Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020

Elections in Mississippi, 2020

• Election date: Nov. 3
• Registration deadline(s): Oct. 5
• Online registration: No
• Same-day registration: No
• Recount laws

• Early voting starts: N/A
• Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Nov. 3 (postmarked); Nov. 10 (received)
• Processing, counting, and challenging absentee/mail-in ballots
• Voter ID: Photo ID
• Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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2022 → ← 2018
Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: January 10, 2020
Primary: March 10, 2020 Primary runoff: June 23, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent: Bennie Thompson (Democrat)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in Mississippi
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th Mississippi elections, 2020 U.S. Congress elections, 2020 U.S. Senate elections, 2020 U.S. House elections, 2020 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 2nd Congressional District of Mississippi, held elections in 2020.

Incumbent Bennie Thompson won election in the general election for U.S. House Mississippi District 2.

Candidate filing deadline	Primary election	General election
January 10, 2020	March 10, 2020	November 3, 2020

Heading into the election the incumbent was Democrat Bennie Thompson, who was first elected in 1993.

Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District is located in the western portion of the state and includes Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Claiborne, Coahoma, Copiah, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Jefferson, Leake, Leflore, Montgomery, Panola, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tunica Warren, Washington, Yalobusha, and Yazoo counties. Areas of Hinds and Madison counties are also included in the district.

Post-election analysis

The table below compares the vote totals in the 2020 presidential election and 2020 U.S. House election for this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

Presidential and congressional election results, Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District, 2020
Race	Presidential	U.S. House
Democratic candidate	63.7	66
Republican candidate	35.2	34
Difference	28.5	32

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Mississippi modified its absentee/mail-in voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

• Absentee/mail-in voting: Any individual under a physician-ordered quarantine, or an individual caring for a dependent under quarantine, due to COVID-19 was eligible to vote by absentee ballot. The absentee ballot postmark deadline was extended to November 3, 2020, and the receipt deadline to November 10, 2020.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Mississippi District 2

Incumbent Bennie Thompson defeated Brian Flowers in the general election for U.S. House Mississippi District 2 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bennie Thompson (D)	66.0	196,224
		Brian Flowers (R)	34.0	101,010

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 297,234
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Mississippi District 2

Brian Flowers defeated Thomas Carey in the Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Mississippi District 2 on June 23, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brian Flowers	70.0	3,822
	Submit photo	Thomas Carey	30.0	1,638

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,460
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 2

Incumbent Bennie Thompson defeated Sonia Rathburn in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 2 on March 10, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bennie Thompson	94.0	97,921
		Sonia Rathburn	6.0	6,256

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 104,177
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 2

Brian Flowers and Thomas Carey advanced to a runoff. They defeated B.C. Hammond in the Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 2 on March 10, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brian Flowers	37.8	9,883
✔	Submit photo	Thomas Carey	36.2	9,456
		B.C. Hammond	26.0	6,812

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 26,151
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Two of 82 Mississippi counties—2.4 percent—are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County	Trump margin of victory in 2016	Obama margin of victory in 2012	Obama margin of victory in 2008
Chickasaw County, Mississippi	6.06%	4.52%	2.13%
Panola County, Mississippi	0.12%	8.62%	6.52%

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+14, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 14 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District the 94th most Democratic nationally.

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.95. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.95 points toward that party.

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election. It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees. The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Bennie Thompson	Democratic Party	$1,379,892	$1,099,404	$1,523,548	As of December 31, 2020
Brian Flowers	Republican Party	$18,341	$17,891	$451	As of December 31, 2020
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 3, 2020	October 27, 2020	October 20, 2020	October 13, 2020
The Cook Political Report	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

Candidate ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for 2nd Congressional District candidates in Mississippi in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Mississippi, click here.

Filing requirements, 2020
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Signature formula	Filing fee	Filing fee formula	Filing deadline	Source
Mississippi	2nd Congressional District	Qualified party	N/A	N/A	$500.00	Fixed number	1/10/2020	Source
Mississippi	2nd Congressional District	Unaffiliated	200	Fixed number	$500.00	Fixed number	1/10/2020	Source

District election history

2018

See also: Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Mississippi District 2

Incumbent Bennie Thompson defeated Troy Ray and Irving Harris in the general election for U.S. House Mississippi District 2 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bennie Thompson (D)	71.8	158,921
		Troy Ray (Independent)	21.7	48,104
	Submit photo	Irving Harris (Reform Party)	6.5	14,354

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 221,379 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 2

Incumbent Bennie Thompson advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 2 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bennie Thompson	100.0	31,203

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 31,203
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Bennie Thompson (D) defeated John Bouie, II (R) Libertarian Johnny McLeod, and Independent Party candidate Troy Ray in the general election. Each of the candidates was unopposed in their respective primary elections.

U.S. House, Mississippi District 2 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Bennie Thompson Incumbent	67.1%	192,343
	Republican	John Bouie II	29.1%	83,542
	Independent	Troy Ray	2.4%	6,918
	Reform	Johnny McLeod	1.3%	3,823
Total Votes				286,626
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State

2014

See also: Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2014

The 2nd Congressional District of Mississippi held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Bennie Thompson (D) defeated Troy Ray (I) and Shelley Shoemake (RP) in the general election.

U.S. House, Mississippi District 2 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Bennie Thompson Incumbent	67.7%	100,688
	Independent	Troy Ray	24.5%	36,465
	Reform	Shelley Shoemake	7.7%	11,493
Total Votes				148,646
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State Official Results

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Mississippi, 2020
• United States House of Representatives elections, 2020

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Mississippi's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Cindy Hyde-Smith (R)

Roger Wicker (R)

Representatives

District 1

Trent Kelly (R)

District 2

Bennie Thompson (D)

District 3

Michael Guest (R)

District 4

Mike Ezell (R)

Republican Party (5)

Democratic Party (1)

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