# Phil Bryant Phil Bryant (Dewey Phillip Bryant) is a Republican who served as the 64th governor of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020, after terms as state auditor and lieutenant governor. He matters for the KB on two fronts: as the governor who presided over — and, reporting indicates, helped steer — the [[Mississippi Welfare Funds Scandal]], and as the executive who signed the abortion law that became the vehicle for overturning *[[Roe v. Wade]]*. ## Governorship and the abortion law In 2018 Bryant signed Mississippi's Gestational Age Act, a 15-week abortion ban that was challenged in court and reached the Supreme Court as [[Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization]] — the 2022 decision that overturned the federal right to abortion. Mississippi under Bryant was a deliberate test case for the anti-abortion movement, making him a consequential figure in the national legal strategy even beyond his state. Bryant also appointed [[Cindy Hyde-Smith]] to the U.S. Senate in 2018 to fill the seat vacated by Thad Cochran, elevating her to the federal office she has held since. ## Role in the welfare scandal During Bryant's tenure, the Mississippi Department of Human Services — under his appointee [[John Davis (Mississippi)]] — diverted at least $77 million in federal TANF anti-poverty funds through nonprofits including [[Nancy New]]'s Mississippi Community Education Center. Text messages later surfaced showing Bryant communicating with [[Brett Favre]] about the volleyball-facility project that received misspent welfare money. Bryant has said he forwarded the first internal-audit concerns to the state auditor in 2019, triggering the investigation; critics note the diversion happened on his watch and with his apparent involvement. Despite messages and conversations that appear to show involvement, Bryant has never been criminally charged — the central accountability gap of the scandal and the focus of [[Anna Wolfe]]'s Pulitzer-winning reporting. He is, however, entangled in the civil litigation seeking to recover the funds. ## Connection to the KB Ecosystem - **[[Mississippi Welfare Funds Scandal]]**: the defining controversy of his governorship; uncharged despite apparent involvement. - **[[Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization]]**: he signed the 2018 ban that became the case overturning *Roe*. - **[[Cindy Hyde-Smith]]**: his 2018 Senate appointee. - **[[John Davis (Mississippi)]]** / **[[Nancy New]]** / **[[Brett Favre]]**: the welfare-scandal figures in his orbit. ## See Also - [[Mississippi Welfare Funds Scandal]] - [[Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization]] - [[Cindy Hyde-Smith]] - [[Anna Wolfe]]