Mississippians to vote in primaries Tuesday
Madison countians will head to the polls Tuesday to help decide which candidate from both major political parties will receive Mississippi's 41 presidential delegates. There are also primary races for U.S. House (District 3) and one of Mississippi's two senate seats.
Michael Guest, the incumbent Republican representing Mississippi's Third Congressional District, has a primary challenger, James Tulp. Whoever captures that primary will face either Dorothy Benford or Katelyn Lee on the Democrat side in November.
Incumbent U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican, does not have a primary opponent. But on Tuesday, Democrat voters will choose between Toby Bartee, Jensen Bohren or Mike Espy to oppose her in this year's general election.
Madison County Circuit Clerk Anita Wray said Wednesday morning her office had received 355 absentee ballots — a decent number this close to an election — but had sent out many others by request. The deadline to vote absentee ballot is Saturday at noon.
"The absentee ballots have really picked up in the last couple of days," Wray said. "I think people are starting to realize that next week is spring break, and they don't want to miss out on their opportunity to cast that ballot if they will be out of town."
The deadline to file absentee ballots is Saturday at noon. The Circuit Clerk's office at the Courthouse in Canton will be open from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday to accommodate those wishing to cast their ballots at that time. Wray added that there were no changes to any polling locations in Madison County.
Mississippi is one of seven states holding political primaries on March 10. Voting is expected to take place throughout the state from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In an open primary, candidates must meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable.
Of Mississippi's 41 pledged delegates, 36 will will be allocated based on the results of the primary. Of those 36, between four and nine are allocated to each of the state's four congressional districts and another five are allocated to party leaders and elected officials, known as "super delegates."
And while incumbent Republican President Donald Trump is likely to receive the lion's share of the vote Tuesday, the more pressing question is on the Democrat side, where the race has tightened significantly in the past week.
Following former Vice President Joe Biden's landslide victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday, two other moderate candidates dropped out of the race and endorsed the Delaware native.
On Monday, two of Biden's opponents — South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigeig and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar — dropped out of the race and endorsed him.
Biden also had a big night Tuesday, when he swept the Southern states, taking the majority of the delegates in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas and Alabama to regain the front-runner status he enjoyed before the primary elections began.
Biden's most formidable remaining foe is self-proclaimed Democrat Socialist Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Senator who is running on a platform once considered radical within the party. Sanders' plans — "Medicare for All," tuition-free public college, a $15 minimum wage and radical changes to energy production and consumption to fight climate change — have now been embraced by many Democrats.
Sanders carried the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 11 and the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 22. He didn't fare as well on Super Tuesday, but did win in California, Colorado, Utah and Vermont.
As of press time Wednesday, Biden led the race with 453 pledged delegates, followed by Sanders' 382. To capture the nomination without going through a contested convention, one of the candidates must garner 1,991 delegates.
Sanders' message has not resonated as much in Madison County or the rest of the Magnolia State in past elections. Sanders captured just 16.1 percent of the vote in Madison County in the 2016 presidential primary, a far cry from eventual nominee Hillary Clinton (83.4 percent). Statewide, Clinton crushed Sanders by nearly 150,000 votes.
Sanders did receive his first big endorsement in the state last week when Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba pledged his support.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg suspended his campaign Tuesday,
The other two remaining candidates are Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Hawaii U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.