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NATCHEZ — Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann hasn’t officially announced plans to run for governor, but at a meet and greet Thursday at Natchez Coffee Co., it was obvious he’s running for something.

Hosemann greeted about 50 Natchezians and took questions until no other questions were asked. He gave an update on the 2025 legislative session and talked about state challenges, such as overcoming the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding across a number of state agencies.

Introduced by Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, he talked about how long he and Gibson have been friends.

“When I first met your mayor, he was the mayor of a whole other town. We go that far back,” Hosemann said, referring to Gibson’s first elected position as mayor of Crystal Springs.

“I get the honor of introducing our lieutenant governor, Delbert Hosemann. I am so grateful that he is our lieutenant governor and so grateful that he is a friend and grateful that he has other ambitions in store,” Gibson said. “Whatever he’s running for, I’m for it!”

Hosemann, a Vicksburg native, said his grandmother was a member of the Eidt family of Natchez and that he spent much time in Natchez growing up.

The 33rd Mississippi lieutenant governor, Hosemann took office in 2020. Before that, he was Mississippi’s secretary of state from 2008 through 2019.

Accomplishments from the 2025 legislative session include residents paying less taxes — “the third lowest in the country,” Hosemann said — more money made available for building and repairing roads and bridges, and significant increases in money for education.

“But those are not the most important things,” he said. “We paid off about $2 billion in state debt. That has never been done in the history of the state. We paid attention to our dollars. We had a really tight budget and we kept our priorities right.”

He said the state has never been in the positive financial position that it is in now.

“I have eight grandchildren I and want them to grow up in Mississippi and stay here,” Hosemann said.

Among challenges that need to be tackled in Mississippi are the chronic absenteeism among all of the state’s school children, which he said is about 25 percent, as well as finding ways of overcoming about $337 million in federal funds coming to Mississippi.

Kevin Wilson, president of the Adams County Board of Supervisors, asked Hosemann about the status of legislation that would have taken the $1 fee imposed on landline telephones and add it to cell phones. Wilson said 70 cents of each dollar comes back to the county to fund 911 services, but that money is dwindling because landlines are becoming obsolete. He said Adams County has fewer than 5,000 landline telephones remaining and approximately 30,000 cell phones in use.

“We are getting less and less money for 911 and we are having trouble funding 911,” Wilson said. A bill in the 2024 legislature to add the $1 fee to cell phone did not pass.

“What can y’all do to add a dollar to cell phones as landlines become obsolete?” Wilson asked.

Hosemann said the state has some money that can be used to subsidize some of the funding once generated for counties by the landlines, but said the legislature is reluctant to impose any new tax.

“We are cutting taxes, not adding them,” Hosemann said.

Gibson discussed the Natchez Project SEARCH operated here at Merit Health Natchez, which provided on-the-job training for Natchezians with special needs. Ronnie Calhoun, that program’s director, learned recently it has lost its funding.

Hosemann said the legislature is having to make difficult decisions about funding.

“The federal government has cut us so far $137 million in the education budget, a $100 million in our health department budget and we are slated for another $100 million cut. So, when I told you we were being very careful with our spending, it’s because we are going to have to make some decisions,” he said.

“First of all, the country was going broke. With a $38 trillion deficit, it was impossible to stay like it was going. This had to come. All of us who have ever seen a business cycle knew that this was coming. We couldn’t borrow our way to prosperity,” Hosemann said. “We are going to have to make some decisions here in Mississippi about what we are going to do in the health care area, the mental health area … I’m not so sure what will happen with Medicaid, what the dollar number will be. … I’m going to tell you we are going to have tough decisions. We don’t print money.”

He said 45 to 50 percent of Mississippi’s budget comes from the federal government.

“We are going to have decisions to make on these kinds of programs. That’s why we have been saving cash. So that we don’t have to let the safety net that we have been using go away,” Hosemann said.