Audio articles are automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story; however, this audio has not been reviewed for accuracy and may contain errors. Read more about how we use AI to increase access to our reporting. Local election officials in Mississippi have spent more than a week cou nting votes in a hard-fought U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom. More than 957,000 ballots had been counted by Wednesday, eight days after people voted. Colom opened up a narrow lead on election night, Nov. 3. The vote count remained close, but his lead grew as officials examined provisional ballots. A victory by Colom would be historic in a state that did everything it could, for generations, to block Black people from voting. He would become the first Black senator in Mississippi since Reconstruction – and the first elected here by popular vote, because senators during Reconstruction were chosen by state lawmakers.  This isn’t the first election that has extended into overtime. The state has a history of messy contests that took a while to resolve. Party like it’s 1999 The 1999 governor’s race dragged on until January 2000. Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice couldn’t seek a third term, and the top candidates were Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Parker and Democratic Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. Musgrove was known for his get-up-early-and-stay-late work ethic, and he campaigned the same way. Parker? Not so much. He was at a golf course during the crucial final days before the election. Two other candidates were on the ballot. The Reform Party’s Jerry Ladner and independent Helen Perkins ran low-budget campaigns but collected enough votes to create chaos. Back then, winning a statewide race was a multi-step process. In addition to receiving a majority of the popular vote, a candidate had to prevail in a majority of the 122 state House districts – essentially the equivalent of the Electoral College. Musgrove received 49.6% of the popular vote to Parker’s 48.5%. Ladner got just over 1% and Perkins got just under that amount. Weirdly, Parker and Musgrove split the House districts right down the middle, winning 61 each.  Former U.S. Rep. Mike Parker, the 1999 Republican nominee for Mississippi governor, is photographed with his wife Rosemary Parker on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000, in Jackson on the day he finally officially lost the Mississippi gubernatorial election. Those requirements threw the race to the House of Representatives, where members had no obligation to vote as their districts did. The two months between Election Day 1999 and the opening day of the 2000 legislative session saw some of the most intense politicking of the season as Parker and Musgrove courted House members. Democrats controlled the House by a wide margin. But, the party label was more a decorative item than a declaration of ideals for many lawmakers, so the Democrat was not a shoo-in for governor. Musgrove ended up prevailing in an 86-36 vote that was split largely along party lines. Notably, a Republican lawmaker from DeSoto County, Valeria Robertson, cast her vote for Parker, even though Musgrove carried her House district. Mississippi eliminated the complicated process of electing statewide officials in 2020, switching to a runoff if no candidate receives a majority. The 2023 election cycle was the first time that system was in place, though no runoffs were needed. Gunn vs. Barbour, 2003 Republican Philip Gunn became one of the most powerful figures in state government during three terms as the speaker of the Mississippi House. But he had a rocky time even winning his first House race. Gunn, of Clinton, challenged Republican Rep. Jep Barbour of Yazoo City in the 2003 Republican primary, the same year that Jep’s uncle, Republican Haley Barbour, unseated Musgrove in the governor’s race. Jep Barbour was initially declared the winner of the House primary, but Gunn challenged the results and a judge ordered a new round of voting in two precincts. Gunn won the primary and the general election, starting the first of his five terms in the House. He chose not to seek reelection in 2023, and he is now among the Republicans in the 2027 governor’s race. Tea party vs. the establishment, 2014 State Sen. Chris McDaniel of Jones County came close to unseating longtime U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in a three-person Republican primary in 2014. It was a race that dragged on well past when the votes were counted because McDaniel refused to concede, even going to court. Cochran surprised even some of his ardent supporters by announcing in late 2013 that he would seek reelection rather than retire. After a career of easy victories, he conducted what can generously be called a lackadaisical campaign in which he often appeared unfocused. McDaniel started strong, but his momentum sputtered after some of his supporters were caught breaking into the nursing home room of Cochran’s wife, who had dementia, and taking photos of her. The images briefly appeared in a blog post implying that Cochran was stepping out with another woman while his wife was incapacitated. Cochran’s camp said he had not engaged in any improper relationship. McDaniel aligned himself with tea party folks who wanted to upend the Republican establishment. Cochran served six years in the U.S. House before winning the Senate seat in 1978, and he epitomized the establishment, bringing billions of dollars to Mississippi as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. McDaniel led the first round of Republican primary voting with 49.5% of the vote to Cochran’s 49%. A candidate who spent little, Thomas Carey, received the remaining sliver of votes.  In the weeks between the primary and the runoff, Cochran actively sought support from Black voters. McDaniel protested that people who usually support Democrats should not vote in the Republican runoff. But Mississippi voters don’t register by party. The only people prohibited from voting in a Republican runoff are those who voted in the Democratic primary that cycle. Cochran won the Republican nomination, but McDaniel asked the state Republican Party to overturn Cochran’s victory on a claim that Democrats had improperly crossed over to vote in the runoff. The party did not act on his appeal, so McDaniel challenged his loss in court. A judge dismissed that case, saying McDaniel waited too long to file it. Cochran defeated Democratic former U.S. Rep. Travis Childers in the 2014 general election. After serving less than half of the six-year term, Cochran retired in early 2018 and Republican Gov. Phil Bryant chose Hyde-Smith, the state agriculture commissioner, to go to the Senate.  Drawing straws but coming up short About 9,000 people voted in a 2015 race for a Mississippi House seat, and it ended in a tie between 20-year Democratic incumbent Bo Eaton of Taylorsville and Republican challenger Mark Tullos, an attorney from Raleigh. The tiebreaker? A drawing of straws. Republican Delbert Hosemann, who was secretary of state, held a ceremony in a state office. Each candidate reached into a bag and chose a silver-plated business card case engraved with the word “Mississippi” – one containing a green plastic straw, the other containing a red one. Eaton, a farmer, won by drawing the green straw, and he declared: “There’s always happiness in a good crop year.” But it was a temporary victory.  Tullos filed an appeal, which was considered by a committee in the Republican-majority House. That committee tossed out five affidavit ballots that were in dispute. With that decision, Tullos was sworn into the House, where he still serves in the Republican supermajority. Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Emily Wagster Pettus has covered state politics since 1994. She worked for The Clarion-Ledger and The Associated Press before joining Mississippi Today. ...read more read less