The challenger led the incumbent in the first primary by less than 300 votes
Voters return to the polls Tuesday in the Republican runoff election for the District 3 Congressional seat which includes Scott County. Challenger Michael Cassidy held a slim lead of just under 300 votes over Incumbent Michael Guest after the votes were tallied in the June 7 primary.
Guest did well in the population base around Jackson as well as in this county where he garnered almost 60% of the vote. But Cassidy ran strongly in many rural counties of the district, which runs from McComb northeast to Starkville.
Guest outpolled Cassidy by 2,100 votes in Rankin and Madison counties, where he had been the district attorney, along with a small sliver of Hinds County. But Guest won only eight of the district’s 20 other counties, while Cassidy won 12.
Guest’s vote to create a special congressional commission to investigate the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol likely played a decisive role in the primary results, analysts say.
Cassidy focused his campaign on this, calling Guest a RINO — Republican in Name Only. And he had help from a former data specialist for President Trump.
Guest has come out swinging in the two weeks following the primary with heavy television and print campaigns claiming Cassidy has a Socialist agenda and linking him to Senator Bernie Sanders and President Joe Biden.
The run-off election is the only thing on Tuesday’s ballot. Polls will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m.
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson reminds voters that, crossover voting is not allowed, meaning voters who cast a ballot in one political party’s Primary Election cannot legally cast a ballot in a different political party’s Primary Runoff Election. However, voters who did not vote in the June 7th Primary Election are still eligible to vote in the June 28th Primary Runoff Elections.
In-person absentee voting is available during normal business hours at the Circuit Clerk Office and again on Saturday, June 25th, from 8 a.m. to noon. All mail-in absentee ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and received by County Circuit Clerk Offices within five business days of June 28th in order to count.
“Although primary runoff elections are conducted by political parties, our office will have observers in as many precincts as possible on Election Day,” Watson said. “Any issues witnessed by our observers, or otherwise reported to our Elections Division, will be referred to the proper authorities.”
