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Incumbent State Rep. William Shirley will face a challenge from Troy Smith in the Aug. 6 Republican primary to represent House District 84. The winner of the primary will face Independent candidate Roy May in the general election on Nov. 5.

District 84 covers most of Clarke County and the eastern section of Newton County and Jasper County.

William Shirley

Shirley was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2011.

In a written response to questions from the League of Women Voters of East Mississippi, Shirley said he would support giving teachers and teacher assistants a pay raise to bring them to the national average.

“I want to focus the taxpayer dollars we are spending in the classroom and not on administrative and overhead costs,” Shirley wrote. “I will continue to advocate for more local control of our schools.”

Asked about improving women’s reproductive health choices, Shirley said he is optimistic that research at institutions like the University of Mississippi Medical Center will “continue to identify opportunities to reduce the infant mortality rate.”

“Telehealth is also an area where Mississippi has been cutting edge,” he said. “Access to care, especially specialty doctors, in rural areas of Mississippi is one of the most critical services we can provide which will improve quality of life for Mississippians.”

Troy Smith

“After watching mandates and things handed down to local government, I want to be on the lawmaking side and maybe educate other lawmakers on how it affects the working man,” said Troy Smith, a Clarke County supervisor and the owner of Long’s Fish Camp.

“You’ve got to have good infrastructure or companies don’t want to come to your district,” he said.

Smith would not be in favor of raising the gas tax to fund road and bridge repairs, but would support a tax swap with the state’s personal income tax, he said.

He also believes levying county taxes and ensuring land is “site-ready” would attract more industry to the area.

“We’ve got to get together and work together,” he said in reference to counties both in and around District 84. “It might be there in another county, but your people can drive 20 minutes there and work.”

Smith said he would support teacher pay raises.

“We’ve got a fallout of teachers,” he said.

“Other states are paying more and we’re losing a lot of teachers.”

Asked if he would support legislation that formalized trade programs in high schools, Smith pointed to his role in making the Jones County Junior College Stonewall Petroleum Training Center happen.

“Young men can take that course while they’re a senior in high school and everyone that finishes is guaranteed two or three job interviews,” he said. “They start $60,000. I’m very proud of that.”

The MAEP school funding formula is broken, said Smith, and has been throughout his eight years as a supervisor.

“It’s got to be fixed,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out a new system because public education with the MAEP is not working.”

He is leaning towards supporting Mississippi Cares, a proposed plan from the Mississippi Hospital Association. The program would expand Medicaid coverage to working people stuck between insurance gaps.

“I’d have to look into it more,” said Smith.

“It may take the state out of (covering fees), or at a very little minimum,” he said. “If it does, it’s a no-brainer.”

“From what I’m hearing and researching it’s looking like a good thing.”

Roy May

Business owner and MDOT engineer Roy May decided to run as an Independent to avoid partisanship.

“I don’t want to run as a Democrat or Republican,” he said. “There’s so much partisan pressure to vote a certain way. I want to vote for the issues that are best for the people of Mississippi.”

May will support teacher pay raises, he said. With low starting salaries for Mississippi teachers, many are frequently trapped in student debt, he said.

“They need to get a raise,” he said. “If they don’t have strong ties to their community, they’re going to leave and go to another state to make another $10,000.”

“We’re losing a lot of good teachers over that.”

May would also support state funding of K-4 and K-5 education.

“The money was there to do it and (the Legislature) didn’t,” he said.

The recently-approved lottery should go toward sending students to college, he said.

“There’s too many families that are working and trying to get their money together, especially these lower middle-class people,” he said.

“Whether or not it would ever come to fruition, I don’t know. I would try to get it done.”

Education will be vital for bringing in high-tech jobs, he added.

“We can’t function in getting the roads and bridges in place under the system we’re under now,” he said. “They have to have more funding.”

If money were spent appropriately, with funds going towards roads and bridges that need repair or replacement, he would consider supporting increasing the fuel tax, he said.

“I would probably support a fuel tax increase,” he said. “I think you have to be careful with big trucks, because of diesel fuel they don’t get near the gas mileage cars do. You don’t want to do anything to hamper the cost of products, making them go up.”

He would support some form of Medicaid expansion, he said, to help families and rural hospitals.

“The big issue I’ve talked about with some doctors and people involved in hospital billing [is] you have too many indigent people going to the hospital that don’t have health insurance,” he said.