Candidate who didn’t even vote wins Democratic nomination for Mississippi governor

Robert Gray of Jackson, who won the Democratic primary for governor over two candidates, Vicki Slater, a trial lawyer backed by much of the Democratic establishment, and Dr. Valerie Adream Smartt Short, an obstetrician-gynecologist, is interviewed outside the governor's office at the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. Robert Gray of Jackson, who won the Democratic primary for governor over two candidates, Vicki Slater, a trial lawyer backed by much of the Democratic establishment, and Dr. Valerie Adream Smartt Short, an obstetrician-gynecologist, is interviewed outside the governor's office at the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015.

By Associated Press August 5, 2015 3 min read

JACKSON, Miss. — The 46-year-old truck driver who won the Democratic nomination for Mississippi governor says he spent nothing on his campaign and knows nobody in politics. He didn’t even vote in the primary because he says he was busy.

Robert Gray can’t explain how he defeated the trial lawyer who was the favored candidate of the party establishment in Tuesday’s primary.

Gray, who has lived in the Jackson area most of his life, visited the state Capitol on Wednesday for what he said was the first time — and it was at the request of reporters trying to answer the biggest question in this Republican-dominated state: Who the heck is this guy?

“Everybody’s been trying to figure out who I am. I guess I’m a quiet person, by nature,” said Gray, who uses the CB handle “Silent Knight,” because, well, he’s not exactly chatty.

Democrats controlled Mississippi politics for decades, but they’ve been steamrolled in most governor’s races for a generation. Now, many longtime Democrats worry that Gray will simply be the next hapless victim of a well-funded Republican machine.