The 2008 congressional elections in Mississippi were held on November 4, 2008 to determine who will represent the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. The primary election for candidates seeking the nomination of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party was held on March 11, with a run-off being held for the Republican nomination in the first and third districts, and for the Democratic nomination in the first district. Mississippi has four seats in the House, apportioned according to the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...

. Representatives were elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the

111th Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with th ...

from January 4, 2009 until January 3, 2011. The election coincided with the United States Senate

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to fill the remainder of Trent Lott's term, the regularly scheduled

2008 United States Senate election The 2008 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, 2008, with 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested. Thirty-three seats were up for regular elections; the winners were eligible to serve six-year terms from January 3, 20 ...

, and the

2008 U.S. presidential election The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from ...

. With the results of the 1st congressional district special election included, the Mississippi congressional delegation comprised three Democrats and one Republican. As of 2021, this is the last time in which Democrats won a majority of congressional districts from Mississippi.

Overview

District 1

This district 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, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, Grenada,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Southaven, and

Tupelo Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...

. Democrat

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, Southa ...

was the Representative to the district, having defeated Republican Greg Davis in an April 22 special election. Childers and Davis faced each other again in November along with

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

candidate John Wages, Jr., a college professor and farmer; and independent candidate Wally Pang, a restaurant owner. CQ Politics forecast the race as 'Leans Democratic', and Childers was re-elected with 54.45% of the vote.

District 2

This district consists of the Mississippi Delta and most of the capital city of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

and is Mississippi's only majority-black district. Democrat Bennie Thompson had been in office since 1993, when he won a special election to replace

Mike Espy Alphonso Michael Espy (born November 30, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 1994. He was both the first African American and first person from the Deep South to ...

who had resigned to become Secretary of Agriculture under President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. Thompson was challenged on the Republican side by teacher Richard Cook. CQ Politics forecasts the race as 'Safe Democrat' and Thompson was comfortably re-elected with 69.05% of the vote.

District 3

Republican

Chip Pickering Charles Willis "Chip" Pickering Jr. (born August 10, 1963) is an American businessman and former politician who has been the incumbent chief executive officer of Incompas since 2014. Pickering represented as a Republican in the United States ...

retired from Congress at this election after 12 years of service. The candidates were Republican

Gregg Harper Gregory Livingston Harper (born June 1, 1956) is a former American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes the wealthier portions of the state capital ...

, attorney and chairman of the Rankin County Republican Party; Democrat Joel Gill, Pickens town alderman and a cattle broker; and independent candidate Jim Giles, a former systems engineer and

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

. CQ Politics correctly forecast the race as 'Safe Republican', as Harper was elected with 62.54% of the vote

District 4

Democrat Gene Taylor had represented the district since 1989. He was challenged on the Republican side by

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

minister and Air National Guard officer John McCay III.CQ Politics forecast the race as 'Safe Democrat' and Taylor was re-elected with nearly 75% of the vote.

References

External links

Elections Division
from the ''Mississippi Secretary of State''
U.S. Congress candidates for Mississippi
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Campaign contributions for Mississippi congressional races
from

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

{{2008 United States elections

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...