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Term limits prevented incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Bryant from seeking reelection, so his lieutenant governor jumped in the race to replace him.
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, is running against the state’s attorney general, Democrat Jim Hood.
President Trump endorsed Reeves and held a rally for Reeves in Tupelo, Mississippi, ahead of Tuesday’s election. Vice President Mike Pence made an appearance at a rally in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Monday.
The Republican Party currently controls the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers in Mississippi.
Cook Political Report recently shifted the Mississippi gubernatorial election from “likely Republican” to “leans Republican,” indicating that the race has become more competitive for a state that has voted solidly Republican in the past three presidential elections. Cook points to a combination of a tough primary runoff for Reeves and Hood’s appeal to voters across the aisle as a factor in their decision. Hood is the only statewide elected Democrat in Mississippi.
Hood has served as state attorney general since being elected in 2003. Reeves has served as lieutenant governor since being elected in 2011.
But there is an unusual aspect to the state’s election process: A candidate needs a majority in the popular vote and needs to win a majority of Mississippi’s 122 state house districts. If no candidate fulfills both of these requirements, the Mississippi House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans, selects the winner.
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