important legislative deadline is fast approaching in Mississippi, and we need your help to advance key conservative reforms.

Tuesday, March 3 is the deadline for committees to move forward bills that have already passed the other chamber. If action isn’t taken now, these bills could run out of time this session.

Will you take a minute to call or email your legislator?

Here’s what’s at stake:

ACTION ALERT — HB 1224 We support the Mississippi Keeping Kids Safe Online Act. This bill provides safeguards so parents can protect their children online. Studies show it takes only two minutes for a predator to contact a child through social media, and cases of sextortion, kidnapping, and rape are increasing.

Sponsored by Rep. Joey Hood.

HB 1224 is currently pending in the Senate Judiciary A Committee.
Chair: Brice Wiggins
Vice Chair: Tyler McCaughn
Members: Juan Barnett, Jason Barrett, Bradford Blackmon, Nicole Boyd, Dennis DeBar Jr., Jeremy England, Joey Fillingane, Briggs Hopson, Dean Kirby, Rita Potts Parks, Derrick T. Simmons, Mike Thompson, Angela Turner Ford

If your Senator is on the Judiciary A Committee, please contact him or her to kindly express your strong support for this MFRW priority bill and kindly encourage them to move it out of Committee before the Tuesday, March 3 deadline.

To find your Senator: https://pluralpolicy.com/find-your-legislator/

ACTION ALERT — HB 1310 We fully support the Mississippi Open to Religion Act. This bill provides a structured, constitutionally sound framework for voluntary religious expression in public schools while including strong safeguards to prevent coercion or forced participation.

Sponsored by Rep. Charles Blackwell and Rep. Jansen Owen.

HB 1310 is currently pending in the Senate Accountability, Efficiency, and Transparency Committee.
Chair: Mike Thompson
Vice Chair: Jason Barrett
Members: Kevin Blackwell, David Blount, Albert Butler, Briggs Hopson, Chad McMahan, Benjamin Suber, Lane Taylor, Angela Turner Ford, Bart Williams

If your Senator is on the AET Committee, please kindly contact him or her to express your strong support for this MFRW priority bill and kindly encourage them to move it out of Committee before the Tuesday, March 3 deadline.

To find your Senator: https://pluralpolicy.com/find-your-legislator/

Please contact Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann to kindly express your strong support for this MFRW priority bill and kindly ask him to move it out of Committee before the Tuesday, March 3 deadline.

ACTION ALERT — HB 1597 MFRW fully supports protecting Mississippians from political and religious debanking. The Mississippi Guaranteeing Fair Banking Act ensures that no Mississippian is denied banking services because of their religious beliefs or political speech. This applies to large institutions, not local county banks — specifically banks with over $10 billion in assets and major payment processors. This is a major priority of the Trump administration.

Sponsored by Rep. Shane Aguirre.

HB 1597 is currently in the Senate Business and Financial Institutions Committee.
Chair: Chris Johnson
Vice Chair: Kevin Blackwell
Members: Nicole Boyd, Gary Brumfield, Joel R. Carter Jr., Scott DeLano, Rod Hickman, Chad McMahan, Sarita Simmons, Daniel H. Sparks, Benjamin Suber, Joseph Thomas, Neil S. Whaley

Please contact Chairman Chris Johnson and kindly encourage him to support HB 1597 and move it forward before the Tuesday, March 3 committee deadline.

If your Senator is on the Senate Business and Financial Institutions Committee, please kindly contact him or her and ask for their support on HB 1597 and kindly encourage them to move it out of Committee before the Tuesday, March 3 deadline.

To find your Senator: https://pluralpolicy.com/find-your-legislator/

SOME OTHER BILLS WE STRONGLY SUPPORT

HB 1578 (Rep. Hood): Public schools; require to adopt policies to educate students about the dangers of social media and predators. Referred to Senate Education.

HB 1613 (Rep. Horan): Bill includes an amendment that would help address the public health crisis caused by abortion pills flooding into MS. Referred to Senate Judiciary B.

