Polls are now closed after special election runoffs were held in two Mississippi districts on Tuesday. After most of 17 legislative seats on ballots this year were decided on Nov. 4, seats in Senate Districts 24 and 26 remained without outright winners.
In District 24 – which includes parts of Leflore, Panola, and Tallahatchie counties – Curressia Brown and Justin Pope are vying for the seat left open by the retiring David Jordan. In District 26 – which includes parts of Hinds and Madison counties – Letitia Johnson and Kamesha Mumford are squaring off to become the successor to now-Jackson Mayor John Horhn.
Live updates throughout the night from each district will be provided below.
Senate District 24 (Leflore, Panola, and Tallahatchie counties)
7 p.m.: No updates yet.
8 p.m.: Justin Pope has gotten an early lead over Curressia Brown, taking a 783-49 advantage with an unspecified percentage of precincts reporting from Panola County.
8:05 p.m.: Pope’s lead over Brown is now 935-145 with ballots from Panola County trickling in.
8:10 p.m.: With more votes coming in from Panola County, Pope is now up 1,140-182 over Brown.
8:15 p.m.: 12 precincts in Panola County have now reported, and Pope’s lead over Brown stands at 1,209-220. We’ve seen no numbers from Tallahatchie and Leflore counties.
8:17 p.m.: With 15 Panola County precincts reporting, Pope’s lead over Brown is now 1,385-274. Numbers from Tallahatchie and Leflore counties have yet to be reported.
8:24 p.m.: Results are in from most precincts in Panola County, along with all of Tallahatchie County. Pope leads Brown 1,698-543.
8:42 p.m.: With all votes from Panola and Tallahatchie counties in, Pope has taken a sizable lead over Brown. Pope’s advantage is 1,706-554, with Leflore County’s ballots left to be counted.
8:57 p.m.: We’ve now got numbers in from all three counties. Pope leads Brown 1,944-1,659
9 p.m.: With complete unofficial results reported from Leflore, Panola, and Tallahatchie counties, Pope appears to have been elected to fill David Jordan’s shoes as the state Senator representing District 24.
Senate District 26 (Hinds and Madison counties)
7 p.m.: No updates yet.
7:55 p.m.: With less than 1% of precincts reporting, Kamesha Mumford has taken an early lead over Letitia Johnson, garnering 61.2% of the vote to her opponent’s 38.8%.
8:12 p.m.: With 8% of precincts reporting, the lead has narrowed with Mumford claiming 52.4% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 47.6%.
8:16 p.m.: With a little over 8% of precincts reporting, Mumford has surged, garnering a 60.9% to 39.1% lead over Johnson.
8:18 p.m.: With 21% of precincts reporting, Mumford has built upon her lead, garnering 66.3% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 33.7%.
8:22 p.m.: With 42% of precincts reporting, Mumford’s lead has grown again. She now holds 65.7% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 34.3%.
8:28 p.m.: With 54% of precincts reporting, Mumford’s lead has taken a slight hit. Mumford now holds 63.3% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 36.7%.
8:44 p.m.: With 55% of precincts reporting, Mumford’s lead has narrowed again. She now holds 61.9% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 38.1%.
8:48 p.m.: With under 60% of precincts reporting, Johnson is cutting into Mumford’s lead. Mumford has 58.9% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 41.1%.
8:55 p.m.: With 88% of precincts reporting, Mumford has 58.2% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 41.9%.
9:07 p.m.: With 96% of precincts reporting, Mumford’s lead continues to drop. She now has 56.4% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 43.6%.
9:35 p.m.: Unofficial results show that Kamesha Mumford will take John Horhn’s seat in the state Senate, taking down Letitia Johnson for the District 26 post.
Previous winners
Beginning with primaries in August, races for 14 seats in the House and Senate were held after being forced to reshuffle due to a federal court order saying the state was diluting Black voting power. Three special nonpartisan elections were added to the fold in November to fill vacancies from members who left before their terms were up. Of those three, Senate Districts 24 and 26 resulted in runoffs.
Here are the people who have already won their races:
- House District 16: Rickey Thompson* (D)
- House District 22: Justin Crosby (D)
- House District 26: Otha Williams III (nonpartisan until swearing-in)
- House District 36: Karl Gibbs* (D)
- House District 39: Dana McLean* (R)
- House District 41: Kabir Karriem* (D)
- Senate District 1: Michael McLendon* (R)
- Senate District 2: Theresa Isom (D)
- Senate District 11: Reginald Jackson* (D)
- Senate District 19: Kevin Blackwell* (R)
- Senate District 34: Juan Barnett* (D)
- Senate District 41: Joey Fillingane* (R)
- Senate District 42: Don Hartness (R)
- Senate District 44: Chris Johnson* (R)
- Senate District 45: Johnny Dupree (D)
(*) – denotes incumbent