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Wicker: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Musgrove: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Mississippi |
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The 2008 United States Senate special election in Mississippi was held on November 4, 2008. This election was held on the same day of Thad Cochran's re-election bid in the regularly scheduled Class II election. The winner of this special election served the rest of the Senate term, which ended in January 2013. Unlike most Senate elections, this was a non-partisan election in which the candidate who got a majority of the vote won, and if the first-place candidate did not get 50%, a runoff election with the top two candidates would have been held. In the election, no run-off was necessary as Republican nominee and incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Roger Wicker won election to finish the term.
On December 18, 2007, U.S. Senator Trent Lott resigned in his fourth-term to pursue "something else" in the private sector. [1] [2] He ended up starting his own lobbying firm.
On December 31, 2007, Mississippi governor Haley Barbour appointed U.S. Representative Roger Wicker to the vacant seat. Wicker then began his Senate campaign. [3]
Former Governor Ronnie Musgrove, former U.S. Representative and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy, former Jackson mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr., former Governor Ray Mabus, and former Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore were all considered potential Democratic candidates. [4] [5] Of the five, only Musgrove decided to run. Another Democrat, former congressman Ronnie Shows also decided to run, [6] but withdrew on February 19, 2008 after determining that he could not raise enough funds to effectively campaign against Wicker and Musgrove. Shows gave his endorsement to Musgrove. [7] There was a dispute about the date on which the special election should occur and whether the governor appointed the interim senator in keeping with state law.
Mississippi law states that Gov. Barbour had 10 days after receiving official notification of the vacancy to appoint an interim senator pending a special election. Barbour appointed Wicker on December 31, 2007, 13 days after Lott's resignation. [8] [9] [10]
The state Democratic party objected to the timing of the special election. Barbour set the special election for November 4, 2008. [9] Democrats claimed that he had 10 days to set a special election within 90 days (no later than March 29, 2008), and the issue went to court for resolution.
Mississippi Attorney General, Democrat Jim Hood, issued a non-binding opinion that the election must be held within 100 days of Lott's resignation. [11] Hood said that Barbour would be breaking the law if he holds the special election in November 2008. Hood sued Barbour in court over the issue. [12] Hood wanted the date of the special election to be March 11, the same day as Mississippi's presidential primary. [13]
The state’s chief elections officer, the then-Mississippi Secretary of State, Democrat Eric Clark, backed the governor's position. [14]
Governor Barbour claimed that the definition of "year" in the law in question is 365 days. Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter ruled that the election must take place no later than March 19. [15] On February 6, 2008, after Barbour appealed, [16] the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed Judge Delaughter and ruled that the non-partisan special election may be held on November 4. [17]
Note: Mississippi special elections are nonpartisan. Party labels are for informational purposes only.
Source | Ranking | As of |
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The Cook Political Report [19] | Tossup | October 23, 2008 |
CQ Politics [20] | Lean R | October 31, 2008 |
Rothenberg Political Report [21] | Lean R | November 2, 2008 |
Real Clear Politics [22] | Lean R | October 29, 2008 |
Poll Source | Date(s) administered | Ronnie Musgrove | Roger Wicker |
---|---|---|---|
Rasmussen Reports | October 27, 2008 | 43% | 54% |
Rasmussen Reports | September 30, 2008 | 47% | 49% |
Rasmussen Reports | August 23, 2008 | 42% | 47% |
Rasmussen Reports | July 28, 2008 | 42% | 48% |
Rasmussen Reports | June 26, 2008 | 47% | 48% |
Rasmussen Reports | May 27, 2008 | 47% | 46% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
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Nonpartisan | Roger Wicker (incumbent) | 683,409 | 54.96% | −8.62% | |
Nonpartisan | Ronnie Musgrove | 560,064 | 45.04% | +10.17% | |
Majority | 123,345 | 9.92% | −18.79% | ||
Total votes | 1,243,473 | 100.00% | |||
Republican hold |
David Ronald Musgrove is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Mississippi from 2000 to 2004. A Democrat, he previously served as the 29th lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 1996 to 2000. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2008 special election for one of Mississippi's seats in the United States Senate, losing to incumbent Senator Roger Wicker. Musgrove is a principal at a public affairs consulting firm, Politics. In 2014, he became founding partner of a new law firm in Jackson, Mississippi, Musgrove/Smith Law. As of 2024, he is the most recent Democrat to hold the office of Governor of Mississippi.
Haley Reeves Barbour is an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as the 63rd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997.