HB 1758/ SB 2571 (Rep. Yancey/ Sen. Taylor): Foster Youth Earned Benefits Protection for Success Act. Requires CPS to set aside survivor or disability benefits for the children to whom they belong, instead of putting the money into general operating expenses. This reform would apply to about 5 percent of kids in foster care – for example, children whose parents worked and put money into Social Security. HB 1758 has been referred to Senate Medicaid. HB 2571 has been referred to referred to Youth and Family Affairs;Judiciary A.

HB 1253/ SB 2588 (Rep. Sanford/ Sen. England): Safeguard Honest Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act; Requires SOS to run voter rolls through the federal SAVE database to check for citizenship (at no cost to states). HB 1253 has been referred to Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency;Elections. SB 2588 has been referred to House Apportionment and Elections;Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency

HB 538 (Rep. Yancey): Prohibit government entities/employees from interfering with federal immigration enforcement. Referred to Senate Referred To Judiciary, Division B.

SB 2103 (Sen. Hill): School counselors; delete requirement of counselors to abide by the radical American School Counselor Association Code of Ethics, including keep child’s gender confusion from parents. Referred to House Education.

SB 2322 (Sen. Hill): Drivers licenses; sex designated on must be the sex assigned at birth, and cannot be changed unless it is verified as clearly an error. Amended: drivers licensees held by illegal immigrants invalid. Referred to House Judiciary B.

SB 2126 (Sen. Hill): Birth certificate; sex designated on must be the sex assigned at birth, and cannot be changed unless it is verified as clearly an error. Prohibits a sex offender or violent criminal from changing their name. Referred to Judiciary B

SB 2676 (Sen. Harkins): Proxy Advisor Transparency Act; Discourages State Treasurer from using proxy advisors that promote DEI, ESG, etc. MS ranks at top among states using Pro-ESG asset managers, including for pro-abortion investment policies. Referred to House Banking and Financial Services.

SB 2678 (Sen. Taylor): Reduce the duration of unemployment benefits when the unemployment rate is low. Referred to House Workforce Development; Appropriations A.

SB 2828 (Sen. Hill): Money Transmission Modernization Act; targets criminal illegal aliens who are sending vast amounts of cash back to their home country without paying MS taxes; requires licensee to charge a refundable fee for international wire transfers, PERS and 287(g) fund. Referred to House Banking and Financial Services.

SB 2114 (Sen. Hill): Make illegal immigration a state crime. Referred to House Judiciary A.

You can find your lawmakers here: https://pluralpolicy.com/find-your-legislator/

And you can call your lawmakers at: (601) 359-3770

Please be kind. Be respectful. Express gratitude.

Thank you for your support!

- Lesley

I have to admit. I was feeling a bit down after last week’s committee deadline. A lot of good bills that conservatives have spent a considerable amount of time on were dead.

That included a wide-ranging school choice bill that is not only a top priority of Gov. Tate Reeves and Speaker Jason White, but President Trump and Republicans in virtually every state legislature in the country. Every state that borders us now has universal school choice, and education freedom is supported in the Mississippi Republican Party platform. But the Senate Education Committee quickly and quietly killed House Bill 2 days after it passed the House.

We also saw all of the pro-life bills die. But sometimes not everything that dies is actually dead. Thanks to the hard work and leadership of Rep. Celeste Hurst and Speaker White, we were able to revitalize a ban on dangerous mail-in abortion-inducing drugs in HB 1613.

Rep. Hurst’s Amendment to HB 1613 creates a felony offense for out-of-state providers who mail or distribute chemical abortion drugs into Mississippi, targeting the growing and dangerous practice of sending powerful abortifacients across state lines with no medical exam, ultrasound, oversight, or medical follow-up.

These mail-order abortion pills can cause severe bleeding, infection, or incomplete abortions, yet women and young girls are often left alone to manage serious complications without a physician’s oversight. The bill also protects women and young girls from criminal liability while giving them the right to bring civil action against those who recklessly endanger their health by pushing mail-in abortions into our state.

