This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in Mississippi was Jan. 12, 2024.
Twelve candidates are running for Mississippi’s four U.S. House districts, including four Democrats and eight Republicans. That’s three candidates per district, less than in the previous three election cycles. There were 5.75 candidates per district in 2022, 3.75 candidates per district in 2020, and 3.5 candidates per district in 2018.
Here are some other highlights from this year’s filings
- No seats are open this year, meaning all incumbents are running for re-election. There was one House seat open in 2018, the only election cycle this decade in which a House seat was open.
- Three primaries—one Democratic and two Republican—are contested this year, tying with 2018 and 2016 as the fewest this decade. Between 2014 and 2022, an average of 4.8 primaries were contested.
- Rep. Mike Ezell (R), the incumbent in the 4th district, is the only incumbent facing a primary challenger this year. Four incumbents faced challengers in 2022.
- The 3rd district is guaranteed to Republicans because no Democrats will appear on the ballot. Republicans filed to run in every congressional district, meaning none are guaranteed to Democrats.
Mississippi is the only state holding a primary on March 12.
In Mississippi, a primary candidate must win a majority of the votes cast in order to secure the nomination. If no candidate wins a majority of votes cast in the primary, a runoff election between the top two vote-getters is held.
