Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell Enters the 2027 Attorney General Race
Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell is running for attorney general in the 2027 election. His campaign confirmed the decision in media advisories sent out on Monday, 17 August. Tindell will run as a Republican.
He has said he intends to step down as commissioner to concentrate on the campaign.
Advisories issued by Mr TIndell set campaign announcements in Gulfport and Jackson on Wednesday, 19 August. SuperTalk Mississippi reported that further events are scheduled in Tupelo and Southaven on Friday.
Tindell is seeking the office currently held by Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who is term-limited after two terms and has announced a campaign for governor in 2027. As of Monday no other candidate had publicly declared for attorney general. The party primaries are set for 3 August 2027 and the general election for 2 November 2027.
Tindell is not obliged to resign in order to run. Under the federal Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012, state officials and employees may seek partisan elected office while working for state government, unless their salaries are funded entirely by the federal government.
Governor Tate Reeves appointed Tindell to lead the Department of Public Safety in May 2020. Before that, Governor Phil Bryant appointed him in 2017 to the Mississippi Court of Appeals, District 5, Place 2. He served in the state Senate from 2012 to 2017, representing parts of Harrison County including Biloxi and Gulfport, where he chaired the Senate Judiciary A Committee and was vice chairman of the Senate Tourism Committee.
Earlier in his career Tindell was an assistant district attorney for the Second Circuit District, covering Harrison, Hancock and Stone counties, from 2002 to 2007, and city prosecutor for Biloxi from 2008 to 2011. In private practice he represented governmental clients including the Stone County Utility Authority and the City of Diamondhead.
He holds a Juris Doctor from the Mississippi College School of Law and master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi.