2008 United States Senate special election in Mississippi

For the other Senate election in Mississippi held in parallel, see 2008 United States Senate election in Mississippi.

The 2008 United States Senate special election in Mississippi was held on November 4, 2008. This election was held on the same day of Thad Cochran's re-election bid in the regularly scheduled Class II election. The winner of this special election served the rest of the Senate term, which ended in January 2013. Unlike most Senate elections, this was a non-partisan election in which the candidate who got a majority of the vote won, and if the first-place candidate did not get 50%, a runoff election with the top two candidates would have been held. In the election, no runoff was necessary as Republican nominee and incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Roger Wicker won election to finish the term.

2008 United States Senate special election in Mississippi

← 2006 November 4, 2008 2012 →

Nominee Roger Wicker Ronnie Musgrove Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 683,409 560,064 Percentage 54.96% 45.04%

County results Congressional district results Precinct results Wicker:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Musgrove:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%

U.S. senator before election Roger Wicker Republican Elected U.S. Senator Roger Wicker Republican

Background

Musgrove campaigning for Senate with Jim Webb in Jackson, Mississippi

Supporters of Musgrove's senate campaign

On December 18, 2007, U.S. Senator Trent Lott resigned in his fourth-term to pursue "something else" in the private sector.^[1][2] He ended up starting his own lobbying firm.

Mississippi law stated that the Governor of Mississippi had ten days after receiving official notification of the vacancy to appoint an interim senator pending a special election. On December 31, thirteen days after Lott's resignation, Governor Haley Barbour appointed U.S. Representative Roger Wicker.^[3][4][5][6]

Scheduling lawsuit

Barbour scheduled the special election for November 4, 2008.^[4] Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, a member of the Democratic Party, issued a non-binding opinion that the election must be held within one hundred days of Lott's resignation (no later than March 30, 2008), and sued Barbour in Hinds County Circuit Court, arguing that Barbour had 10 days to set a special election within 90 days (no later than March 29, 2008).^[7][8] Hood argued the date of the special election to be March 11, the same day as Mississippi's presidential primary.^[9] Governor Barbour claimed that the definition of "year" in the law in question is 365 days. Mississippi Secretary of State Eric Clark, the state's chief elections officer and a fellow Democrat, backed the governor's position.^[10]

Judge Bobby DeLaughter ruled that the election must take place no later than March 19.^[11] On February 6, 2008, after Barbour appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which reversed Judge Delaughter and ruled that the non-partisan special election may be held on November 4.^[12][13]

General election

Candidates

Note: Mississippi special elections are nonpartisan. Party labels are for informational purposes only.

• Ronnie Musgrove, former Governor^[14][15] (Democratic)

• Roger Wicker, incumbent U.S. Senator (Republican)

Withdrew

• Ronnie Shows, former U.S. Representative from Bassfield (Democratic) (withdrew February 19, 2008) (endorsed Musgrove)

Declined

• Mike Epsy, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Representative from Yazoo City (Democratic)
• Harvey Johnson Jr., former mayor of Jackson (Democratic)
• Mike Moore, former Mississippi Attorney General (Democratic)

Former Governor Ronnie Musgrove, former U.S. Representative and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy, former Jackson mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr., former Governor Ray Mabus, and former Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore were all considered potential Democratic candidates.^[14][16] Of the five, only Musgrove decided to run. Former congressman Ronnie Shows also decided to run, but withdrew on February 19, 2008, after determining that he could not raise enough funds to effectively campaign against Wicker and Musgrove. Shows gave his endorsement to Musgrove.^[17][18]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[19]	Tossup	October 23, 2008
CQ Politics[20]	Lean R	October 31, 2008
Rothenberg Political Report[21]	Lean R	November 2, 2008
Real Clear Politics[22]	Lean R	October 29, 2008

Polling

Poll Source	Date(s) administered	Ronnie Musgrove	Roger Wicker
Rasmussen Reports[23]	October 27, 2008	43%	54%
Rasmussen Reports[23]	September 30, 2008	47%	49%
Rasmussen Reports[23]	August 23, 2008	42%	47%
Rasmussen Reports[23]	July 28, 2008	42%	48%
Rasmussen Reports[23]	June 26, 2008	47%	48%
Rasmussen Reports[24]	May 27, 2008	47%	46%

Results

2008 Mississippi U.S. Senate special election^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nonpartisan	Roger Wicker (incumbent)	683,409	54.96%	−8.62%
	Nonpartisan	Ronnie Musgrove	560,064	45.04%	+10.17%
Majority			123,345	9.92%	−18.79%
Total votes			1,243,473	100.00%
	Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Adams (Largest city: Natchez)
• Chickasaw (Largest city: Houston)
• Clay (Largest city: West Point)
• Copiah (Largest city: Hazlehurst)
• Jasper (Largest city: Bay Springs)
• Kemper (Largest city: De Kalb)
• Panola (Largest city: Batesville)
• Pike (Largest city: McComb)
• Tallahatchie (Largest city: Charleston)
• LeFlore (Largest city: Greenwood)

By congressional district

Wicker won three of four congressional districts, including two that elected Democrats.^[26]

District	Wicker	Musgrove	Representative
1st	61%	39%	Travis Childers
2nd	36%	64%	Bennie Thompson
3rd	59%	41%	Chip Pickering (110th Congress)
			Gregg Harper (111th Congress)
4th	62%	38%	Gene Taylor

See also

• 2008 United States Senate elections
• Mississippi's 1st congressional district special election, 2008, an election to fill Roger Wicker's former U.S. House of Representatives seat.