Union Co. primary run-off election results

November general election candidates for five public offices in or directly affecting Union County were decided in Tuesday’s primary run-off election.

Mississipppi Senate District Three

Kathy Chism narrowly won the race for the open District Three seat in the state senate. Unofficial totals for the Third Senatorial District showed that Chism received 3,632 votes, a 107 vote margin over Kevin Walls, who received 3,525 votes. Union is Chism’s home county, where she received 70 percent of the vote compared to 30 percent for Walls. Walls heavily outpolled Chism in his home, Pontotoc County. However, only about half of Pontotoc County is in the Third Senatorial District.

Chism will face Democrat Tim Tucker in the November 5th general election.

Mississippi Governor

The top contest on the primary run-off ballot was to decide the Republican gubernatorial candidate to face Democratic nominee Jim Hood on November 5th. That race pitted Lieutenant-Governor Tate Reeves against former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice William Waller, Jr.

Reeves won that race with 54 percent of the statewide Republican vote compared to 46 percent for Waller.
Union County, however, went heavily for Waller, giving the former chief justice 2,306 votes (57%) versus 1,733 (43%) votes for Reeves.

Union was one of five counties in the 22-county Mississippi First Congressional District to vote for Waller. Lafayette County was even stronger for Waller, giving him 69 percent of its votes. Lee County voted for Waller over Reeves, 52 to 48 percent.

That portion of Oktibbeha County in the First District voted for Waller over Reeves 54 to 46 percent. Alcorn County gave Walls a narrow 26 vote margin over Reeves.

Reeves was strong everywhere else in the First District including in Desoto County, which preferred Reeves over Waller, 54 to 46 percent. Desoto County State Representative Robert Foster finished third behind Waller in the first GOP primary on August 6th and endorsed Waller in the run-off, but Reeves easily carried Desoto County.

Reeves overwhelmed Waller in all of the counties on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and most of the other counties in the southern third of the state. Reeves was also strong in the Mississippi Delta, except for Leflore County and Washington County that went for Waller.

Waller had a strong majority in the three counties in the Jackson metropolitan area, which is the hometown area for both him and Reeves. Waller polled 60 percent of the votes in Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties versus 40 percent for Reeves.

It may also be worth noting that Waller had a strong margin over Reeves in Forrest County, the home of the University of Southern Mississippi. Thus Waller carried the home counties of all four of the state’s largest public universities: Ole Miss in Lafayette County; Mississippi State in Oktibbeha County; Jackson State in Hinds County.

Mississippi Attorney-General

In the race for the Republican nomination for Mississippi attorney-general, State Treasurer Lynn Fitch defeated Andy Taggart, former chief of staff to 1990s Mississippi Governor, Kirk Fordice, by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent. That was close to the Union County ratios in that race. Fitch received 2,089 (54%) of Union County votes and Taggart got 1,787 votes (46%)

MS Northern District Highway Commissioner

In the Republican primary run-off for Northern District Highway Commissioner, John Caldwell received 49,091 votes (56%) district wide and Geoffrey Yoste had 37,829 votes (44%.) However, Union County voted 59 percent for Yoste and 41 percent for Caldwell. Caldwell will face Democratic nominee Joe Grist on Nov. 5th.

Union County Supervisor District One

There was a run-off race in the Union County Democratic primary for the District One seat on the Union County Board of Supervisors. Sam Taylor got 299 votes in the run-off, defeating incumbent Democrat Evan Denton, who received 211 votes. Taylor will face Republican nominee Jerry Burke in the November 5 general election for District One Supervisor.

The above results are all unofficial and await certification by election officials during the coming week.

About Kathy Chism: http://newalbanyunionco.com/kathy-chism-seeks-ms-senate-district-3-seat/

Primary election results: http://newalbanyunionco.com/union-county-2019-primary-results/