“Because it is damaging to women when not under the care of a physician,” Hurst said. “Those drugs are now being shipped into our state without any doctor oversight. And in Mississippi, it is illegal to give those drugs to a patient without physician oversight.”

The bill with the Hurst Amendment passed the House yesterday. Thank you Rep. Hurst and Speaker White for your support and voice in protecting Mississippi women!

Several other conservative bills have cleared one chamber and are now moving to the other.

This includes:

• SB 2013, sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, removes the requirement that counselors abide by the American School Counselor Association Code of Ethics. Unfortunately, the national association has adopted the radical transgender ideology that calls for counselors, among other things, to hide a child’s gender confusion from parents.

• HB 1597, sponsored by Rep. Shane Aguirre, ensures Mississippians cannot be denied banking services for their conservative political or religious views.

• HB 1310, sponsored by Rep. Charles Blackwell and argued by Rep. Jansen Owen, provides public school students with the opportunity to voluntarily pray or attend Bible study, with parental permission.

• HB 1578, sponsored by Rep. Joey Hood, requires public schools to educate students about the dangers of social media.

• HB 1224, also sponsored by Rep. Hood, strengthens protections for children online by requiring parental consent for minors to enter into agreements online or to be contacted by adults.

• SB 2322, sponsored by Sen. Joey Fillingane, requires that sex designated on birth certificates must be the sex assigned at birth, and cannot be changed unless it is verified as clearly an error.

• SB 2588, sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England, and HB 1253, sponsored by Noah Sanford, ensures only U.S. citizens are registered to vote.

• SB 2828, sponsored by Sen. Hill, requires people in the state who send money to other countries be charged a fee for PERS and 287(g). Citizens will receive a refund via an income tax credit.

• SB 2114, also sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, makes illegal immigration a state crime.

• HB 538, sponsored by Rep. Lee Yancy and argued by Rep. Hood, will prohibit government entities/employees from interfering with federal immigration enforcement.

• SB 2678, sponsored by Sen. Taylor, reduces the duration of unemployment benefits when jobs are available and the unemployment rate is low.

We’re grateful to the lawmakers who sponsored these conservative bills, as well as the floor sponsors and leaders who ensured that key measures remain alive. Please thank your lawmakers and Republican leaders who helped push these conservative bills forward.

The legislature will now turn their focus to revenue and appropriations bills over the next couple weeks.

We’ll have more updates soon.

- Lesley

Below is a breakdown of specific bills that advanced and those that failed to meet the deadline, bills that align with the MSGOP platform and those within President Trump’s bold agenda.

As always, there are things to like and things to be down about. But there is also a lot of session to go and a lot of good work on strong conservative bills still to do!

Protecting Parents’ Rights and Education Reform

Advanced

• SB 2286 — Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law (Debar). Passed out of the Senate Education Committee.

• SB 2483 — J.P. Wilemon, Jr. Financial Literacy Act (Debar). Passed out of the Senate Education Committee.

• SB 2103 — School Counselors Ethics Code Revision (Hill). Passed out of the Senate Education Committee and the full floor today.

• HB 1310 — Mississippi Open to Religion Act (Blackwell). Passed out of the House Education Committee.

• HB 1578 — Social Media and Online Predator Education in Schools (Hood). Passed out of the House Education Committee.

• SB 2322 — Birth Certificate sex designated as sex at birth (Fillingane). Passed out of the Senate Judiciary B Committee.

Died

• HB 2 — Mississippi Educational Freedom Program Act of 2026. Passed the House and died in the Senate Education Committee. Backed by Trump White House.

