Live results: 2 Mississippi GOP representatives are in tighter than expected primary races, and one is headed to a runoff
Mississippi is holding congressional primaries on Tuesday. Polls closed at 7 p.m. local time and 8 p.m. ET.
The races and the stakes:
Mississippi has four congressional House districts that are up for election on Tuesday. Of the four seats, three of them are currently held by members of the Republican Party.
In the state's 1st Congressional District, GOP Rep. Trent Kelly is running for reelection to a fifth term and is facing off against businessman Mark Strauss in the Republican primary. Strauss, who previously ran for office in Iowa, espouses on his website that the COVID-19 pandemic was "planned" and that vaccines were created and distributed for the purpose of "depoputation."
Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District features incumbent Rep. Bennie Thompson running for reelection in the Democratic primary. Thompson, who was first elected to the House in a 1993 special election and serves as chairman of the House committee investigating the January 6 attack, will face off against local business owner Jerry Kerner in the Democratic contest. There's also a crowded GOP primary in the district featuring four candidates: Michael Carson, Ronald Eller, Brian Flowers, and Stanford Johnson.
The state's 3rd Congressional District has incumbent GOP Rep. Michael Guest running for reelection against challengers Michael Cassidy and Thomas Griffin in the Republican primary. There's only one person running in the Democratic primary, former Homeland Security staffer Shuwaski Young.
And lastly, in Mississippi's 4th Congressional District, incumbent Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo is running against six Republican challengers in the GOP primary — according to DDHQ, the race will go to a runoff. There are two candidates running in the Democratic primary — former Hattiesburg mayor Johnny DuPree and David Sellers, a pastor.
According to election experts at Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, the races in November will likely not be competitive. The organization rates Mississippi's 1st, 3rd, and 4th Congressional Districts as "Safe R" and the state's 2nd Congressional District as "Safe D."