Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway has three years left in his term, but already he's hearing at least one prominent South Mississippi politician is gearing up to run for his job in 2017.
That man: Harrison County Supervisor Windfield "Windy" Swetman III.
Swetman isn't tipping his hand about his long-term political intentions, but a big fundraiser he's holding this week confirms he has a huge base of support from some of the Coast's most prominent families.
Gov. Phil Bryant tops the guest list of doctors, lawyers, developers,Ray Ban Rb3186, builders, business owners, financiers,Ray Ban Vagabond, casinos and their general managers.
When Swetman last ran for re-election as county supervisor in 2011, he raised about $36,000, but he may have more than 10 times that amount after Thursday's fundraiser.
Attorney Ron Peresich and his wife are hosting the event at their home on Biloxi's Back Bay.
They and seven others are chairs of the event, a title that costs $10,000, and there are 17 co-chairs, including U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, which costs $5,000.
Another 150 companies, couples and individuals signed on as sponsors at $1,000 a piece and individual tickets are $250. Assuming everyone on the list donated the required amount, the total before tickets and other contributions is $308,000.
Swetman says he is focused on winning re-election as supervisor in 2015.
"We'll see what happens in three years," he said.
Sizeable soir e
The 176 chairs, co-chairs and sponsors for Thursday's event are a who's-who in South Mississippi. They are listed in a document on Swetman's public Facebook page. (You can see the document at sunherald.com) Those who do business with Harrison County and those who live outside the county also are sponsors, along with current state legislators and former Biloxi mayors.
Swetman says he's not the only one fundraising for the election.
Rep. Casey Eure, Sen. Brice Wiggins and Supervisor William Martin have held fundraisers recently and Supervisor Connie Rockco has one planned.
"Ours is just like anyone else's, we're running for re-election," he said of himself and his campaign committee.
Swetman's campaign efforts have amped up though, with a new website and Facebook page created in April.
When a Facebook commenter asked what he was campaigning for, Swetman responded from his personal account. "There may be some other opportunities to serve in the future but for now I am staying focused on my duty as County Supervisor," it read.
Friends with Phil
Peresich said he has been good friends with the Swetman family for as long as he can remember.
"I think he's been just an excellent supervisor," Peresich said of Swetman. "Very energetic. Works hard. He's trustworthy, and he says what he means," Peresich said. Swetman doesn't "spin things," he said. "I like that."
Peresich said the 6 p.m. event is an opportunity to talk with Bryant about Coast issues. "Anytime we can get him down here we try to do that, not just for fundraisers," Peresich said.
The governor is an old family friend,Mens Ray Ban Sunglasses, Swetman said.
"We've been friends for a long time," he said. "When Phil Bryant was the state auditor and he ran for lieutenant governor I organized and threw him an old time-type barbecue and fundraiser."
They also have a lot of similarities, he added. "He comes from a blue-collar, working family as I do; he was a deputy sheriff like me; he's a Southern Mississippi grad like me."
Swetman comes from a long line of government and law enforcement officials with the last name of Payne, his mother's maiden name. Titles held by family members include sheriff, police chief, judge, prosecutor, police officer, patrol officer.
His father, Windy Swetman II, works as constable in Harrison County and for the Mississippi Secretary of State's office. Cousin Wayne Payne is D'Iberville police chief.
Swetman III and his mother Cindy Payne Childress run Swetman Security as CEO and president, respectively, which offers services to private companies and public entities, such as the Coast Coliseum.
Nicole Webb, spokeswoman for the governor's office, said this is the first local fundraiser Bryant will attend this year and he doesn't have any others scheduled yet.
"Windy Swetman supported Governor Bryant during his gubernatorial campaign, and the governor was happy to accept his invitation to offer support in turn," she said via email.
Political strategy
Joseph Parker, a retired professor who taught Mississippi politics at the University of Southern Mississippi, said he's never heard of a supervisor raising anywhere close to $300,000.
"I think by comparison it's an atom bomb compared to a firecracker," he said.
Parker hasn't closely examined supervisor spending but based on the county's population he estimated a non-incumbent supervisor would raise on average $30,000 to $50,000. He also estimated the average amount raised for a Biloxi mayoral candidate to be $150,000 to $200,000.
"This is more akin to someone running for governor or United States senate," he said.
It could also be a tactic to ward off opponents, he said.
"One of the old unwritten laws of campaigning is one way to ensure that you don't have a serious opponent is just to have an enormous war chest," he said, adding that the war chest has several years to collect interest if used for the mayor's race.
"If he runs for supervisor with $300,000 that ought to be the Lamborghini of supervisory campaigns," he said.
As for Holloway, he said he may not run for mayor again in 2017.
Andrew "FoFo" Gillich Jr. already has a campaign committee for the election and he, Swetman and any other candidates "got a while to wait," Holloway said. "I'm not going anywhere until then."
Mary Perez and Anita Lee, Sun Herald staff writers, contributed to this report.