MS GOP and Trump Can’t Come to an Agreement on New Electric Vehicle Battery Factory

Some of Mississippi’s top Republicans, namely Gov. Tate Reeves and U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, traveled to Marshall County in northern Mississippi, a stone’s throw from the state line with Tennessee, last week to celebrate the groundbreaking for a new electric vehicle battery plant.

“Today we broke ground on a project of record size — the largest payroll commitment in Mississippi history and the third-largest economic development project in Mississippi history,” Reeves said of the $1.9 billion plant, which is expected to create 2,000 jobs at an average salary of $66,000 per year producing electric batteries to power commercial trucks.

The night before Reeves, Hyde-Smith and other prominent officials celebrated the new project, their party leader, former President Donald Trump, sharply criticized job expansions like those that would be created at the new plant in Marshall County.

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During last week’s much-talked-about presidential debate, Trump slammed Democratic President Joe Biden’s “green new scam,” calling it a “plan to enrich China.”

The nonpartisan organization called E2 is a group of business people and other professionals who “advocate for smart policies that are good for the economy and the environment.”

E2 would say it’s good for the entire national economy and the environment. Reeves and Hyde-Smith would certainly say that an electric battery plant in Marshall County is good for Mississippi.

According to E2’s website, the Marshall County plant is one of 316 new projects that have invested a total of $124 billion in 41 states, creating nearly 107,000 new jobs — all since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The Inflation Reduction Act, criticized by Reeves, Hyde-Smith and Trump, was signed into law by Biden and provides incentives for clean energy projects such as electric vehicle battery plants and solar farms.

According to the U.S. Treasury, the Inflation Reduction Act provides a 30% credit for investments in renewable energy projects, such as wind, solar and energy storage products, such as electric batteries. To receive the tax credit, manufacturers must meet certain employee wage requirements.

Hyde-Smith, like all Republicans in Congress, voted against passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

She said at the time that the inflation-reduction bill “dedicates $370 billion to push through Democrats’ radical Green New Deal climate agenda, including tax breaks for wealthy Americans who buy electric vehicles and kitchen appliances.”

But at the groundbreaking in Marshall County, Hyde-Smith was front and center, smiling, shovel in hand, breaking ground on a project that was a direct result of the law she so publicly and boldly opposed.

Trump has promised to eliminate Biden incentives, such as an electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall County. He said he would end “all new subsidies and spending giveaways under Joe Biden’s giant socialist bills, like the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.”

The Marshall County plant is a joint venture of several international corporate giants: Paccar Inc., Cummins Truck Holdings, Germany-based Daimler Truck Holdings and China-based Eve Energy. The state is providing the companies with an estimated $350 million in incentives for things like developing infrastructure at the site.

Nearly every prominent Republican elected official in Mississippi has backed the Marshall County project. They’re clearly in good company. Multiple studies have shown that most of the new plants being built under Biden’s inflation-reduction bill are in red congressional districts. CNN, Bloomberg and other outlets have quoted Republican lawmakers saying they now want to keep a clear energy incentive package, even though they voted against it.

But now Republican candidate Donald Trump opposes it and has vowed to end it. If he is re-elected and follows through on his threat to eliminate incentives, how might Reeves, Hyde-Smith and other Mississippi Republicans feel about those jobs potentially disappearing in Marshall County?

This analysis was produced by Mississippi Today, a nonprofit news organization covering state government, public policy, politics and culture. Bobby Harrison is a senior Capitol reporter for Mississippi Today.