A Mississippi doctor who leads a group of doctors opposing COVID-19 vaccination mandates has filed papers to challenge Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves in the state’s Republican primary.
Dr. John Witcher is the only Republican other than Reeves to have entered the gubernatorial primary thus far. He is best known for founding Mississippi Against Mandates, a group of doctors who oppose mandating vaccines against COVID-19. Witcher has said he was fired from a Mississippi hospital in 2021 after switching patients’ COVID-19 medication to ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that is not approved by the FDA for use against the novel coronavirus and whose research shows that it does not work.
A representative for Baptist Memorial Hospital in Yazoo City told the Biloxi Sun Herald that Witcher practiced at the facility as an independent physician and was never an employee. According to a document from the Mississippi State Medical Licensing Board, the doctor was suspended in 2010 from practicing medicine at another Mississippi hospital after a regulatory commission found he was “an immediate threat to the public due to alcohol abuse.” or other substances.
The Associated Press left a voicemail with Mississippi Against Mandates seeking comment from the Witcher.
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A Republican doctor from Mississippi who is against the vaccination mandate is running for governor. Dr. John Witcher filed papers to run against Governor Tate Reeves in the primary race.
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Reeves, who was elected governor in 2019, was up for re-election on January 3. Former Mississippi Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr., who lost to Reeves in the 2019 Republican primary, said he is considering another run.
Brandon Presley, a Democrat in his fourth term as Mississippi’s public utilities regulator, announced Jan. 12 that he is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. Presley will face at least one candidate in the Democratic primary. Gregory Wash, who ran in a low-budget race for governor in 2019, has filed to run again.
February 1 is the qualification deadline for an election that will include state offices, state district offices, legislative seats and county offices. The party’s primary is scheduled for Aug. 8, with a runoff on Aug. 29. The general election is on November 7, with a runoff on November 28.
Mississippi, Louisiana and Kentucky are the only states to elect governors this year.
