Unsurprisingly, incumbents held mostly strong during Mississippi’s special legislative elections on Tuesday. But what may be a surprising result to some is that in a newly drawn Senate District 45, former Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree came out victorious. He wasn’t the only Democrat to get a big win, either.

Dupree, who served as the mayor of Hattiesburg for 16 years before being beat in 2017 by current Mayor Toby Barker, has tried twice to get back into office since the defeat, unsuccessfully running for U.S. Congress and Mississippi Secretary of State.

On Tuesday, he returned as the one doing the defeating, squashing Republican attorney Anna Rush’s bid by more than 35 points, winning by nearly 2,000 ballots, according to unofficial results.

Dupree’s win was one of several the Democr

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