Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Attorney General Jim Hood were seen this afternoon at the polls.
Reeves was spotted voting in Jackson, Mississippi, while Hood was in Thorn.
Some background on the race:Reeves, a Republican, is running against Hood, who is a Democrat.
President Trump endorsed Reeves and held a rally for Reeves in Tupelo, Mississippi, ahead of Tuesday’s election. Vice President Mike Pence made an appearance at a rally in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Monday.
The Republican Party currently controls the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers in Mississippi.
Term limits prevented incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Bryant from seeking reelection, so his lieutenant governor jumped in the race to replace him.
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, is running against the state’s attorney general, Democrat Jim Hood.
President Trump endorsed Reeves and held a rally for Reeves in Tupelo, Mississippi, ahead of Tuesday’s election. Vice President Mike Pence made an appearance at a rally in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Monday.
The Republican Party currently controls the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers in Mississippi.
Cook Political Report recently shifted theMississippi gubernatorial election from “likely Republican” to “leans Republican,”indicating that the race has become more competitive for a state that has voted solidly Republican in the past three presidential elections. Cook points to a combination of a tough primary runoff for Reeves and Hood’s appeal to voters across the aisle as a factor in their decision. Hood is the only statewide elected Democrat in Mississippi.
Hood has served as state attorney general since being elected in 2003. Reeves has served as lieutenant governor since being elected in 2011.
But there is an unusual aspect to the state’s election process: A candidate needs a majority in the popular vote and needs to win a majority of Mississippi’s 122 state house districts. If no candidate fulfills both of these requirements, the Mississippi House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans, selects the winner.
The winner of Mississippi’s gubernatorial election Tuesday will not only have to capture the state’s popular vote, but will also have to prevail in the state’s uniqueelection processfor electing a governor and other statewide officials that was established during the Jim Crow era.
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, is running against Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat. While Hood already faces a challenge in capturing the state’s popular vote, the state’s unusual election process could alsocomplicate his path to the governorship.
The process:A candidate needs a majority in the popular vote and needs to win a majority of Mississippi’s 122 state house districts. If no candidate fulfills both of these requirements, the Mississippi House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans, selects the winner.
Some background:The election process, as written in the state’s constitution in 1890, was enacted at a time when white Southerners were putting in place laws to deny blacks political power.
Critics of the system have said it “dilutes” the African American vote in favor of white districts and officeholders.
A federal judge ruled Friday that the unique election process will remain in place for Tuesday’s election despite a lawsuit filed earlier this year by fourAfrican American Mississippi votersagainst Mississippi GOP Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and Mississippi GOP House Speaker Philip Gunn, accusing the state of violating the (th and) th Amendments to the US Constitution as well as a section of the Voting Rights Act.
While Mississippi has the highest share of African Americans of any state in the country, not a single African American has won state-level, statewide office since Reconstruction.
Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, who was elected in 2015 and is generally viewed as unpopular, isrunning for reelectionagainst the state’s attorney general, Democrat Andy Beshear.
President Trump endorsed Bevin, and held a rally in Lexington on Monday in a final push to encourage voters to turn out for the Republican candidate. If Bevin wins, Republicans will maintain control over the state legislature and the governor’s office in the state.
Trump won Kentucky by nearly 30 points in 2016, but in 2015 , Bevin’s victory came within 10 points of his opponent.
Medicaid eligibility is also an issue in Kentucky, where Bevin wants more work requirements for Medicaid recipients. Beshear wants to lift those requirements.
About Bevin: In 2014, Bevin ran for a seat in the US Senate but was defeated in the GOP primary by incumbent Mitch McConnell.
About Beshear: He was elected attorney general of Kentucky in 2015, and is the son of Steve Beshear, who was the 61 st governor of Kentucky, serving from 2007 to 2015
Elections today will decide the next governors of Kentucky and Mississippi, and the makeup of the Virginia legislature.
Voters will head to the polls a year after Democrats took the US House and in the midst of an impeachment probe, testing the political landscape.
We’re watching elections in three key states:
- Kentucky governor’s race:Republican Gov. Matt Bevinis running againstDemocrat Andy Beshear, the state’s attorney general. Polls close at 6 p.m. local time.
- Mississippi governor’s race:Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican,is running againstAttorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
- Virginia legislature:All 140 seats in the state legislature are on the ballot Tuesday. Republicans control the House of Delegates with (seats to Democrats’) , and the state Senate with 20 seats to Democrats’ 19, with one vacancy in each chamber. Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.
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