• HB 1710 — Personal Finance Graduation Requirement

• HB 701 — Fatherhood Begins at Conception Act

• HB 1199/ SB 2608 — Charlie Kirk Campus Free Speech and Safety Act

• HB 1309 — Gender Identity Parental Notification Bill

• HB 1144 — Released-Time Moral Instruction Act

• HB 1311 — T.H.R.I.V.E. Act

• HB 1237/ SB 2139 — Mississippi Guaranteeing Fair Banking Act

Pro-Life and Care for Women and Families

Died

• HB 55/ HB 1541 — Abortion Pill Mail Ban

• HB 979 — Medicaid Exclusion for Abortion Providers

• HB 1542 — Abortion Trafficking Penalties

• SB 2141 — Protecting Women and Children Act

• SB 2620 — Public Business Restrictions for Abortion Providers

• HB 812 — Abortion Pill Ban

Fighting Sexual Exploitation of Children and Women

Advanced

• HB 745 —Require wireless providers to disclose location to law enforcement (Hurst). Passed out of House Judiciary A Committee.

• HB 1224 — Mississippi Keeping Kids Safe Online Act (Hood) Passed out of House Judiciary A Committee.

• SB 2821 — Create Capital crime of sexual battery to minor

Died

• HB 708 — App Store Age Verification and Parental Consent

• SB 2345 — Mississippi Safe Dormitories Act

• HB 1576 — Parental Access to Minors’ Online Accounts

• HB 1686 / SB 2719 — Sexually Oriented Performances Ban

• SB 2804 — Create Capital Crime of human trafficking

Supporting the Dignity of Work and Preventing Welfare Fraud

Advanced

• SB 2678 — Unemployment Benefits Duration Reduction (Taylor). Passed Senate Economic and Workforce Committee.

Died

• HB 1387 — Hope Act 2.0 (Trump’s Welfare-to-Work Expansion)

• HB 553/ SB 2531 — SNAP Junk Food Purchase Restrictions

• HB 1513/ SB 2198 — Non-Citizen SNAP and Medicaid Eligibility Limits

Election Integrity

Advanced

• HB 1253/ SB 2588 — SHIELD Act (Sanford/England). Passed Elections committees in both the House and Senate.

Died

• HB 556 — Foreign National Ballot Measure Contribution Ban

• HB 567 — Online Political Donation Verification Requirements

• HB 892 — Voter Registration SAVE System Requirement

• HB 1166 — Post-Election Audit Publication Requirement

Illegal Immigration

Advanced

• SB 2114 — Make Illegal Immigration a State Crime (Hill). Passed out of Senate Judiciary A Committee.

• SB 2828 — 287(g) Participation Tax Credit and Fee Structure (Hill). Passed out of the Senate Finance Committee.

Died

• HB 1040 — Strengthened Immigration Enforcement

• SB 2329 — ICE and 287(g) Law Enforcement Grant Program

• SB 2800 — Mississippi Immigration Enforcement Act of 2026

Looking Ahead

Bills that cleared committee will now move to floor calendars in their respective chambers, where they will face debate, possible amendments, and final passage votes. Measures marked “dead” are no longer eligible for consideration this session unless reintroduced through procedural mechanisms.

Related bills are being monitored, and additional appropriation bills will be introduced and monitored until that deadline. We thank all our lawmakers who’ve sponsored these conservative Republican bills and the committee chairs who passed the ones that are still alive.

There’s a long way to go. We’ll continue to keep you posted.

- Lesley

Stopping the Secret Abortion Crisis in Mississippi

Chemical abortions account for the vast majority of abortions today, and abortion pills are being sold illegally in Mississippi, as they flood in from other states with little to no medical supervision. These women are often left with a mailed-in box of prescription drugs to deliver their deceased child and manage any complications alone. Several Mississippi lawmakers have sponsored bills to hold abortion pill traffickers accountable for harming women:

• Sen. Joey Fillingane (SB 2141), referred to the Judiciary A Committee, chaired by Sen. Brice Wiggins;

• Rep. Dan Eubanks (HB 1541), and referred to the Judiciary B Committee, chaired by Rep. Kevin Horan; and

• Rep. Tracy Arnold (HB 55) referred to the Public Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Sam Creekmore

Other Republican-led states, including Texas, have acted. Mississippi must not fall behind.

