Voters return incumbent legislators to office; results for contested House, Senate races

Voters in the three Coast counties returned four incumbent Senators and four House incumbents to the Mississippi Legislature for four more years, with a fourth incumbent senator leading in his race.

But 17 legislators from the three Coast counties, 15 of whom are Republicans, ran without opposition in the general election. Only one of the eight contested races featured a Republican and Democratic candidate, the race for House District 121 in Harrison County.

The Associated Press noted the trends statewide in a recent article, reporting: “More than four-fifths of Mississippi’s legislative candidates will have no major-party opposition in the Nov. 7 general election. And more than half of this year’s winners will have faced no other Republicans or Democrats in either the primary or the general election.”

The competitive Senate and House races on the Coast, along with the winners, parties and vote totals from Mississippi Today, are listed below:

Senate District 47 (Stone, Harrison and Jackson counties): With 94% of votes counted, incumbent Republican Joseph M. “Mike” Seymour defeated independent George “Tony” Uram, with 10,462 votes, or 86.4%, to 1,649 votes, or 13.6%.

Senate District 48 (Harrison and Hancock counties): With 95% of votes counted, incumbent Republican Mike Thompson defeated Libertarian Matthew Adams, with 7,869 votes, or 71.8%, to 3,084 votes or 28.2%.

Senate District 49 (Harrison County): With 95% of votes counted, incumbent Republican Joel R. Carter Jr. defeated Libertarian Glen A. Lewis, with 7,475 votes, or 70.5% to 3,134 votes, or 29.5%.

Senate District 51 (Jackson County): With 95% of votes counted, incumbent Republican Jeremy England won, with 7,769 votes, or 75.9%, to 1,415 votes, or 13.8%, for Libertarian Lynn M. Bowker and 1,048 votes, or 10.2%, for Green Party candidate Artis R. Burney.

House District 114 (Jackson County): With 95% of votes counted, incumbent Republican Jeffrey S. “Jeff” Guice defeated Libertarian Casey Whitehead, with 3,167 votes, or 82.2%, to 686 votes, or 17.8%.

House District 120 ( Harrison County): With 95% of votes counted, incumbent Republican Richard Bennett defeated Libertarian Cameron Roberson, with 3,968 votes. or, 80.7%, to 948 votes, or 19.3%.

House District 121 (Harrison County): With 95% of votes counted, incumbent Republican Carolyn Crawford defeated Democrat John W. DeDeaux, with 3,937 votes, or 64.3%, to 2,186 votes, or 35.7%

House District 122 (Hancock County): With 99% of votes counted, incumbent Republican Brent David Anderson defeated Libertarian Brice L. Phillips, with 3,618 votes, or 78.8%, to 972 votes, or 21.2%.