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Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves Reelected, Avoiding a Runoff

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 08, 2023 10:00 AM

While Republicans saw considerable losses to do with Tuesday night's off-year elections, the Mississippi governor's race was not among them. Late in the evening, Decision Desk HQ called the race in favor of Gov. Tate Reeves, who was able to avoid a runoff when facing Democrat Brandon Presley. 

The runoff feature was new for this election, but with an estimated 90 percent of the vote in on Wednesday morning, Reeves has 52.25 percent support to Presley's 46.42 percent.

As Salena Zito proposed in a column from last week, abortion may have been why Democrats had hope in the race. The law that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson case in June of last year came out of Mississippi. This is especially curious given that the abortion issue has consistently been a losing issue for the pro-life movement, including on Tuesday night in Ohio.

Reeves had been endorsed by former and potentially future President Donald Trump, with Donald Trump Jr. also sharing his support for the governor ahead of Tuesday's election. It was something of a mixed night for Trump's endorsed candidates, as Republican Daniel Cameron lost his race when Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was reelected in Kentucky.

The governor thanked Trump in his acceptance speech to cheers from the crowd, as he shared that he had spoken to him just beforehand. Reeves also shared Trump's support for Mississippi, a state he won with close to 58 percent in both 2016 and 2020.

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The GOP posted their congratulations for Reeves, with GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also issuing a statement. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), the Republican Governor's Association (RGA) Chairwoman and the RGA also posted their congratulations.

"Congratulations to Republican Governor Tate Reeves on his re-election victory in Mississippi! Despite national Democrats pouring dark money into the state, voters stood by Governor Reeves and the 'Mississippi Miracle' delivered through conservative leadership," McDaniel said.