Guest wins Madison, district in runoff
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Michael Guest won Madison County in Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff defending his seat from challenger Michael Cassidy, a transplant Navy pilot from Maryland.
“My family and I were overwhelmed with the support we received throughout the Third District,” Guest said, adding he’s grateful for the overwhelming support in Madison County.
Guest, seeking a third term representing Mississippi’s Third Congressional District that includes most of Madison County, beat Cassidy here with just over 70 percent of the vote.
Districtwide, Guest defeated Cassidy with 67.3 percent, or 46,334 votes to Cassidy’s 22,479. Just three weeks prior, Cassidy held a couple hundred vote lead over Guest following the June 7 primary. A third candidate, Thomas Griffin, garnered enough votes to force the runoff.
Guest will take on take on Democrat Shuwaski Young in the November general election who won the primary without a challenger.
Unofficial Madison County results available on Wednesday show a total of 10,749 votes were cast in 43 precincts with a reported three ballots coming in blank.
Guest beat Cassidy for the Republican nomination here by 7,395 to 3,040 votes. 13 write-in votes were cast accounting for only 0.12 percent of the total.
The bulk of the votes were cast in this run-off race at 10,448. All votes were cast in person on election day.
Only 287 votes were cast in Madison County in the 2nd Congressional District race for the Republican nomination.
Cassidy reportedly called Guest Tuesday night to concede.
“I called Congressman Guest earlier this evening to congratulate him on his win,” he wrote on Facebook. “I want to thank everybody who supported my campaign and believed in me and our cause. And urge all of you to not lose faith in the America First cause despite today's setback. I am confident that the future belongs to us.
Brian Flowers, with 166 votes, beat Ronald Eller who had 116. That represented a 57.84 percent majority for Flowers. A total of five write-in votes were cast reaching 1.74 percent of the vote. Districtwide, Flowers won with 58 percent of the vote.
Flowers will face incumbent Democrat Bennie Thompson in November. A large part of western Madison County is in the 2nd District.
On the Coast, Incumbent Steven Palazzo lost the 4th District primary to challenger Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell. Ezell will take on former Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree in the November general election.