Mississippi 2019 Election Results

Mississippi held its general election on November 5, 2019, deciding 174 legislative seats and 14 statewide offices led by the governorship, including 1 special election. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Republicans strengthened their dominance of state government: they kept the governorship, took the attorney general's office from Democrats, and won their first Senate supermajority, eight years after taking the Legislature in 2011, though they stayed short of two-thirds in the House.
• Tate Reeves (R) beat Jim Hood (D), the fourth-term attorney general, by about 5 points in the hardest-fought governor's race since 2003. President Trump and Vice President Pence both traveled to Mississippi to help Reeves. To succeed Hood, Treasurer Lynn Fitch (R) beat Jennifer Riley Collins (D) by about 16 points and became the first woman in the job.
• All four Senate gains came in open seats Democrats had held. Republicans won Senate District 5 with Daniel Sparks (R), Senate District 8 with Ben Suber (R), Senate District 37 with Melanie Sojourner (R), and Senate District 48, where Mike Thompson (R) won by about 400 votes. Democrats' lone Senate pickup was Senate District 22, where Joseph Thomas (D) beat Hayes Dent (R) by about 1,000 votes.
• In the House, Democrats unseated 3 incumbents, while Republicans picked up two open Democratic seats:
  • Hester Jackson-McCray (D) beat freshman Ashley Henley (R) by 14 votes in House District 40. Henley challenged the result, but the House voted to seat Jackson-McCray permanently.
  • Shanda Yates (D) ousted Bill Denny (R), a top House Republican, by about 170 votes in House District 64.
  • Rickey Thompson (D) beat Steve Holland (I) in House District 16. Holland served more than three decades in the House as a Democrat before running as an independent.
  • Clay Deweese (R) won House District 12 by about 150 votes, and Brent Anderson (R) took House District 122.
• Republicans held the other statewide offices by wide margins: Delbert Hosemann (R) won the lieutenant governorship by about 20 points, Michael Watson (R) the secretary of state's office by about 18 points, and David McRae (R) the treasurer's office by about 22 points. Appointed incumbents Andy Gipson (R), the agriculture commissioner, and Shad White (R), the auditor, who was unopposed, won full terms, and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney (R) was re-elected. Two regional commissions also had Central District seats on the ballot: Brent Bailey (R) won the Public Service Commission seat by about 2,000 votes, and Willie Simmons (D) won the Transportation Commission seat by about 2 points.

Legislature

• House (122 seats): 46 D, 73 R, 3 other or vacant before the election, 46 D, 76 R after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (52 seats): 20 D, 32 R before the election, 17 D, 35 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races