Keeping Kids Safe Online

Sexual predators are using online social media platforms to target children. Studies show that it takes less than two minutes for children with social media accounts to receive obscene images from adult predators. Rep. Joey Hood is committed to fixing this problem and keeping kids safe, with his bill HB 1224. This bill is referred to the Judiciary A Committee, chaired by Rep. Hood. This bill strengthens needed protections for minors and holds platforms accountable.

Prohibiting Kids From Viewing Obscene, Degrading and Illegal Performances

Many Mississippians may be shocked to learn that current law does not adequately protect children from being exposed to obscene performances. New guidance from the Supreme Court allows us to update our law. These bills close this dangerous loophole and put children first.

• SB 2719 is sponsored by Sen. Neil Whaley, (referred to the Judiciary A Committee, chaired by Sen. Brice Wiggins);

• HB 1686 is sponsored by Rep. Lance Varner, (referred to the Judiciary A Committee, chaired by Rep. Joey Hood).

Aligning State Driver’s Licenses With Biological Sex

Sen. Angela Hill has sponsored legislation (SB 2322, referred to the Judiciary B Committee, chaired by Sen. Joey Fillingane) which ensures driver’s licenses are consistent with biological sex. This bill is about ensuring high-quality healthcare and protecting frontline DMV workers from claims of harassment and intimidation.

Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All

Mississippians should never be de-banked because of their religious beliefs, political views, or because of the nature of their lawful businesses (oil and gas; gun manufacturers; agriculture, etc.). The bill includes remedies to discourage debanking while protecting banks from frivolous lawsuits. Sen. Joey Fillingane sponsored SB 2139, (referred to the Business and Financial Institutions Committee, chaired by Sen. Chris Johnson) and Rep. Shane Aguirre sponsored HB 1237, (referred to the Banking and Financial Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Shane Aguirre) to prevent this type of unlawful discrimination.

Encouraging Work, Not Welfare Fraud

The Senate and House are considering bills that encourage work and reduce welfare fraud. Neighboring states reduce the duration of unemployment benefits when the unemployment rate is low. Mississippi is an outlier and a potential fraud magnet by allowing people to collect unemployment for 6 months (26 weeks), regardless of whether the economy is good. SB 2678 by Sen. Lane Taylor and HB 1405 by Rep. Elliot Burch fix this.

Aligning Mississippi welfare with Trump’s OBBA (more work, less fraud): this bill updates the very popular welfare-to-work law passed by Mississippi Republicans in 2017 (the “Hope Act”). HB 1387 is sponsored by Rep. Dan Eubanks.

Keeping Communities Safe from Criminal Illegal Immigrants

Sen. Angela Hill has sponsored legislation (SB 2114) to make illegal immigration a state crime, while Sen. Jeff Tate has a bill (SB 2800) to encourage local law enforcement to work with Homeland Security to deport criminal illegal aliens. Sen. Hill also has legislation (SB 2828) that imposes a remittance fee on the $1.5 billion in international wire transfers flowing through Mississippi. These remittances are often used by drug cartels and human traffickers to launder money.

SB 2114 is referred to the Judiciary B committee, chaired by Sen. Joey Fillingane. SB 2800 is referred to the Judiciary B and Appropriations committees, respectively chaired by Sen. Fillingane and Sen. Briggs Hopson. SB 2828 is a priority of the Trump Administration and was referred to the Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Josh Harkins

A Few Other Key Bills That Have Passed Committee Already

Open to Religion Act (HB 1310), sponsored by Rep. Chuck Blackwell: this bill updates school prayer policies based on recent guidance from the Supreme Court in the Texas Coach Kennedy case. The bill creates an orderly and constitutional process that allows students and teachers to voluntarily pray at public school, during lunch hour, recess, etc. Yet to pass is a similar strong bill (SB 2514) by Sen. Daniel Sparks.

Safeguard Honest Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (SHIELD), sponsored by Rep. Noah Sanford: This bill (HB 1253) has passed out of the House Apportionment and Elections Committee. This bill makes it easier to identify and remove fraudsters and illegal aliens from Mississippi voter rolls. A similar strong bill (SB 2588) by Sen. Jeremy England has passed out of the Senate Elections Committee. This bill is a priority for the Trump administration.

