Mississippi Governor Stumps For “Good Friend” Dan Forest Maskless At Superspreader Event

Forest Highlights ​Mississippi Gov’s Approach Ignoring That Mississippi Has More Than Triple The Number of COVID Deaths Than North Carolina  

At his press conference, questions emerged for Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves after he was pictured without a mask while campaigning for North Carolina Lt. Governor and gubernatorial hopeful Dan Forest at his indoor campaign event. Hundreds of people attended, and photos show a lack of mask wearing or social distancing. Both Reeves and Forest were breaking state executive orders by not wearing masks, putting the lives of North Carolinians at risk in order to hold a partisan event. 

Forest couldn’t have picked a better surrogate to show North Carolina what life would be like under his leadership: 

• Mississippi has the highest number of new cases per capita in the last 7 days of any state in the country, and nearly double the new cases per capita in North Carolina over the same period of time. 
• ​Mississippi has more than triple the number of COVID deaths per capita than North Carolina. 

Many Mississippians criticized Reeves’ decision to not wear a mask. Both Mississippi and North Carolina have mask mandates enacted, including for indoor public spaces where social distancing isn’t possible. Forest has contradicted this, falsely claiming “masks do not work with viruses” despite selling branded masks himself. Forest is clearly even more extreme than the Mississippi Governor who finally enacted a mask mandate after enormous pressure.

In the midst of the pandemic, Forest has returned to in-person campaigning with no plans to stop because of public health and safety, adding “it will be a lot more of this.” Forest has held numerous indoor campaign events with no mask wearing or social distancing, where he says he will “shake as many hands as we can.” 

“Tate Reeves and Dan Forest are peas in a pod — with the highest new cases per capita in Mississippi, it’s astonishing Forest would want to bring that kind of failed leadership to North Carolina but we’ll take him at his word,” said DGA National Press Secretary Jerusalem Demsas. “Forest continues to make it clear that bolstering his flailing campaign is worth more to him than the lives and livelihoods of North Carolinians.” 

Photos from Dan Forest’s indoor campaign event with Gov. Reeves on August 23rd:

Reeves and Forest at Campaign Event (8/23/2020)

Forest Speaks at Campaign Event (8/23/2020)

Forest and Reeves at Campaign Event (8/23/2020)

Reeves Speaks at Campaign Event (8/23/2020)

Reeves and Forest Pose for Photos (8/23/2020)