Northern Mississippi congressional race heads to run-off

JACKSON, Miss.—Neither of the front-runners vying to fill northern Mississippi's vacant congressional seat won a simple majority of votes on Tuesday, setting up a May 13 run-off.

Democrat Travis Childers and Republican Greg Davis are among six candidates seeking to fill the seat vacated after Gov. Haley Barbour appointed Republican Roger Wicker to the U.S. Senate in December after Trent Lott resigned.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Childers had 31,138 votes, or 49.4 percent, while Davis had 31,066 votes, or 46.3 percent. Only Childers and Davis will compete in the run-off.

More than bragging rights are at stake. Davis and Childers are on the Nov. 4 general election ballot, and the special-election winner will be the incumbent with a likely advantage in fundraising and name recognition.

Davis is the mayor of Southaven and was buoyed by a strong showing in his base of DeSoto County, a conservative and rapidly growing area that's home to several bedroom communities just south of Memphis, Tenn.

Childers is chancery clerk of northeast Mississippi's Prentiss County, and he fared well Tuesday in rural areas.

Only four of the six candidates said they were seriously in the race -- Childers, Davis, independent Wally Pang and Green Party candidate John M. Wages Jr.

Democrat Steve Holland and Republican Glenn McCullough tried to withdraw from the contest, but the ballots already had been set.

Democrats hope to recapture the seat that Wicker first won in 1994, when Republicans grabbed control of both the House and the Senate.

• Searched
• E-Mailed