Unsurprisingly, incumbents held mostly strong during Mississippi’s special legislative elections on Tuesday. But what may be a surprising result to some is that in a newly drawn Senate District 45, former Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree came out victorious. He wasn’t the only Democrat to get a big win, either.
Dupree, who served as the mayor of Hattiesburg for 16 years before being beat in 2017 by current Mayor Toby Barker, has tried twice to get back into office since the defeat, unsuccessfully running for U.S. Congress and Mississippi Secretary of State.
On Tuesday, he returned as the one doing the defeating, squashing Republican attorney Anna Rush’s bid by more than 35 points, winning by nearly 2,000 ballots, according to unofficial results.
Dupree’s win was one of several the Democratic Party will be able to tout as it seemingly took advantage of a rare chance to chip away at a metaphorical red paint job inside the state capitol. With most of the special elections being product of a federal order based on certain areas of the state diluting Black voting power, the party played to a new map that holds more majority-minority districts.
Other wins state and national Democratic officials are sure to be proud of include Justin Crosby knocking off incumbent Republican Jon Lancaster in House District 22 and Theresa Isom beating Republican Southaven Alderman Charlie Hoots for the Senate District 2 seat.
Other Democratic winners in races spurred by the federal order were incumbent Rickey Thompson in House District 16, incumbent Karl Gibbs in House District 36, incumbent Kabir Karriem in House District 41, incumbent Reginald Jackson in Senate District 11, and Juan Barnett in Senate District 34.
Republicans won races via incumbent Dana McLean in House District 39, incumbent Michael McLendon in Senate District 1, incumbent Kevin Blackwell in Senate District 19, incumbent Joey Fillingane in Senate District 41, political newcomer Don Hartness in Senate District 42, and Chris Johnson being reelected to his new district of Senate District 44.
In addition to the 14 races product of the federal order, two previously blue seats in the Senate and another in the House more than likely will stay that way after Democratic members vacated them before their terms ended. While those races were technically nonpartisan, considering there were no primaries, Democrats are have an opportunity to keep all three on their side of the aisle.
Otha Williams III was the outright winner of the House District 26 seat left open by now-Clarksdale Mayor Orlando Paden, Jr. Williams, in 2020, ran for the Yazoo-Mississippi Levi Commission as a Democrat.
Senate District 24, where the seat was left open by David Jordan who retired after 30-plus years in the legislature, is heading to a Dec. 2 runoff between Curressia Brown and Justin Pope. Brown, who had more votes than Pope but was unable to get a required 50%, has publicly aligned herself with Democrats. Pope, on the other hand, is a political newcomer who works in healthcare.
Senate District 26, where the seat was left open by now-Jackson Mayor John Horhn, is also heading to a runoff. Kamesha Mumford and Letitia Johnson were the last two standing in what was a seven-candidate race. Like in Senate District 24, the runoff in Senate District 26 will be held on Dec. 2.
