Douglas Carswell
President, MISSISSIPPI CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY, Author, former member of the British Parliament, Co-Founder of Vote Leave, the official Brexit Campaign
Douglas Carswell is a leader of the liberty movement with experience building high-performing teams that achieve change.
For the past five years, he has led a state-based think tank in Mississippi, securing a string of free-market reforms, including major labor market deregulation in 2021, comprehensive tax reform in 2022, school funding reforms in 2024, and legislation to eliminate the income tax in 2025.
Having been a laggard for decades, Mississippi is now one of the fastest-growing states in America.
Previously a Member of the British Parliament for 12 years, Douglas co-founded Vote Leave, the official Brexit campaign. Re-elected every time he ran, Douglas achieved one of the largest swings in any election in British history when he called a special election on himself to secure the Brexit vote.
Douglas was born in Britain, raised in Uganda, but came to America by choice.
He is the author of five books, as well as Milestones, a radical policy blue print for the reforms Britain needs. He served as a non-executive director at the UK Department of for International Trade, helping secure free trade deals around the world.
Douglas lives in Flowood, with his wife, Clementine, daughter, Kitty, and Crumble, the dog.
What is the Mississippi Miracle?
What does the state of Washington have in common with Mississippi?
Misperception.
We like to think of Washington as a state distinguished by one of the better education systems, a business climate that attracts innovators, a place of opportunity and growth. When we think of Mississippi on the other hand, our snobbery is exposed. It’s easy for us on the West Coast to assume their education system is backward, that they are a fading relic of the distant past while we are a shining, sleek symbol of the future.
Shockingly, data tells us a vastly different story, and one look makes you feel as though you’re living in the Upside Down world of Netflix’s Stranger Things. For example, in 2013, Washington was ranked 12th in the nation for 4th grade math and 15th in the nation for 4th grade reading. That same year, Mississippi was ranked 49th for 4th grade math and 48th for 4th grade reading. Since then, Washington has spent billions of additional tax dollars on education and increased per capita expenditures by 39 percent, but our test scores in 4th grade math collapsed from 12th to 23rd and our 4th grade reading scores dipped from 15th to 17th. In the meantime, Mississippi’s reading scores leapt from 48th to 8th in reading and from 49th to 16th in Math!
In addition, Mississippi instituted comprehensive tax reform in 2022, labor market deregulation in 2021 and school funding reforms in 2024.
Note: Mississippi’s reforms are taking place while the state is working to phase out its income tax!
What happened?!? Why is Mississippi experiencing a revitalization while Washington’s position is in decline? How is a state with the incredible and historic disadvantages of Mississippi surpassing Washington’s student test scores despite our high-tech base and record-breaking expenditures?
Douglas Carswell, president of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy will describe the “Mississippi Miracle” that is revitalizing and modernizing Mississippi and what lessons Washington state could draw from their successes.