The Hattiesburg mayoral election ended an era last night as the people of the Hub City chose Rep. Toby Barker over incumbent Johnny Dupree.
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However, the Tuesday night vote was not the final trip to the ballot box for those in Forrest and Lamar counties.
Barker has served as a Republican representative in the state House for district 102 since 2008. Now, he will have to resign that position, leaving it vacant.
The Secretary of State’s Office has said that a special election will be needed to fill that position, and a tentative date was set prior to Tuesday’s election for November 7th.
According to a spokesperson from Governor Phil Bryant’s office, the Governor will have 30 days from the time of Barker’s resignation to issue a writ for special election. As of Wednesday morning, the resignation had not yet been turned in to the Governor.
Barker posted this video of his acceptance speech last night:
News Mississippi will continue to follow this story.
