U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, representing Mississippi’s 4th District, became the first incumbent congressman to lose in a party primary in recent state history when he was defeated Tuesday by Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell in the Republican primary runoff.
Another incumbent congressman, Michael Guest of the 3rd District in central Mississippi, easily survived a runoff challenge from former Navy pilot Michael Cassidy in the Republican primary.
In the west Mississippi 2nd District runoff Tuesday, Brian Flowers defeated Ronald Eller and will run in the November election against incumbent Democrat Bennie Thompson, the state’s only African American U.S. House member.
Incumbents Guest and Palazzo were forced to runoff elections because neither garnered a majority vote in the first primary earlier this month.
Guest, a former district attorney representing Madison and Rankin counties in suburban Jackson, actually trailed Cassidy, a campaign novice, in the first primary vote.
But in the runoff, the Republican establishment and the Guest campaign, which apparently had underestimated Cassidy, waged an intensive campaign, easily outdistancing Cassidy.
Late Tuesday with results still coming in, Guest had a commanding 67 percent to 33 percent lead over Cassidy.
Palazzo did not have similar success in the runoff. In late results, Ezell had a 54 percent to 46 percent lead over the incumbent.
The Associated Press called both races late Tuesday.
In Newton County, Guest got 1,208 votes to 866 for Cassidy. In all, 2,074 voters cast ballots in the runoff election.
“We actually had more people vote in the runoff than in the primary,” Circuit Clerk Mike Butler said. “It generally doesn’t work that way but that’s what happened this time around.”
