The 2008 Mississippi 1st congressional district special election was a special election in the state of

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

to determine who would serve the remainder of former Representative

Roger Wicker Roger Frederick Wicker (born July 5, 1951) is an American politician, attorney, and United States Air Force, Air Force veteran serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Mississi ...

's term. After an April 22, 2008 ballot resulted in no candidate receiving a majority, Democratic Party candidate

Travis Childers Travis Wayne Childers (born March 29, 1958) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2008 to 2011. The district included much of the northern portion of the state including New Albany, Columbus, Oxford, Southav ...

defeated Republican candidate Greg Davis in a runoff election on May 13, 2008.

Democratic primary

Candidates

, Prentiss County

Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

* Steve Holland, Mississippi State Representative *Marshall Coleman *Brian H. Neely *Ken Hurt,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Democratic nominee for

Mississippi's 1st congressional district Mississippi's 1st congressional district is in the northeast corner of the state. It includes much of the northern portion of the state including Columbus, Mississippi, Columbus, Oxford, Mississippi, Oxford, Southaven, Mississippi, Southaven, T ...

Results

Runoff Results

Republican primary

Candidates

* Greg Davis, Mayor of

Southaven Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Greater Memphis. The 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making it the 3rd most populous city in Mississippi and the largest suburb of Memp ...

and former Mississippi State Representative *

Glenn McCullough Glenn L. McCullough Jr. (born December 18, 1954, in Tupelo, Mississippi) is a Mississippi businessman, Republican Party politician, and economic development professional. He was executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, and ha ...

, former Mayor of

Tupelo Tupelo commonly refers to: * Tupelo (tree), a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves * Tupelo, Mississippi, the county seat and the largest city of Lee County, Mississippi Tupelo may also refer to: Places * Tupelo, Arka ...

*Randy Russell, ophthalmologist

Results

Runoff results

General election

Candidates

, Prentiss County

(D) * Greg Davis, Mayor of

and former Mississippi State Representative *John M. Wages Jr., former member of the Lee County Election Commission *Wally Pang, Batesville restaurant owner

Campaign

On December 31, 2007,

Mississippi governor The governor of Mississippi is the head of government of Mississippi and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Mississip ...

Haley Barbour Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as the 63rd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he previously ser ...

appointed

to the Senate seat vacated 13 days earlier by Sen.

Trent Lott Chester Trent Lott Sr. (born October 9, 1941) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, author, and politician who represented Mississippi in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1989 and in the United States Senate from 1989 to 2007. ...

. At the time of his appointment, Wicker was already a U.S. Representative for Mississippi's District 1. As a result of Wicker's appointment to the Senate, his House seat became vacant, necessitating a special election to determine who would serve the remainder of Wicker's term. covers the northeastern part of the state, including the cities of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, and

. The district had been represented by Republican

since 1995. The district has demonstrated itself to be "reliably conservative" in past elections, with

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

winning the district by 25 points in the 2004 presidential election.A House Race Holds Clues for GOP
Susan Davis, ''The Wall Street Journal'', May 13, 2008. Early speculation had Republicans Greg Davis,

, and

Randy Russell Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolph, and Miranda, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of them. '' Randi'' is approximat ...

and Democrats Steve Holland and Jamie Franks as contenders. All but Franks ended up as candidates. The party primaries were held on March 11. The primary runoff election was held on April 1, 2008. According to Mississippi state election law, those who voted in the Democratic Primary on March 11 were only allowed to vote in the Democratic runoff on April 1. Mississippi was one of the states where right wing commentators such as

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

suggested people cross party lines on March 11 in order to keep the competition alive between Democratic presidential candidates

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Several websites such as the

Daily Kos Daily Kos ( ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party and Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal American politics. The site publishes blog posts, polls, election and cam ...

and politico.com suggested that this is why the Republican primary runoff was so close between the more moderate McCullough and Davis as many of the more Conservative Republicans were not allowed to vote in that runoff. It is also believed that this has led to the final special election race involving a conservative Democrat (Childers) who has a better than usual chance to win the general election. Republicans were particularly concerned that a race between Childers and McCullough would've increased the Democrat's chances. The initial special election to fill the seat was held on April 22, 2008; no one received a majority of the vote so a runoff election was held between the two top vote getters: Democrat

(who was the top vote getter with 49.4% of the vote) and Republican Greg Davis (who received 46.3% of the initial special election vote) on May 13, 2008. The

National Republican Congressional Committee The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is the United States Republican Party, Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives. The NRCC was formed in 1866, when the Repub ...

spent over $1.3 million in support of Davis' bid for the vacant seat.

Freedom's Watch Freedom's Watch was a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) lobbying organization. Freedom's Watch was supportive of the George W. Bush administration's positions in the War on Terror and of Republican Congressional candidates. The group was run and s ...

, a Republican-supporting advocacy group, purchased an additional $550,000 in advertising. The

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. The DCCC recruits candidates, raises funds and organizes races in ...

spent $1.5 million in support of Childers. Despite the district's Republican leanings, Childers defeated Davis in the final round of the special election by a 54% to 46% margin. Once sworn in, Childers will serve through the end of the

110th Congress The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. It was composed of ...

in January 2009. Childers victory represents the 3rd time during the 110th Congress that a Democrat has been elected to a previously Republican-held seat in a special election. Childers victory is seen as a surprise upset for the Republican party as Mississippi's 1st district has been historically right leaning. It is believed that this sends "a clear signal of national problems ahead for Republicans in the fall". Negative campaign ads approved by Davis tried to link Childers with presidential candidate

and his controversial former pastor Rev.

Jeremiah Wright Jeremiah Alvesta Wright Jr. (born September 22, 1941) is a pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, a congregation he led for 36 years, during which its membership grew to over 8,000 parishioners. Following retirement, his b ...

. Childers and Davis faced off against each other in the November general election. Again, Childers won that contest.

Results

Runoff results

Newspaper endorsements

Childers was endorsed by the ''

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal The ''Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal'' is the largest daily newspaper in northeast Mississippi, United States. It was first published in 1872. It is based in Tupelo, Mississippi Tupelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, ...

'', ''

The Commercial Dispatch ''The Commercial Dispatch'' is the daily newspaper of Columbus, Mississippi, United States. It was created from the merger of two older papers, the ''Commercial'' and the ''Dispatch'', in the early 20th century. The first issue of the consolida ...

'', and ''

The Commercial Appeal ''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, also ...

''.

External links

Official election page
from Mississippi Secretary of State *
Commercial Dispatch Online, Election Results

Campaigns' websites

* *
Greg Davis for CongressSteve Holland for Congress
*
Vote John Wages

References

{{2008 United States elections Mississippi 2008 01 Mississippi 2008 01 2008 01 Special Mississippi 01 Special United States House of Representatives 01 Special United States House of Representatives 2008 01 United States House of Representatives Mississippi 01

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Runoff Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Runoff results

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Results

Runoff results

Newspaper endorsements

See also

External links

Campaigns' websites

References