While there were some questions answered in Tuesday’s general election, there remain a few races where the winners are still to be determined.
Locally, Circuit Court Judge Charles Webster and County Judge Kent Haney both won re-election to their seats, as did Congressman Bennie Thompson.
However, who will occupy one of the two Coahoma County commissioner seats on the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board remains up in the air, as does the question of whether it will be Democrat Mike Espy or Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith who fills one of the two Mississippi seats in the U.S. Senate.
Those races will be determined when Coahoma County and the rest of Mississippi holds its runoff election on Tuesday, Nov. 27.
A total of 6,237 votes were cast in Tuesday’s general election in Coahoma County, or 40.6 percent of the 15,359 registered voters.
Competing for the seat on the levee board will be Johnny McGlown and Pete Hunter. At the end of Tuesday night’s count of the votes cast in the general election, it appeared that it would be McGlown in a runoff against Ralph Simpson. Mississippi law requires a runoff between the top two candidates unless one candidate gets a majority.
At the time, McGlown led with 2,015 votes (33.38%) and was followed by Simpson’s 1,524 (25.25%) and Hunter’s 1,423 (23.58%). But after some 486 absentee votes were counted Wednesday morning by local elections officials, Hunter had leapfrogged past Simpson with Hunter having 1,701 votes and Simpson with 1,562. McGlown’s updated total showed 2,106 votes.
McGlown currently occupies the post as he was appointed earlier this year by Coahoma County supervisors to fill the seat after the death of commissioner Willie Gregory. The winner will fill out the remaining two years.
While Republican Sen. Roger Wicker easily won re-election to another six-year term representing the state in the U.S. Senate, it was Democrat David Baria who was the choice of Coahoma County voters as he claimed 3,688 (or 64.5 percent) of the votes cast here. Wicker finished with 1,858 votes (32.5%).
Webster, 62, of Clarksdale, won his fourth term as circuit court judge. He defeated Clarksdale attorney Darnell Felton.
“I am pleased that the citizens of my district seem to be happy with the job I’m doing,” Webster said, pointing to the 74 percent majority he claimed in Quitman County.
He said while election results are one of the measures a judge can look at to determine if they’re doing a good job, it’s not all encompassing. He said a judge will sometimes make a ruling that’s unpopular with the citizenry but one that meets the law.
“Primarily, the citizens want to see a judge that is fair and tries to do the right thing,” Webster said. “I’ve always tried to do that and I’m hopeful that our citizens recognize that. And looking at these results, I’m very appreciative and it’s gratifying.”
He hopes to continue the work done by the local drug court and plans to turn his attention to a full court docket.
“We’ve got some violent crime trials that have been lingering too long and need to get them tried,” Webster said. “We need to move them along and get this docket cleaned up.”
Fellow circuit court judges Albert “Al” Smith, III and Linda Coleman were re-elected without opposition, as was Chancery Court judge Catherine Farris-Carter.
In a rematch from the 2014 general election, Haney once again defeated Clarksdale city prosecutor Wilbert Johnson for the County Judge’s seat. Haney claimed nearly 60 percent of the vote.
“I just thank the citizens of Coahoma County for allowing me to serve another four years,” said the 71-year-old Haney, who will begin his second four-year term at the start of the new year.
Haney plans to continue “doing the same good work” he’s done and he also complimented the campaign run by Johnson.
“We both respect each other,” Haney said.
Also locally, Rico Smith and Milroy Harris were both unopposed and re-elected to seats on the Coahoma County School Board.
In the race for a seat on the Court of Appeals, Coahoma County voters chose Deborah McDonald, who received 57 percent of the votes cast. Eric Hawkins was second with 30 percent, while Ceola James was distant third at 12 percent. The results mirrored the rest of the state.
