What to expect in the Mississippi primary

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in Mississippi will choose congressional candidates in the state’s primary election on Tuesday. The state’s junior Republican senator and the entire U.S. House delegation are up for re-election, and all but one have attracted multiple challengers from one or both major political parties in hopes of replacing them.

Republicans hold a narrow majority on Capitol Hill, but control of either chamber in November is unlikely to return to Mississippi, where the party has not changed hands for any federal office since 2010.

Read more: Takeaways from the 2026 first midterm elections

At the top of the ballot, Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith faces a primary challenge in her bid for a full second term from physician and novelist Sarah Adlakha. The Democratic primary field includes Scott Cullum, a state district attorney who covers Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha counties. President Joe Biden nominated Collom for the federal seat in 2023, but Hyde-Smith blocked his confirmation.

Hyde-Smith received about 54% of the vote in her previous general election for Senate, both against former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy. It did not face a primary challenge in 2020. Mississippi had relatively little turnover in its two U.S. Senate seats. Since 1989, the state has had only four U.S. Senators, all Republicans.

Read more: White voters keep Hyde Smith of Mississippi in the Senate

In the 2nd Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s longest-serving incumbent congressman and the delegation’s lone Democrat, faces two major challengers in his bid for the 18th term. Among them is attorney Evan Turnage, one of the latest young Democratic candidates looking to unseat a longtime incumbent from their party. Turnage is a former adviser to Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Republican of Missouri, leaves after President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address at the US Capitol on February 24, 2026. Photo by Kylie Cooper/Reuters

Thompson’s most competitive primary as an incumbent was in 2006, when he received about 64% of the vote against then-state Rep. Chuck Espy, the nephew of Mike Espy, whom Thompson succeeded in Congress in 1993.

Republicans Ron Eller and Kevin Wilson are vying for the Republican nomination. Eller is a physician assistant who lost the 2024 general election to Thompson. Wilson is an Adams County supervisor.

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The huge region extends along the Mississippi River, bordering Arkansas and Louisiana, and includes about 40% of the state’s geography. It includes most of the state capital of Jackson. About 64% of the area’s population is black, the highest percentage in the state. The current boundaries were adopted in 2022. Voters in the district backed Democrat Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, 60% to 39%.

The Associated Press does not provide projections, and will declare a winner only when it is determined that no scenario exists that would allow the trailing candidate to close the gap. If the race is not called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or announcements of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet announced a winner and explain why.

Mississippi does not have automatic recounts or allow candidates to request a recount. Recounts of votes in the state do not take place unless a court order is issued. The AP may declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if it can determine that the lead is so large that a recount or legal challenge cannot change the outcome.

Here are some basic facts about the election and data points that AP’s decision-making office will be monitoring as the votes are counted:

When do the polls close?

Polls close at 7 p.m. local time, which is 8 p.m. Eastern time.

What’s on the ballot?

The AP will present voting results and announce the winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries for the U.S. Senate and the contested primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1st, 2nd and 4th Congressional Districts.

Who is entitled to vote?

Mississippi does not register voters by party, so any eligible voter may participate in any party’s primary. Voters may not participate in the primaries for more than one party. Voters who participated in one party’s primary may not vote in the April 7 runoff for another party.

What does turnout and advance voting look like?

As of February 2, there were approximately 1.9 million active registered voters in Mississippi.

The 2024 Republican presidential primary and the 2024 U.S. Senate primary each received about 248,000 votes, about 13% of registered voters. About 91,000 votes were cast in the Democratic presidential primary and about 82,000 votes were cast in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary, representing about 5% and 4% of registered voters, respectively. About 6% of the total votes cast in both the Republican and Democratic primaries that year were cast by absentee ballot.

As of Friday, a total of 13,473 votes have already been cast in the 2026 primary.

How long does the vote counting process usually take?

In the 2024 primary, the AP first announced results at 8:07 p.m. ET, or seven minutes after polls closed. Voting was last updated that night at 12:35 a.m. ET, with about 95% of the total votes counted.

When are early and absentee ballots issued?

There is no uniform, standardized practice across counties when it comes to releasing absentee voting results. Some counties may provide a subtotal of absentee voting at the end of the tabulation process, while others may combine it with other results in their precincts and release it overnight.

Mississippi does not have in-person early voting.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 238 days until the 2026 midterm elections.