Election night in Mississippi has come and gone, but there is still one race left to be decided.
Incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed by Governor Bryant in April following Thad Cochran’s retirement, will take on Democrat Mike Espy in a runoff on November 27th.
Related: Hyde-Smith, Espy headed to runoff for Senate seat
Neither candidate was able to reach the 50% threshold last night as they both grabbed around 40% of the vote with Republican Chris McDaniel and Democrat Tobey Bartee failing to qualify for the runoff.
All eyes were on this race last night, and it will be closely followed leading up to the day of the runoff. With McDaniel’s 17% of the vote and Bartee’s 1.5%, the question now becomes, where will those votes go?
During a concession speech, McDaniel called for unity among the Republican Party and and Hyde-Smith welcomed newcomers to her campaign. If Espy, a former Congressman, hopes to return to Washington, he’ll have to win over some of McDaniel’s supporters.
For a closer look, here is a breakdown of the county-by-county results courtesy of the New York Times.
* At the time that this story was published, Forrest County had not yet reported their numbers.
