By Michael Goldberg | Originally published by Mississippi Today
Four-term incumbent Republican Rep. Michael Guest faces a challenge from a Democratic farmer from Shubuta and a Libertarian real estate investor from Meridian for the 3rd District congressional seat in central Mississippi.
The challengers are coming at Guest from the left and right with criticism of Guest’s support of, and lack of pushback against, Trump administration policies.
Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District covers central portions of the state, such as the GOP stronghold of Rankin County, and stretches from the Louisiana border in the west to rural Alabama border towns in the east.
Democrats are leading in many congressional race polls across the country, and are favored to reclaim a majority in the House. But the 3rd District in Mississippi has been a GOP stronghold. Yet, if Republicans are to stand a chance at retaining their razor-thin majority in the chamber, defending territory in areas like Mississippi’s 3rd District is critical.
Guest, who was first elected in 2018, is running for a fifth term in office after sailing to general election victories three times. In 2024, he survived a primary challenge from the right that went to a runoff but ran unopposed in the general election. He ran unopposed for the Republican nomination this cycle.
The race also features Libertarian candidate Erik Kiehle of Meridian. Kiehle, a businessman in property management and a volunteer firefighter, said he is “a strong believer in America First.” He has criticized incumbent Republicans’ support of “U.S.-Israel military integration” and has called for an end to foreign wars and a halt to spending on wars in Ukraine and Iran along with an end to aid to Israel. He said he would push for a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget and end deficit spending. He supports mass deportation and a ban on Muslim immigrants.
Guest serves as chair of the House Ethics Committee, and also serves on the Homeland Security and Appropriations committees. In August, NOTUS reported that Guest, whose chairmanship on the Ethics Committee includes enforcing compliance of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, violated the insider trading and transparency law. Guest’s Democratic opponent, Michael Chiaradio, and the Mississippi Democratic Party have highlighted the story in social media posts.
Guest, the outlet said, was more than six months late disclosing three stock sales made by a family trust fund owned by his wife involving shares of the oil giant Chevron, the lodging platform Airbnb and the cosmetics company e.l.f. Beauty. A spokesperson for Guest said he “does not have any decision-making role” in the trust and “was not consulted on these, or any other, transactions made by the trust.”
Otherwise, Guest has run a steady, low-profile campaign, appearing at local events hosted by the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women and with U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who is also on the ballot this year. He has emphasized his endorsement from President Donald Trump and his work helping enact the administration’s agenda.
“Under President Trump’s leadership and with a conservative Congress we have restored law and order in our country, rebuilt our military and respect around the world, cut taxes, and secured the border,” Guest told Mississippi Today.
Guest also holds a massive financial advantage, outraising Chiaradio by a nearly 5-to-1 margin, as well as maintaining significantly more cash on hand, Federal Election Commission reports show.
Chiaradio, a first-time candidate for Congress originally from New Jersey, is a former baseball player turned farmer living in rural Mississippi. He traveled the country while playing baseball at Eastern Nazarene College, and after playing in the inaugural season of what became the Empire Professional Baseball League, he launched a professional softball league in Satsuma, Alabama.
He also has professional experience working for a government contractor that provides administrative services for health care agencies.
He came to Mississippi in search of a lifestyle that would suit his interest in farming. In 2023, he purchased a house on several acres of land in Shubuta.
A constituent of Guest, Chiaradio said he grew weary of watching the four-term incumbent act as a rubber stamp for Trump and the national Republican agenda. When he saw Guest’s name alone on his 2024 ballot, Chiaradio decided he would supply political competition himself.
“Michael Guest is the only name on my ballot,” he recalled. “My God, I could step up and stand up to this guy. And who the heck is going to do it if not me?”
Chiaradio ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He told Mississippi Today he believes a localized message built around economic frustration can unite both disaffected conservatives and a fractured Democratic Party. His policy agenda includes expanding safety net programs to offer universal childcare and food assistance.
Chiaradio launched his campaign with the help of Zee Cohen Sanchez, a strategist who worked on U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ surprisingly strong challenge to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s shock upset of a powerful New York Democratic incumbent in 2018.
Sanchez, who is no longer with the campaign, had earlier said she believed a successful challenge to Guest would cost over $1 million. Chiaradio has fallen well short of that sum, raising just under $140,000 in total contributions.
On the campaign trail, Guest has criticized Chiaradio’s hiring of Sanchez and, by extension, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the progressive firebrand from Vermont.
“The far-left ideology promoted by Bernie Sanders and other Democrat radicals is the last thing we need representing the people of Mississippi in Congress,” Guest said.
The general election is on Nov. 3.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Original Source: DeSoto County News
