Mississippi GOP speaks to Lowndes County Republican Women

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The general election is more than four months away.

But with recent primary wins, the state Republicans are talking strategy.

That was some of the conversations Tuesday in Lowndes County.

Everyone has an opinion, but not many people voiced theirs during recent primary elections.

So, we wanted to know – what does the man heading up the Mississippi GOP think about that?

“Disappointing it was under 20% that came out, but it was a relatively non-controversial primary, so it wasn’t a huge surprise,” said Lucien Smith.

Smith is talking party politics around the state – Tuesday he was with the Lowndes County Republican Women.

The state chairman says some of the biggest names have yet to announce.

“That’s crept up every year,” said Smith. “The qualifying deadline doesn’t actually open until January of next year. The process doesn’t open until January of next year, and it doesn’t close until March. So I think because the focus is on these races in 18 you’ll see people announce over the summer, in the fall, but I still think you’ll see people announce as late as January.”

Smith says that Republicans have a strong standing in Washington despite a loss of seniority.

“I think we’ve got good people who are in Washington now,” said Smith. “I think we’ve got Senator Wicker, obviously has ten years under his belt. I think he is well-regarded up there. Same’s true of our congressional delegation, and they’re going to keep on working hard, and I think working hard for Mississippi.”

He expects that more people will come out to vote during the November elections.

“I think that you’ll have a big turnout among Republicans in November because people understand we’ve got to have, we’ve got to send conservatives to Washington. We’ve got to show up and vote for conservatives if we’re going to do that,” said Smith.

The November ballot will include both Mississippi seats in the US Senate – and the House of Representatives.