Presley described his politics as "Populist, FDR-Billy McCoy Democrat."[11] He managed the successful campaign of his uncle Harold for the office of Sheriff of Lee County when he was 16 years old.[12]
Presley ran for the office of Mayor of Nettleton in 2001 and won with 78 percent of the vote.[10] He was sworn-in as the mayor in July 2001. Aged 23 upon his assumption of the office, he was the youngest mayor in Mississippi's history.[12] He served until 2007.[13][14] As mayor, he crossed party lines to endorse the reelection campaign of George W. Bush in 2004.[15]
On June 15, 2007, Presley declared his campaign for the office of Public Service Commissioner for the Northern District of the Mississippi Public Service Commission.[16] He defeated two other candidates in the August Democratic primary[17] and defeated Republican Mabel Murphree in the general election.[18] He was re-elected in 2011, 2015, and 2019.[19]
Presley assumed office as Public Service Commissioner for the Northern District on January 1, 2008.[20] During his first year in office he advocated streaming the commission's meetings on the internet.[21] He has advocated bringing internet access to rural areas of Mississippi.[22]
Presley opposed the Kemper Project,[23] a large Mississippi Power "clean coal" electricity plant development in Kemper County, as residents in the Northern District were not served by Mississippi Power or would otherwise economically benefit from the project.[24] The project suffered from delays and cost overruns. In 2017, Presley became chairman of the Public Service Commission, which then forced Mississippi Power to terminate its plans for clean coal electricity generation at the Kemper facility.[25]
Presley, as well as the other two members of the Public Service Commission, opposes using Mississippi as an alternative site to Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste storage.[26]
In 2014, Presley succeeded Betsy Wergin of Minnesota to serve as chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' Committee on Consumer Affairs. The committee is charged with analyzing the role that state service commissions play in consumer protection within the energy and telecommunications industries.[27]
In the 2015 elections, Democratic state representative Cecil Brown was elected to represent the Central District. This gave the Democratic Party a majority on the Commission. Subsequently Presley was appointed to serve as chair of the commission.[28] In March, he presided over the groundbreaking of the largest solar power facility in the state. The project is a joint effort between the PSC, the United States Navy and Mississippi PoweratNCBC Gulfport.[29] He was replaced by Chris Brown on January 4, 2024.[30]
Following months of speculation, Presley announced his candidacy for governor of Mississippi in the 2023 election on January 12, 2023.[31] The same day, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi endorsed Presley.[32] Later that month, from a shuttered hospital in Newton, he delivered a response to incumbent governor Tate Reeves' State of the State address, advocating for the state to embrace Medicaid expansion and accusing Reeves of allowing rural hospitals to close.[21] On February 16, the Mississippi Democratic Party's executive committee voted to disqualify two minor candidates for the party's gubernatorial nomination for failing to follow ethics disclosures, leaving Presley the only qualified candidate in the Democratic primary.[33] On August 8, as the only Democratic candidate for governor on the ballot, Presley won the Democratic primary.[34]
Although Mississippi is considered a Republican stronghold, many analysts stated that Reeves was a vulnerable incumbent. The Cook Political Report changed the race from Likely Republican to Lean Republican in October after polls showed Presley within the margin of error in multiple polls.[35][36] In the general election, Reeves defeated Presley, albeit by a narrower margin than initially expected.[37][38]
Presley is a second cousin of Elvis Presley.[39][11] He lost 216 pounds (98 kg) during 2013 and 2014.[23] Presley married Katelyn Mabus, who is a cousin of former Mississippi governor Ray Mabus, in August 2023.[32][40]