Roger Frederick Wicker is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Mississippi, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Republican Party, Wicker was a Mississippi State Senator from 1988 to 1995 and the U.S. Representative from Mississippi's 1st congressional district from 1995 until 2007.
The 2008 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, 2008, with 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested. 33 seats were up for regular elections; the winners were eligible to serve 6-year terms from January 3, 2009, to January 3, 2015, as members of Class 2. There were also 2 special elections, the winners of those seats would finish the terms that ended on January 3, 2013. The presidential election, which was won by Democrat Barack Obama, elections for all House of Representatives seats; elections for several gubernatorial elections; and many state and local elections occurred on the same date.
James Matthew Hood is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 39th Attorney General of Mississippi from 2004 to 2020.
The Mississippi Republican Party is the Mississippi state affiliate of the United States Republican Party. The party chairman is Frank Bordeaux, and the party is based in Jackson, Mississippi. The original Republican Party of Mississippi was founded following the American Civil War, and the current incarnation of the Mississippi Republican Party was founded in 1956. The party would grow in popularity after the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is currently the dominant party in the state.
A general election was held in Mississippi on November 4, 2003, to elect to 4 year terms all members of the state legislature, the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Treasurer, State Auditor, Secretary of State, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, and Commissioner of Insurance, plus all three members of the Transportation Commission and all three members of the Public Service Commission.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 4, 2008. The seat was regularly scheduled for election, unlike the special election taking place on the same day. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Thad Cochran won re-election to a sixth term.
The 2008 Mississippi 1st congressional district special election was a special election in the state of Mississippi to determine who would serve the remainder of former Representative Roger Wicker's term. After an April 22, 2008 ballot resulted in no candidate receiving a majority, Democratic Party candidate Travis Childers defeated Republican candidate Greg Davis in a runoff election on May 13, 2008.
Cindy Hyde-Smith is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Mississippi since 2018. A member of the Republican Party, she was previously the Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce and a member of the Mississippi State Senate.
Travis Wayne Childers is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Mississippi's 1st congressional district from 2008 to 2011. The district included much of the northern portion of the state including New Albany, Columbus, Oxford, Southaven, and Tupelo. A member of the Democratic Party, Childers previously served as Chancery Clerk of Prentiss County from 1992 until his election to Congress. On March 1, 2014, Childers announced that he was running for the United States Senate. He won his party's nomination for the Senate seat in the Democratic primary on June 3. He lost the general election to Republican incumbent Thad Cochran.
The 2003 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2003 to elect the governor of the U.S. state of Mississippi. Former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour defeated incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove by a margin of 6.78%.
The University of Mississippi School of Law, also known as Ole Miss Law, is an ABA-accredited law school located on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The School of Law offers the only dedicated aerospace law curriculum in the United States from an ABA-accredited school. The University of Mississippi School of Law is also the only school in the United States, and one of only a handful in the world, to offer a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Air and Space Law.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 6, 2012, alongside the 2012 U.S. presidential election, other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Roger Wicker won re-election to his first full term, while 92 year-old Albert N. Gore was the Democratic nominee.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate. Incumbent Republican Senator Thad Cochran, first elected in 1978, ran for re-election to a seventh term. Primary elections were held on June 3, 2014.
The 2015 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 2015, to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Republican Governor Phil Bryant ran for re-election to a second and final term in office. This is the highest percentage that a Republican has ever won in a gubernatorial election in Mississippi.
Brandon Everitt Presley is an American politician who served as a member of the Mississippi Public Service Commission from the Northern District from 2008 to 2024 and mayor of Nettleton, Mississippi, from 2001 to 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
The 2018 United States Senate election in Mississippi took place on November 6, 2018, in order to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Mississippi. Incumbent Republican Roger Wicker was re-elected to a second full term, defeating his Democratic challenger, David Baria.
The 2019 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2019, to choose the next Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Governor Phil Bryant was ineligible to run for a third term due to term limits. The Democratic Party nominated incumbent Attorney General Jim Hood, the only Democrat holding statewide office in Mississippi; the Republican Party nominated incumbent Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves. In the general election, Reeves defeated Hood by a margin of 5.08%, with Reeves significantly underperforming Trump who won the state by 17 points, 3 years prior.
The 2018 United States Senate special election in Mississippi took place on November 6, 2018, in order to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Mississippi. On April 1, 2018, a U.S. Senate vacancy was created when Republican senator Thad Cochran resigned due to health concerns. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant appointed Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith to fill the vacancy. Hyde-Smith sought election to serve the balance of Cochran's term, which was scheduled to expire in January 2021.