Mississippi's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
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| Mississippi's 1st Congressional District |
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| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: December 26, 2025 |
| Primary: March 10, 2026 Primary runoff: April 7, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Race ratings |
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th Mississippi elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 |
All U.S. House districts, including the 1st Congressional District of Mississippi, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. The primary was March 10, 2026, and a primary runoff is April 7, 2026. The general runoff is December 1, 2026. The filing deadline was December 26, 2025. The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 120th Congress. All 435 U.S. House districts are up for election.
Currently, Republicans have a 218-214 majority with three vacancies in the chamber.[1] To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here. For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:
- Mississippi's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (March 10 Democratic primary)
- Mississippi's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (March 10 Republican primary)
Candidates and election results
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Incumbent Trent Kelly and Cliff Johnson are running in the general election for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Trent Kelly (R) | |
 | Cliff Johnson (D)  | |
| ||||
| = 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 1
Cliff Johnson defeated Kelvin Buck in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on March 10, 2026.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cliff Johnson | 66.0 | 16,577 |
 | Kelvin Buck | 34.0 | 8,536 | |
| Total votes: 25,113 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Montravius Hall (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Incumbent Trent Kelly advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on March 10, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Trent Kelly |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Candidate profiles
This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Mississippi
Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses
Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Survey responses from candidates in this race
Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
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Cliff Johnson (D)
Democracy Matters! The Trump Administration's assault on America's institutions must be stopped. The politicization of our military, assault on our judiciary, and dismantling of government agencies destabilize our country and make us less safe and less secure. Federal employees at places like the VA aren't villains. Our government relies on the separation of powers and a system of checks and balances that has been eroded by those now in power. As a law professor who understands what our Constitution demands, I am committed to the fight for a political system that considers all voices and does not concentrate power in one person or one branch of government. America will remain great only if we address threats to our freedom.
Independence Matters! I'm a lifelong Democrat, but I'm dedicated to Mississippians - not to a political party. We have to elect candidates who understand the challenges faced by those who elect them and know how to fight to protect local voters. I'm committed to the idea that we don't have to agree on everything in order to agree on the most important things - giving everyone a fair shot in life, protecting our freedoms, respecting the views of others, and supporting the most vulnerable in our communities. I love Mississippi, and I believe we can do better. But that won't happen unless we have leaders we trust to have our backs and move forward united rather than divided. People are tired of the constant fights.
Cliff Johnson (D)
You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Kelly | Republican Party | $663,955 | $534,837 | $737,976 | As of February 18, 2026 |
| Kelvin Buck | Democratic Party | $34,545 | $23,300 | $11,245 | As of February 18, 2026 |
| Cliff Johnson | Democratic Party | $304,591 | $239,300 | $65,291 | As of February 18, 2026 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. 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." |
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General 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.[2]
- 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.[3][4][5]
| Race ratings: Mississippi's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| 3/10/2026 | 3/3/2026 | 2/24/2026 | 2/17/2026 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Decision Desk HQ and The Hill | Pending | Pending | Pending | Pending | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week. | |||||||||
Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Mississippi in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Mississippi, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Filing fee | Filing deadline | Source |
| Mississippi | U.S. House | Democratic | N/A | $500 | 12/26/2025 | Source |
| Mississippi | U.S. House | Republican | N/A | $2500 | 12/26/2025 | Source |
| Mississippi | U.S. House | Unaffiliated | $200 | 500 | 12/26/2025 | Source |
District history
The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.