Why This Week Matters

Committee deadlines determine which bills move forward and which ones are quietly killed. Now is the time for voters to pay close attention. We will to continue to keep you informed as the battles unfold.

Thank you for standing for life, faith, family, and freedom in Mississippi.

- Lesley

I wanted to share some information for you about our recent Republican National Committee Winter Meeting. It was an encouraging and productive week. It was truly an honor to represent Mississippi alongside our Executive Director, Rance Bilbo, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with fellow committee members from across the country. Chairman Mike Hurst was and still is litigating a crucial re-districting case in North Mississippi, fighting the good fight. The winter storm prevented Committeeman Arnie Hederman from making it out

Under the leadership of Chairman Joe Gruters and Co-Chair KC Crosbie, we laid the groundwork for a historic, first-ever midterm convention—details coming soon. The energy in the room was unmistakable as we united around our shared mission: holding Republican majorities in Congress and continuing to advance an America First agenda that strengthens families, communities, and our nation.

One meaningful moment was the unanimous resolution honoring Charlie Kirk which passed with a standing ovation. Co-Chair Crosbie presented an encouraging report on the RNC–NFRW partnership and the Women Increasing Numbers (WIN) campaign, which will play a key role in the midterms. Connecting with leaders like NFRW President Martha Jenkins and women from across the country was a highlight.

We were inspired by conservative commentator, author, and CNN Contributor Scott Jennings, who joined us for a Q&A and keynote, and by Ambassador Richard Grenell, who shared the remarkable turnaround of the Trump Kennedy Center—a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish. MSGOP Executive Director Rance Bilbo served on an E.D. panel and shared some of MSGOP’s key communications and fundraising advances.

I’m grateful to serve on the Rules Committee and Faith Engagement Committee, and for the opportunity to present updates on religious liberty and voter engagement among people of faith. From leading the Pledge of Allegiance to presenting on Mississippi’s biggest wins and hard-fought accomplishments at the Southern Regional meeting, it was a week I won’t forget.

Thank you for the privilege of serving Mississippi as your National Committeewoman. Let’s keep working hard—and having fun doing it—together. Please let me know if you’d like to become more involved in what the MSGOP is doing. God bless our great state and nation. 🇺🇸🐘

Sincerely,

- Lesley

On Thursday, they passed the Mississippi Education Freedom Act, House Bill 2. This comprehensive reform puts parents and children first by expanding opportunity, increasing transparency, and strengthening the education system.

What I love about school choice is how it reduces the constant battles in public schools by empowering families with alternatives rather than turning education into a zero sum game.

This bill is supported by President Trump, Gov. Tate Reeves, Mississippi Federation of Republican Women, business leaders, religious leaders, and more! The Mississippi Republican Party Platform has long supported parents’ God-given right to direct the upbringing and education of their child: “Parental involvement in education should extend to allowing parents to choose the school that best meets the educational needs of their children.” Parents, not the government, know what’s best for their child.

At the heart of HB 2 are Magnolia Student Accounts, a new program that allows eligible families to use a portion of their education dollars for approved expenses like private school tuition, tutoring, curriculum, testing, and transportation. The program prioritizes low- and moderate-income families, begins with 12,500 students in its first year, and expands over time.

But the scope of this bill extends well past school choice.

HB 2 also:

• Strengthens public education by extending Mississippi’s proven literacy and math supports into middle school, building on the success of the “Mississippi Miracle.”

• Creates public accountability dashboards so families can easily see how schools are performing in areas like growth, attendance, readiness, and financial transparency.

• Removes barriers to public-to-public school transfers.

• Expands and improves special needs education savings accounts.

• Makes it easier to start and grow high-quality public charter schools.

• Allows homeschool students to participate in public school extracurricular activities.

The bill also supports teachers and school leaders by increasing assistant teacher salaries, giving districts more flexibility in hiring and staffing, and directing the state to seek a federal waiver to reduce excessive standardized testing in grades 3–8.

