Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell will become Mississippi’s newest congressman in January after winning Tuesday’s election for Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District. The seat is currently held by Rep. Steven Palazzo, whom Ezell defeated in the June 2022 Republican primaries after Palazzo came under scrutiny amid an ethics investigation.
The Associated Press called the race Tuesday night. With about 99% of the vote in, Ezell led Democrat Johnny DuPree 74.1%-23.8%. Libertarian Party candidate Alden Johnson won 2.1% of the vote.
Elsewhere, the AP called the elections for the state’s two other Republican incumbents. Rep. Trent Kelly defeated Democratic challenger Dianne Dodson Black in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District, while Rep. Michael Guest defeated Democrat Shuwaski Young in the 3rd District.
By midnight, the AP had called the race in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District for incumbent Rep. Bennie Thompson, who held a commanding 59%-41% lead over challenger Brian Flowers.
Rep. Thompson is the chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on January 6th, which is investigating the 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol following former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. All three Mississippi Republican incumbents, including Guest and Kelly, voted against the investigation, though Guest did support a prior failed attempt at establishing a commission to probe the insurrection.
In June, Flowers, accused the incumbent of “trying to intimidate American patriots by persecuting hundreds of protestors that are being held as political prisoners since approximately January 6, 2021.”
In 2020, Thompson defeated Flowers 64%-35%. Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District is the state’s only majority-Black district, with Black residents making up 64% of its population and white residents accounting for just 31% of those who live there. Thompson has held the seat since 1993.
