McLendon beats Stevenson in primary, Isom and Jackson also advance

Aug. 5, 2025 – We now know who the candidates will be in the special Senate elections set for Nov. 4. The party primaries on Tuesday, Aug. 5 determined the party representatives for that November vote, thanks to a voter turnout in DeSoto County Tuesday that was less than 10 percent. 

In the county, four newly-drawn districts will be on the ballot and three of the four held at least one primary vote on Tuesday. 

The Republican primary in Senate District 1 garnered the most attention. Incumbent state Sen. Michael McLendon (R-Hernando) faced a challenge from Hernando businessman Jon Stevenson and the attention was so widespread some voters tried to vote for one of them, only to learn when they voted that they were not in District 1.  

Late Tuesday night, with Tate County not as yet reporting their results, McLendon appeared to have won a decisive victory. DeSoto County vote totals had McLendon with 3,935 votes to Stevenson’s 1,890 votes. In fact, Stevenson posted a concession announcement where he congratulated McLendon and offered McLendon’s family condolences on the loss of two young grandsons, who passed away unexpectedly earlier in the week. They were expectant identical twin sons of McLendon’s son Hunter and wife Emily in the Jackson area.  

For his part, McLendon’s message touched on the campaign that at times became one of at times vicious charges and countercharges, and claims of SuperPAC money, among others. 

“I look forward to continuing the work we started — standing up for our rural communities, pushing back against government overreach, protecting our conservative values, and making sure DeSoto and Tate stay a place we’re proud to call home,” McLendon said.  

McLendon-Stevenson, for better or not, became the race of most interest, but it was not the only one.  Two Democratic primaries took place Tuesday night for spots on the ballot in Senate Districts 2 and 11.  

In District 2, Theresa Gillespie Isom advanced past Robert Walker in a district that includes DeSoto and Tunica counties. In DeSoto County, Isom outpolled Walker 768-187. 

In District 11, it was incumbent state Sen. Reginald Jackson (D-Marks) against former state Rep. Abe Hudson Jr. 

In DeSoto County, Jackson received 275 votes to 215 for Hudson. Jackson went on to win in the district that includes five counties, DeSoto, Tunica, Quitman, Coahoma and Tate.

With Tuesday’s results, here are the candidates who will be on the ballot in the special general election in November: 

• District 1: Michael McLendon (R) vs. Chris Hannah (D)
• District 2: Charlie Hoots (R) vs. Theresa Isom (D)
• District 11: Kendall Prewitt (R) vs. Reginald Jackson (D)
• District 19: Kevin Blackwell (R) vs. Dianne Dodson Black (D)

There was no primary in District 19 as Blackwell and Black did not have primary challengers, so both advanced to the general election.  The candidates who win in November will serve the final two years of the original four-year terms. They would then have to run for re-election to a four-year term in 2027.  

The primary may have generated a lot of office and coffee shop talk, but it did not bring voters to the polls. With one district not voting at all and the other three only having primaries for one party or the other, only 8.22 percent of the county’s 89,924 registered voters participated.

Tuesday’s vote was part of the process required when a three-judge federal court panel sided with a lawsuit claiming that earlier state redistricting efforts violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required better racial voter representation. DeSoto County was among the areas of the state that needed to be redrawn to meet the lawsuit’s requirements, hence the schedule for Tuesday’s primary and the Nov. 4 general election.