Together, these reforms reflect a clear vision: our education system should center on students, respect families, and empower educators to do their best work.

We are grateful to Speaker Jason White, Education Chairman Rob Roberson, and Representatives Jansen Owen and Celeste Hurst for their vision and thoughtful work on this bill.

Every state surrounding us has passed similar school choice legislation—Mississippi is the last hold out! The bill now heads to the Senate Education Committee.

Let’s keep going!

- Lesley

Today, that fairness is under serious threat. When male athletes are allowed to compete in women’s sports, women lose championships, records, podium finishes, scholarships, and opportunities they can never get back. The false claim that men can change their sex carries real and lasting consequences, and those consequences are being borne by women and girls.

That’s why Mississippi and other states have passed laws protecting women’s sports by making participation contingent on sex. These laws reflect basic biological reality and preserve the very foundation on which women’s athletics were built. Now, those protections are before the U.S. Supreme Court.

This week, the Court heard arguments in cases from West Virginia and Idaho, two other states that have chosen to protect women. After more than three hours of oral arguments, several justices appeared skeptical of claims that laws keeping men out of women’s sports violate the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX.

I love the common sense comments from our Supreme Court justices.

Justice Samuel Alito pressed attorneys challenging the laws on a fundamental question: what does “sex” mean? When they couldn’t answer it he asked, how can courts possibly determine whether discrimination exists? Chief Justice John Roberts echoed that concern, emphasizing that Title IX’s prohibition on sex-based discrimination must have a concrete meaning.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh highlighted another reality often ignored in this debate: sports are a zero-sum game. Even a single male athlete competing in women’s sports can dramatically alter outcomes, displacing female athletes who have trained for years. He also noted that states are actively debating this issue, with more than half choosing to protect women’s sports through law.

These arguments underscore what female athletes have been saying all along: fairness matters, biology matters, and equal opportunity cannot exist without clear boundaries.

The stakes go beyond trophies and titles. These cases could shape how states protect women’s privacy and safety in locker rooms, bathrooms, and other sensitive spaces. They will determine whether women’s sports remain places where female athletes can compete on a level playing field.

Outside the Court, I was proud to be one of the many Americans who showed just how much this issue matters. Women (and men) traveled from across the country to stand up for the obvious principle that women’s sports should remain for women.

The Supreme Court now has an opportunity to affirm biological reality, protect equal opportunity, and preserve fairness for current and future generations of female athletes. This moment will define the future of women’s sports nationwide. And it’s one worth paying close attention to. And it’s one we have to get right!

- Lesley

Throughout the session, we’ll keep you informed. To begin, we wanted to share some background on what to expect this year, highlight key dates, and outline how you can stay engaged.

The legislative process follows a structured calendar that determines when bills must be introduced, considered, passed, and, if approved, sent to the Governor for signature.

Here are the key dates to watch:

• January 19 – Deadline for introduction of general bills and constitutional amendments

• February 3 – Deadline for committees to report on bills originating in their own chamber (this is where most bills fail)

• February 12 – Deadline for floor action on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in their own chamber

• February 25 – Deadline for floor action on appropriations and revenue bills originating in their own chamber

• March 3 – Deadline for committees to report on bills originating in the other chamber

• March 11 – Deadline for floor action on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in the other chamber

• March 17 – Deadline for floor action on appropriations and revenue bills originating in the other chamber

• March 28 – Deadline for conference reports on appropriations and revenue bills

• April 3 – Deadline for adoption of conference reports on general bills and constitutional amendments

• April 5 – Sine Die

This is a snapshot of the session timeline. You can find the full legislative calendar and all deadlines here.

Other helpful resources:

• Find your lawmaker: https://pluralpolicy.com/find-your-legislator/

• Find committee assignments: https://www.legislature.ms.gov/committees/

• Track legislation: https://www.legislature.ms.gov/legislation/

Watch the Legislature live: https://www.legislature.ms.gov/webcastmenu/

We’ll be in touch as legislation moves throughout the session.

- Lesley