Published: November 05, 2008 11:58 am            

America votes for change; County goes with McCain

NEWTON — Newton County voters weren’t much different than other Mississippi voters as they voted for John McCain to become America’s next president.

At 9:40 p.m., CNN News predicted that McCain would win Mississippi as he had 58 percent of the state’s popular vote and would take the state’s six electorial votes.

But at 10 p.m., CNN and most other major networks projected that Barack Obama was elected as the nation’s first black president in a historical election that had one of the highest voter turnout in the history of America.

At 10:20 p.m., John McCain conceded the election, telling a GOP crowd from phoenix that “the American people had spoken.”

Obama told a huge crowd in Chicago in his acceptance speech that a “new dawn of American leadership is at hand.”

McCain’s victory in Mississippi wasn’t a big surprise on the national scene as the state has voted heavily for President George W. Bush in the last two elections and has elected a Republican governor in Haley Barbour the last two terms.

In Newton County, McCain won almost all across the board, carrying 17 of 19 precincts. McCain had 5984 votes to 2901 for Obama, carrying 67 percent of the vote.

Newton County also voted Republican in other major races, giving Thad Cochran 6,172 votes, Roger Wicker 5,661 votes and Gregg Harper 5,978 votes.

Newton County has 14,533 registered voters and had a turnout of 8,936 voters, a 62 percent voter turnout, which is somewhat lower than the national average.



In other races

• In the state’s hotly contested race, Republican Roger Wicker won a special election to fill the remaining four years of the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Trent Lott. At 11 p.m., Wicker had secured 56 percent of the state’s votes with 80 percent of the precincts reporting and was declared projected to be the winner.

• Rep. Bennie Thompson easily defeated little known Republican challenger Richard Cook to take the state’s 2nd Congressional District, which covers most of the Mississippi Delta.

• Political newcomer Gregg Harper, a Pearl attorney, was also the projected winner to take the state’s 3rd Congressional District. He beat out Democratic rival, Joel Gill, a livestock farmer, who ran a low-budget campaign. Harper takes the seat vacated by Chip Pickering.

• Rep. Gene Taylor, a Democrat from the Coast, easily beat out Republican minister John McCay.

• For the State Supreme Court, it appears that Chief Justice Jim Smith’s tenure in the high court is over. Crystal Springs attorney Jim Kitchens appears headed for victory at press time.

        

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