General election
General election for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Incumbent Trent Kelly (R) defeated Dianne Black (D) in the general election for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Trent Kelly (R) | 69.8 | 223,589 |
 | Dianne Black (D) | 30.2 | 96,697 | |
| Total votes: 320,286 | |||
| = 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
Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Dianne Black (D) defeated Matthew Williams (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on March 12, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dianne Black | 85.0 | 12,147 |
 | Matthew Williams | 15.0 | 2,138 | |
| Total votes: 14,285 | |||
| = 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
Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Incumbent Trent Kelly (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on March 12, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Trent Kelly | 100.0 | 68,842 |
| Total votes: 68,842 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
General election
General election for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Incumbent Trent Kelly (R) defeated Dianne Black (D) in the general election for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Trent Kelly (R) | 73.0 | 122,151 |
| | Dianne Black (D) | 27.0 | 45,238 | |
| Total votes: 167,389 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- James McCay (Independent)
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Dianne Black (D) defeated Hunter Avery (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dianne Black | 79.0 | 8,268 |
 | Hunter Avery | 21.0 | 2,203 | |
| Total votes: 10,471 | |||
| = 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
Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Incumbent Trent Kelly (R) defeated Mark Strauss (R) in the Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Trent Kelly | 89.8 | 27,447 |
 | Mark Strauss | 10.2 | 3,109 | |
| Total votes: 30,556 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
General election
General election for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Incumbent Trent Kelly (R) defeated Antonia Eliason (D) in the general election for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Trent Kelly (R) | 68.7 | 228,787 |
 | Antonia Eliason (D) | 31.3 | 104,008 | |
| Total votes: 332,795 | |||
| = 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
Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Antonia Eliason (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on March 10, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Antonia Eliason | 100.0 | 37,830 |
| Total votes: 37,830 | |||
| = 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
Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1
Incumbent Trent Kelly (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 1 on March 10, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Trent Kelly | 100.0 | 56,501 |
| Total votes: 56,501 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
District analysis
Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.
- District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
- Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
- Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
- State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.
This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Mississippi.
Post-filing deadline analysis
The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Mississippi in 2026. Information below was calculated on Dec. 26, 2025, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.
Fifteen candidates — nine Democrats and six Republicans — ran for Mississippi’s four U.S. House districts. That’s 3.8 candidates per district. There were three candidates per district in 2024, 5.8 in 2022, 3.8 in 2020, 3.5 in 2018, 2.8 in 2016, and 4.3 in 2014.
No districts were open in 2026, meaning all incumbents — one Democrat and three Republicans — ran for re-election. There was one district open in 2018, the only election cycle since 2014 in which a district was open.
Five primaries — three Democratic and two Republican — were contested in 2026. In total, there were three contested primaries in 2024, seven in 2022, five in 2020, three in 2018, three in 2016, and six in 2014.
Two districts — the 2nd and the 4th — tied for the most candidates who ran for a district in 2026. Three candidates ran in each district.
Two incumbents — Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-2nd) and Mike Ezell (R-4th) — faced primary challengers in 2026. There was one incumbent in a contested primary in 2024, four in 2022, three in 2020, one in 2018, two in 2016, and three in 2014.
Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all four districts, meaning no districts were guaranteed to either party.Partisan Voter Index
Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is R+18. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 18 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Mississippi's 1st the 46th most Republican district nationally.[6]
2020 presidential election results
The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.
Kamala Harris  | Donald Trump  |
|---|---|
| 31.0% | 68.0% |
Presidential voting history
Mississippi presidential election results (1900-2024)
- 16 Democratic wins
- 15 Republican wins
- 2 other wins
Congressional delegation
The table below displays the partisan composition of Mississippi's congressional delegation as of October 2025.
| Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Mississippi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | U.S. Senate | U.S. House | Total |
| Democratic | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Republican | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vacancies | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 2 | 4 | 6 |
State executive
The table below displays the officeholders in Mississippi's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.
| Office | Officeholder |
|---|---|
| Governor | Tate Reeves |
| Lieutenant Governor | Delbert Hosemann |
| Secretary of State | Michael Watson |
| Attorney General | Lynn Fitch |
State legislature
Mississippi State Senate
| Party | As of January 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 18 | |
| Republican Party | 34 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 52 | |
Mississippi House of Representatives
| Party | As of January 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 42 | |
| Republican Party | 78 | |
| Independent | 2 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 122 | |
Trifecta control
Mississippi Party Control: 1992-2025
Four years of Democratic trifectas • Fourteen years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R[10] | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ A majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, when there are no vacancies, is 218 seats.
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)," accessed July 1, 2025
- ↑ Although he was not on the ballot, Harry F. Byrd (D) won Mississippi's eight unpledged electoral votes in the 1960 election against Richard Nixon (R) and Democratic Party nominee John F. Kennedy.
- ↑ States' Rights Democratic Party
- ↑ American Independent Party
- ↑ Republicans gained a majority in 2007 when two Democratic state senators switched their party affiliation. Democrats regained the majority as a result of the 2007 elections.
