Who’s in, who’s out in MS Coast mayors’ races, with city elections just around the corner

Only one incumbent mayor on the Mississippi Coast has definitely decided against seeking re-election when four-year terms end June 30, 2025, while most incumbents tell the Sun Herald they’ll be running again.

The mayor of Mississippi’s second-largest city, Billy Hewes in Gulfport, plans to call it quits after three terms. He’s spent 32 years total in public office, including 20 in the state Senate.

“Candidly, I’m tired,” Hewes said. “This job has owned me and that’s typical with most mayors. It runs you. You don’t run it. It’s going to occupy pretty much every moment.”

Hewes is ready to get back to more rock n’ roll with his band, Cut Bait. Not to mention wife Paula Hewes would like to see him around the office. The Heweses own the Hewes Agency insurance company and Billy Hewes Real Estate.

Other mayoral candidates are lining up and the names of potential mayoral hopefuls are floating around as the city elections draw closer. The filing period for municipal races is Jan. 2-31, 2025. Party primaries will be April 1, with the general election set for June 3. The winners take office July 1, 2025.

Waveland is the only city on a different election schedule because it was formed under a special charter.

Below is a rundown on who plans to run for mayor of each city in 2025.

Bay St. Louis

Incumbent Mayor Mike Favre is seeking re-election.

Favre took office seven years ago and said he is running to finish projects on drainage and road work his administration has already started.

He said one of the city’s largest issues is drainage – rising tides can submerge some waterfront roads – and that he will keep pushing for new wells and pipe lining for the city’s water and sewage system.

He would also like to focus on development, he said, including bringing new businesses to state Highway 603 and the Interstate 10 corridor, and improving the harbor and downtown.

City leaders said they’ve not heard yet of any challengers for the office.

Biloxi

Andrew “FoFo” Gilich says he will run for mayor of Biloxi “one more time.” He won a special election in 2015 and full terms in 2017 and 2021.

“We have accomplished quite a lot,” he said, adding that progress will take continued leadership and innovation. “On every occasion and every decision I make will be based on one simple principle: what’s best for Biloxi.”

During this next term, the city will finish the largest infrastructure project Biloxi has ever seen - a $355 million rebuild of streets, water and sewer lines that went under water during Hurricane Katrina.

“I didn’t start it, but I’ll see it completed,” he said.

A key issue will be “making sure Biloxi gets what it deserves,” he said, including BP, GOMESA and tidelands money. “The fight is going to be continuous,” he said.

Gilich said he hasn’t heard yet of any contenders for next year’s election.

Diamondhead

Mayor Nancy Depreo is Diamondhead’s incumbent mayor. She did not respond to repeated calls, messages and a visit to City Council about whether she is running for reelection. Depreo won her position as mayor through a special election in 2020.

Anna Liese has sat on Diamondhead’s City Council for two years, filling her seat through a special election. She’s announced that she’ll be running for Diamondhead mayor as a Republican in November on a platform promoting “smart growth” and making Diamondhead a must-stop exit off Interstate 10.

In addition to serving on the City Council, Liese works as a grant writer.

D’Iberville

He’s already the longest-serving mayor on the Coast and Rusty Quave says, “I am going to run” for a ninth term as mayor of D’Iberville. He doesn’t know of any potential opponents and hasn’t had any strong competition since he was first elected in 1993.

Since then, Quave led the city to become a powerhouse for shopping and restaurants. D’Iberville also landed a casino. Quave says continuing development is going to be the top issue again in next year’s election.

People are pulling back on spending because of inflation and economic uncertainty, he said, yet D’Iberville has the highest sales of Mercedes Benz, BMW and GMC vehicles for dealerships of their size in the country, he said.

National companies are looking at opening stores on Cook Road, he said, and casino developers also are working to bring a second casino to D’Iberville.

One of his goals is to get a hospital or emergency medical center for D’Iberville, Quave said. Another is to start construction on the working waterfront development. Although only Gulfport got BP money this year, he said, D’Iberville has $12 million from previous awards, which could start construction.

Gautier

Mayor Casey Vaughan will be running for a second term, he says, and emphasizing economic development. Vaughan wants to continue working on public-private partnerships for the city.

“I just feel like being a voice for our citizens is important,” said Vaughan, who runs as an independent. “Our growth of our city is important.

Vaughan could have at least one challenger, in what would be a rematch from the last election. Republican Phil Torjusen, who served one term as mayor before Vaughan defeated him in the general election, said he has not ruled out another run and is being encouraged to enter the race.

Torjusen also sees economic development as a big issue and believes the city needs to hire an economic development professional. Not having one, he said, is a real “weakness” for Gautier, which has hired a private company to market the old Singing River Mall site to developers.

Gulfport

Gulfport attorney Hugh Keating plans to run for mayor as a Republican. Keating is a well-known resident of the city, serving as an officer in a downtown Gulfport law firm established more than 40 years ago and today known as Dukes, Keating, Hatten, McRaney and Blum.

Keating also has been active in civic life and has served as the city’s outside general counsel since Mayor Hewes took office in 2013.

“I’ve always been inclined to be public-service oriented, so here I go,” he said.

