The special election for Mississippi House Representative District 77 held July 10 resulted in a run-off between Price Wallace of Mendenhall and Hayes Patrick of Puckett.
Five candidates qualified for the position, Cliff Brown, Hayes Patrick, Chris Purdum, Cemper Scott, and Price Wallace.
District 77 encompasses much of Simpson County, which included 16 voting precincts. District 77 also includes Florence and Puckett in Rankin County. Hayes Patrick of Puckett was the only candidate running from Rankin County, which gave him a considerable advantage in that area. Patrick was the clear leader after the unofficial Rankin County totals were in. He finished with 373 votes in Rankin County, followed by Price Wallace with 107. The remaining candidates combined for 71 votes of the Rankin County totals.
Price Wallace was rumored to be the favorite in Simpson County and that proved to be true. According to the official Simpson County totals Wallace led all candidates with 651 votes. Patrick surprisingly finished second in Simpson County with 496 votes. Chris Purdum notched 446 votes, Cemper Scott 419 votes, and Cliff Brown finished with 42 votes. Patrick with 869 total votes and Wallace with 758 votes emerged as the clear front runners, and will face each other in a run off on July 31. The runoff election will be interesting, and the results suggest that the winner will be decided by Simpson County.
The other candidates combined for approximately 1,000 votes with the majority of those ballots being cast in Simpson County. Simpson County had less than 20 percent of the 12,089 registered voters of the 16 precincts participate in this election. This was surprising considering the popularity of the candidates throughout their respective communities. Patrick proved to have a strong presence among Simpson County voters, but this upcoming election may take the shape of a turf war. Many Simpson County citizens appreciated the fact that former Representative Andy Gipson was a resident of the county. Gipson was accessible and was a constant at Simpson County events throughout his time as a representative. Citizens became accustom to having their representative as a part of their community, and this may be the deciding factor that plays into Price Wallace’s favor.
The runoff election between Hayes Patrick and Price Wallace for Mississippi House of Representatives District 77 will be held on July 31.
