Mississippi
Mississippi Reelects All U.S. House, Senate Incumbents
JACKSON, Miss.—Incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who supports legislation that could ban abortion from the moment of conception, easily won reelection on Tuesday night and will serve another six-year term representing Mississippi in Congress. He defeated Democratic candidate Ty Pinkins.
Wicker told the Mississippi Free Press he sought reelection to complete some unfinished business in Mississippi including assisting small businesses, helping veterans, strengthening the military, and completing flood-control projects in Jackson, Miss., and the Delta.
“Some tax provisions that encourage job creation are about to expire. We need to renew those and make sure we take the regulatory burden off small businesses owners. They’re the ones who created the jobs in America,” he told the Mississippi Free Press on Tuesday.
Pinkins told the Mississippi Free Press that he ran for U.S. Senate, in part, because rich farm owners in the Delta had brought in white South African immigrants to do work and paid them more during training than they paid the Black farmers who had been working on the farms for years.
Pinkins’ campaign also focused on supporting women’s reproductive rights, including the right to abortion.
Wicker has fought to restrict abortion rights multiple times since he started his time in the U.S. Senate in 2007. He also voted against federal protections for same-sex couples. Pinkins ran in support of codifying protections offered under Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it.
“Thank you for your unwavering support, your votes, and for giving me the privilege of representing your hopes and your aspirations,” Pinkins wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.
With 98% of the vote counted as of Wednesday at 10:20 a.m., Wicker secured 63% of the vote, with 668,802 Mississippians choosing him for reelection; Pinkins got 37% of the vote with 393,330 Mississippians selecting him on their ballots.
Mississippi’s four incumbents in the House of Representatives also all won reelection. Republican U.S. House Rep. Trent Kelly won 69.9% of the vote while Democrat Dianne Dodson Black won 30.1% in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District.
Democratic U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson secured 61.7% of the vote over Republican candidate Ron Eller’s 38.3% in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District. Thompson is the only Democrat in Mississippi’s congressional delegation. He told the press at his watch party in Bolton, Miss., that some of his top priorities are helping Mississippi’s health care system, building hospitals in rural areas, upgrading the highway system and sponsoring a farm bill to support the agricultural industry.
“We have to have a farm bill that benefits everyone, not just the rich, but everyone. And so I hope to go back and work on a farm bill that’s balanced on who supports it but also who the beneficiaries are,” he said on Tuesday night.
Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Guest ran unopposed in Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District and won.
“I’m honored to be re-elected to serve as your congressman and to represent our conservative values in our nation’s capital,” Guest tweeted on Tuesday evening.
In Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District, Republican U.S. House Rep. Mike Ezell won 74.6% of the vote and just 25.4% of people voted for Democrat Craig Raybon, who said in October that he was withdrawing from the race.
“I’ll continue to be an open book. Come to Washington, we’ll take care of you. Anything I can do for my office as far as your congressman, I’ll be glad to help,” Ezell told WLOX on Tuesday night.