Mississippi 2015 Election Results

Mississippi held its general election on November 3, 2015, deciding 174 legislative seats and 14 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Republicans kept every statewide office but attorney general and widened their House majority to the three-fifths supermajority they had sought, a margin sealed when the House itself settled a tied race.
• Gov. Phil Bryant (R) won a second term by about 34 points over Robert Gray (D), a truck driver who had never held office and forgot to vote in the primary he won. Attorney General Jim Hood (D) beat Mike Hurst (R) by about 11 points for a fourth term.
• In House District 79, Blaine Eaton II (D) and Mark Tullos (R) finished in an exact tie, and Eaton pulled the long straw in the tiebreaker. Tullos took his challenge to the Republican-led House, which in January voted to unseat Eaton and seat Tullos.
• Republicans also beat two Democratic incumbents and won three open Democratic seats:
  • Vince Mangold (R) beat House Minority Leader Bobby Moak (D) by about 900 votes in House District 53, after Republicans tied Moak to President Obama in mailers.
  • Shane Barnett (R) unseated Sherra Lane (D) by about 650 votes in House District 86.
  • The open seats were House District 73, House District 87, and House District 90.
• Democrats' gains came in two Republican-held seats. Robert Dearing (D) unseated Melanie Sojourner (R) by 64 votes in Senate District 37. She petitioned the Senate to overturn the result, but a committee found she fell short of proving the election was tainted. In House District 12, J.P. Hughes Jr. (D) unseated Brad Mayo (R) by about 450 votes.
• Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann (R) led the rest of the Republican slate, each re-elected by more than 20 points. Democrats took two of the three Public Service Commission seats, which are elected by district: Brandon Presley (D) won a third term and Cecil Brown (D) beat Brent Bailey (R). Voters rejected Initiative 42, which could have forced lawmakers to fully fund public schools. It beat the Legislature's alternative on the ballot's second question but failed to get enough support on the first question to amend the constitution.

Legislature

• House (122 seats): 56 D, 66 R before the election, 49 D, 73 R after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (52 seats): 22 D, 30 R before the election, 20 D, 32 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures