UPDATED: Primary election results
As expected, there was a very low voter turnout Tuesday for the Republican and Democratic primary races to determine who will be on the November ballot for First District U.S. Congress in November.
About five percent of the registered voters in DeSoto County cast ballots on Tuesday. There are 122,071 registered voters, according county election information.
Those who did go to the polls voted for the candidates who will go on to the general election: incumbent Republican Rep. Trent Kelly and Democratic challenger Dianne Dodson Black of Olive Branch.
In DeSoto County, Black attracted 83.88 percent of the vote, or 1,598 ballots. She was challenged by Hunter Avery, who received 295 votes.
After Black was declared the winner of the Democratic nomination, she released a statement, saying, “President Biden and the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are working on helping Americans have a better life by addressing corporate greed which has kept the minimum wage low, escalated the price of gasoline and driven up inflation. If elected, you can expect me to vote in support of the vast Biden/Harris agenda.”
On the Republican side, Kelly finished with 81.12 percent of the vote, or 3,549 ballots. He was challenged by Mark D. Strauss of Olive Branch, who garnered 815 votes.
The above figures included 198 absentee ballots that were cast. Affidavit or provisional ballots are not counted on Election Night, but rather are reviewed by Election Commissioners before the vote becomes official.
Rep. Kelly responded to the vote with a social media post after the primary election was called for him.
The Associated Press declared both races around 8:15-8:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. Unofficial results as of late Tuesday evening at Kelly with 89.7 percent of the vote and Strauss with 10.3 percent on the Republican side. Black had received 79 percent of the primary vote in the First District and Avery with 21 percent with still one-third of district voters still not counted. A total of 20 states held Senate or House of Representative primaries on Tuesday.
