Staff Report

A first-term Republican state lawmaker said Tuesday that he’s running for Mississippi governor in 2019 as a “conservative outsider.”

Rep. Robert Foster of Hernando announced his campaign Tuesday evening at an event in DeSoto County and in a video posted to social media.

“I grew up in a small-business family that taught me about hard work and the Christian faith. And these are the values that I’m proud to say we are instilling in our children,” Foster, 35, said in the video that showed him, his wife Heather and their two children at their family farm.

The farm runs as an agriculture tourism business with berry picking, a corn maze and Christmas tree sales.

Asked about the state flag on Monday, Foster told The Associated Press: “It’s not something I ever really talk about.” He said people voted in a 2001 statewide election to keep the Confederate emblem on the flag, and “I support the people on that issue.”