Antiabortion Democrat Wins Special Election To Fill House Seat In Mississippi

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 15 May 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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A conservative Democrat who, according to the Washington Post, ran a campaign focused on "support for gun rights and opposition to abortion," won a special election Tuesday to fill the Republican-held U.S. House seat in northern Mississippi. Prentiss County, Miss., Chancery Clerk Travis Childers (D) defeated Southaven, Miss., Mayor Greg Davis (R) 54% to 46% in the election to represent the state's 1st Congressional District. Childers will replace Roger Wicker (R), who was appointed to take the seat vacated by Sen. Trent Lott (R).

According to the Post, the election has left the "once-dominant House Republicans reeling from their third special-election defeat of the spring." In the Mississippi race and in another special election in Louisiana earlier this month, House Democrats "demonstrated their willingness" to back candidates who have different "ideological positions on key social issues" than the "mainstream of their caucus," the Post reports (Kane, Washington Post, 5/14).

According to the New York Times, the Republican strategy of trying to link Childers to "more liberal national Democratic figures fell short, as it did in Louisiana" (Nossiter, New York Times, 5/14). Vice President Cheney campaigned for Davis the day before the election, and Davis ran advertisements attempting to link Childers to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the national Democratic Party platform (Wagster Pettus, AP/Google.com, 5/14).

Childers' victory fills the last vacant House seat. Democrats now hold a majority in the House of 236 to 199 (Davis, Wall Street Journal, 5/14).

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