Thompson re-elected as Democrats hold off Republican Red Tide across nation

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Hinds County Election Commissioners Jermal Clark, Yvonne R. Horton, and Kidada Brown handle votes coming in from the polls November 8. (Advocate photo by Joshua Martin)

Editor’s Note: This article primarily focuses on Mississippi’s congressional races. In local races, although the official vote tally is incomplete, recent numbers show that Tametrice Hodges and Gayla Carpenter-Sanders will enter into a run-off election for Hinds Chancery Court 5-3. Hodges received 37% of the votes to Sanders’ 33% and Damon Stevenson’s 30%. Adrienne Wooten has. 69% lead over David Linzey for Hinds County Circuit Court 7-1. Debra Gibbs will likely enter into a runoff with Wendy Wilson-White who received 28% to Gibbs 44% in the Hinds County Circuit Court 7-2 race; candidates Trent L. Walker and Bryant Guy won 18% and 11% of the vote respectively.

While Mississippi Congressional elections ended with the expected results, Democrats pulled off a number of surprising victories in other areas of the nation, thereby deflating the Republican dream of a “Red Wave” that would guarantee GOP dominance in both houses of Congress. 

Second District Congressman Bennie Thompson won the election over Republican challenger Brian Flowers Tuesday by a margin of 59-41 percent. This was Flower’s second attempt at unseating the veteran Democrat and chairman of the important Homeland Security Committee. Thompson defeated Flowers by more than 30 percent in 2020.

While early returns showed Flowers with a lead Tuesday evening, Thompson emerged victorious, winning his 15th term in Congress. 

The three other congressional races in Mississippi were won by Republican incumbents in Districts 1 and 3 and by Republican newcomer Mike Ezell in the 4th district. 

District 1 incumbent Trent Kelly defeated Democrat Dianne Black by a margin of 72-27. Incumbent Michael Guest held on to his seat by defeating Shuwaski Young 71-29 percent. 

Fourth District winner Republican Mike Ezell swept past both Democrat Johnny DuPree and Libertarian Party candidate Alden Johnson by capturing 74.1 percent of Tuesday’s ballots. Ezell, the former sheriff of Jackson County, claimed a primary victory in June over then-incumbent Steven Palazzo.

CYBER

ATTACKS

Several Mississippi  state government sites were slowed to a temporary stop by suspected cyberattacks reportedly launched by a Russia based group of hackers.

Mississippi election officials reported a “coordinated cyberattack Tuesday that disrupted their website’s operations periodically through Election Day,” Newsweek  reported early Wednesday morning. The disruption only affected “external content to voters” and did not involve “any internal elections-related processes,” a state official said. 

Despite the attacks, Mississippi Secretary of State spokeswoman Elizabeth Holbert Jonson reported, “The election system is secure and has not been compromised.”

Another source reported that the Secretary of State’s website was flooded with traffic that overwhelmed its services. 

Some websites were knocked offline after what was reported as “distributed denial of service attacks,” (DDoS).

“We do not have confirmation as to where the DDoS  activity originated,” Jonson told USA Today

Newsweek cited “a Russian hacker group” as the culprits, with Mississippi Secretary of State’s website as a target. Several other states were also under similar attack, the report said.

Department of Homeland Security officials said that such attacks that flood state websites with computer messages would not affect the actual vote totals. “No specific or credible threat disrupting election results that should cause voters to question the integrity of the election,” DHS said.  

DEMOCRATIC

SURPRISES

John Fetterman’s triumph in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race was not the only outstanding victory in the state’s quest for a strong presence in Washington.

The victory of Pennsylvania State Representative Summer Lee broke through a political glass ceiling herself in her winning the race for Congress  in Tuesday’s election.  

She defeated Republican Mike Doyle, who has the same name as outgoing Mike Doyle, the Democratic incumbent who opted not to run for re-election. Lee will likely join a group of women Progressives already in Congress who are noted for their support for women’s rights and an even-handed approach toward the Palestinians under Israeli occupation.    

Lee gained national attention in 2021 when she compared the abuse of Palestinians by Israeli police and military to the treatment of Black Americans by police in many areas of the  U.S. During her campaign, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) targeted her because of her support for the Palestinian cause and contributed over a million to her Republican opponent. 

Black Democrat Wes Moore won the race for Maryland governor Tuesday and will be the first Black chief of state in Maryland and only the third Black elected governor in U.S. history.

Moore defeated Republican  Dan Cox, a fervent Trump supporter, and was congratulated on his victory by incumbent GOP Gov. Larry Hogan.

In Illinois, Johnathan Jackson, son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, has won election in Illinois’ First Congressional District, taking up the seat that until now was held by veteran Congressman Bobby Rush.

In more than 100 Congressional races, Democrats are holding on to a thin margin over Republicans, and it might be weeks before the final power relationship in Congress will be determined.

“Today has proven that when we utilize our collective power, we can make a real difference,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said Tuesday. “The stakes today were high, but Black voters once again rose to the occasion and refused to be silenced.”

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Thompson re-elected as Democrats hold off Republican Red Tide across nation

By Earnest McBride
November 10, 2022