Keating said he wants to make sure all parts of the city get attention, hopes to add more officers to the Police Department and would work to develop the Blue Economy, which includes many fields that revolve around the coastal environment.

Keating doesn’t have any announced competition yet, but Gulfport Councilman R.Lee Flowers is thinking about getting into the race. Flowers worked for many years as an engineer at Ingalls but since 2018 has worked as a financial advisor based in Gulfport for Edward Jones.

“Literally, it’s just about serving your community and having a vision that would incorporate the entirety of the community,” Flowers said. Flowers wants to take the time to put in place processes that prioritize work the city needs, from drainage to road improvements. He doesn’t believe in “quick fixes” but rather in putting in the work to make sure the city has its priorities straight.

Long Beach

Incumbent Mayor George Bass has not announced whether he will seek re-election. He said he will likely announce his decision in the fall.

Bass is a fifth generation Long Beach resident and former fire chief who took office as a Republican in 2017. He announced a cancer diagnosis in 2023 but entered remission this year and recently said he is in much better health.

Under his leadership, Bass said Long Beach has focused on drainage, development and improvements to the city gateway on Highway 90. He said the city has added landscaping near its entrance and improved drainage so much that it reported no flooding in the last three major rains.

He said those issues, among other projects, would remain important in Long Beach regardless of its next leader. So far, no challengers’ names have emerged in the race.

Moss Point

Mayor Billy Knight is counting on a second term because, he said, “I want to finish the job.

“I’m excited about doing it, as a matter of fact,” he said, “because of the progress we’re making and the continuing opportunities we have in Moss Point.”

The Democrat has spent 40 years in public service. He said the relationships that he’s established over the years have helped him land state and federal support for projects such as Interstate 10 corridor expansion designed to bring in new businesses.

Knight also has worked to establish community policing designed to curb crime and is overseeing a riverfront makeover, with an old recreation center recently demolished. Knight said the next step will be designing a new town center that includes public space for events, retail, other businesses and housing.

Howard Bailey, who ran for mayor as an independent in the last election, said he’ll run this time as a Democrat. He said people thought the race was over once Knight won the Democratic primary, not realizing he had a challenger in the general election.

Bailey said he would do some things differently this time and work to get his name out.

Ocean Springs

In Ocean Springs, Republican Mayor Kenny Holloway is shooting for a second term but is expected to face challengers. The mayor was blasted over an urban renewal plan that referred to older homes downtown as “blighted,” with the properties in need of redevelopment. The plan was jettisoned but a pared-down version faces opposition as well.

Some residents are calling for better management of growth, especially downtown and on Front Beach. They’ve formed a group called Save Ocean Springs and are focused on improving the quality of life in the city, The group also is encouraging residents to run in the municipal election.

A founder of the group, attorney Ellen Hall, said she’s prepared to run as a Republican for mayor if no one else challenges Holloway. Hall wants to see a stronger noise ordinance with decibel limits set for downtown bars that feature live music. She also believes the beach should be left in its natural state, short-term rentals should be restricted so they don’t encroach on neighborhoods and other measures should be taken to improve life for residents.

Two veterans of the previous mayor’s race, Republicans Chic Cody and Melanie Allen, are undecided about whether they will run again. Allen said that she has a good relationship with Holloway and he’s been willing to listen to her suggestions.

“I have been stunned at the number of people who have reached out to me,” she said, “especially since the urban renewal plan, and quite a few of them said they didn’t vote for me last time.”

Cody, a former aldermen, said he’s getting lots of calls encouraging him to run, too, but he’s hoping Holloway can patch up the “rifts.” among constituents, “You’re not going to make everybody happy,” Cody said. “That’s impossible.”

As for the incumbent, he wants to finish what he started, including services for a newly annexed area. He said that he’ll continue to work for state funding to complete major projects and to attract the kind of growth the city needs, including a high-end hotel.

“Ocean Springs has been discovered.,” Holloway said. “People want to come live in Ocean Springs, they want to invest in Ocean Springs. They’re coming to us.”

Pascagoula

Mayor Jay Willis, a Republican, has held office since 2021 and will be seeking re-election.

Growing the city and inviting tourists are his primary aims if re-elected.

“Our city leadership has accomplished a great deal together over the past three years. Pascagoula has experienced unprecedented economic growth and private investment,” Willis said.

Willis, a retired dentist and consultant, said he has not heard of any competition for the office.

Pass Christian

Incumbent Mayor Jimmy Rafferty confirmed he will run again.

Rafferty, a Pass Christian native, took office as a Republican in 2021 after longtime Mayor Chipper McDermot left the role.

Rafferty said the city has progressed on development and safety, including limiting where golf carts can cross Highway 90 and attracting new grants for building projects. He said his re-election campaign will focus on development that attracts people and money for local businesses but does not change the spirit of Pass Christian.

“My whole focus has been to develop downtown,” he said. “I want to see that developed in a measured way.”

Alderman at Large Kenny Torgeson will challenge Rafferty.

Torgeson has served three terms as a Republican Alderman at Large and also runs Torgeson Motors Inc. He said some residents are wary of the mayor’s “measured growth.”

Torgeson said he is running in part to take the city “back to basics” by focusing on parks and recreation, repairing street lights and drainage and improving the harbor.