Rep. Jay Hughes, D-Oxford

State Rep. Jay Hughes, a Democrat from Oxford, is running for lieutenant governor in 2019.

Hughes, who is serving his first term in the Legislature, kicked off the campaign in Jackson on Thursday morning, more than 19 months from the 2019 November general election.

“Mississippi is ready to demand something different,” Hughes said. “I imagine a better and more transparent way to conduct our state’s affairs. I think Mississippians are tired of sending the same type of career politician to the Capitol again and again and again.”

Hughes has spent the past several months touring the state, overtly hinting at a run for lieutenant governor, who is the leader of the state Senate.

He has built an extensive following through social media and email lists, informing Mississippians about the goings-on inside the Capitol and in the realm of public education.

His catch-phrase, which he tags on every post or email he sends, is: “It ALL starts with education.”

“It’s why I want to imagine an education system in which all schools have the same great resources and buildings,” Hughes said in a statement on Thursday. “Where every child has the teacher it needs. Where every child is graduating from high school, and is ready for a job or college. We have to make public education for our 477,000 children, and true earning skills for all Mississippians the highest priorities in the state and our biggest economic tool to attract real full-time jobs that pay real wages.”

Hughes will spend a full day making announcement stops around the state, visiting Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Meridian and his hometown Oxford.

Watch Hughes’ announcement here.

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Adam Ganucheau, as Mississippi Today's editor-in-chief, oversees the newsroom and works with the editorial team to fulfill our mission of producing high-quality journalism in the public interest. Adam has covered politics and state government for Mississippi Today since February 2016. A native of Hazlehurst, Adam has worked as a staff reporter for AL.com, The Birmingham News and The Clarion-Ledger and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Adam earned his bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Mississippi.