Childers, Davis vie in 1st District; Harper tops Ross
Wednesday,
April 2, 2008 11:02 AM CDT
JACKSON — Democratic and Republican voters in the 1st
Congressional District have narrowed the field of candidates to a mayor and a
county clerk going forward to the April 22 ballot in an unusual special election
for the vacant U.S. House seat.
Tuesday’s party runoffs were for picking
nominees to run in the November general election for the congressional term that
starts next year, but they also served as a prelude to the election in three
weeks.
Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers of Booneville
defeated state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville to win the 1st Congressional
District Democratic nomination. Holland said he’s now bowing out of the
special-election contest.
Southaven Mayor Greg Davis defeated former
Tupelo Mayor Glenn McCullough Jr. to win the Republican nomination. McCullough
was not ready to concede defeat Tuesday night, said campaign manager Brad
Davis.
Childers and Davis in November will seek the votes to take office
in January, but they first face off April 22 in their bids to serve the rest of
the year in place of Republican Roger Wicker. He vacated the 1st District House
seat in December, when Gov. Haley Barbour appointed him to the U.S. Senate after
Trent Lott resigned.
Holland and McCullough had also filed to run in that special,
nonparty election along with two fringe candidates.
Holland said he sees
Tuesday’s result as a definitive statement from voters for him to remain in the
Mississippi House of Representatives.
“It’s the will of the people, and I
accept it,” he said.
“I’m fine. Life goes on,” said Holland, noting he
looks forward to continuing his work in the Legislature, where he’s one of the
House’s most influential members as chairman of the Public Health and Human
Services Committee.
The 1st Congressional District covers much of north
Mississippi from DeSoto County to Lowndes County.
In the 3rd Congressional District’s Republican runoff Tuesday,
attorney Gregg Harper of Pearl defeated former state senator Charlie Ross of
Brandon. Incumbent Republican Chip Pickering is not seeking re-election after
serving in Congress since 1996.
Harper is favored to defeat Democrat Joel
Gill in the November general election in the heavily Republican district, which
stretches from Oktibbeha and Noxubee counties through suburban Jackson to
southwest Mississippi.
In the 1st Congressional District, the April 22
election will give one of the candidates a head start in becoming a congressman,
while the November election could give the loser a second chance to take the
House post and quickly unseat the new incumbent.
Childers, 49, expressed
confidence he’ll win the seat, putting it in Democratic hands after being
occupied by Wicker for 13 years. Childers noted 1st District Democrats have come
to the polls in larger numbers than Republicans for the first and second
primaries.
“We’ve run two races and, both times, more Democrats voted
than Republicans,” he said. “I’ve got to be encouraged. People are
responding.”
However, Davis, 42, sees a voter base with enough
conservative Republicans to put him in Congress.
“We stand for the strong
conservative principles that the 1st District deserves to have representing them
in Washington. We feel that is a message that will be well received among all
the voters,” he said.
With all of the 1st District’s 462 precincts
reporting, Childers won 20,729 votes (57 percent) while Holland got 15,439
votes, according to the unofficial Democratic Party results reported by The
Associated Press.
In the Republican Party runoff, Davis received 16,830
votes (51 percent) while McCullough got 16,305, according to the AP results from
all precincts.
In the 3rd Congressional District GOP runoff, with all 565
precincts except one reporting, Harper had 29,307 votes (57 percent) while Ross
had 22,139.
It was Ross’ second defeat since August, when he lost the
Republican primary for lieutenant governor.
In the 1st District,
independent Wally Pang of Batesville and Green Party candidate John Wages Jr. of
Tupelo are running in the April 22 special election and the Nov. 4 general
election.
Childers led in the first primary’s five-candidate field of
Democrats with about 41 percent.
However, the front-runners in the GOP’s
1st and 3rd congressional districts’ March 11 primaries wound up losing the
runoffs.
McCullough led the first primary with 39 percent of the votes
cast for the 1st District’s three-candidate field.
Ross was on top in the
March 11 3rd Congressional District primary with 33 percent of the votes cast
for the seven candidates in that GOP field.
Finances
Tuesday’s
congressional runoffs also showed candidates who spend the most money don’t
always win. The losers all outspent the winners, according to their campaign
finance reports.
Holland has gotten more than $295,500 for his campaign,
with at least $200,000 of that his own money, according to the finance report he
filed with the Federal Election Commission. Childers’ campaign has received more
than $205,850, with at least $103,000 of that from his pocket.
McCullough
has gotten more than $516,200. Davis received more than $403,900.
For his
congressional race, Ross collected more than $798,800 in campaign cash. Harper
reported more than $313,000 for his campaign.
As expected, voter turnout
Tuesday was less than the March 11 primaries — which had record-high numbers of
people at the polls. However, the party runoffs did attract more voters than
those held in 1994, the last time the 1st Congressional District had an open
seat, and in 1996, when the 3rd District had no incumbent seeking
re-election.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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