From Staff Reports
Former assistant district attorney Tanya Hasbrouck cruised to victory Tuesday night in the runoff election for the final seat in the 16th Chancery Court District.
According to unofficial results, Hasbrouck defeated Hurley attorney Ashlee Cole Trehern by a comfortable 58-to-42 percent margin across the 3-county district with Jackson County providing the majority of that cushion. Hasbrouck received 23,275 votes, compared to Trehern’s 16,533 across the district. However, in Greene County, the margin was much closer, with Hasbrouck beating Trehern by just seven votes (1,366-to-1,359) in the county’s 13 precincts.
Hasbrouck, 57, is a registered nurse, but left that field and has been practicing law for 28 years. Twelve of those years were served in the district attorney’s office. She currently serves as the public defender for Pascagoula and Gautier.
Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith won a divisive Mississippi runoff Tuesday, surviving a video-recorded remark decried as racist and defeating former federal official Mike Espy, who had hoped to become the state’s first African-American senator since Reconstruction.
The Associated Press called the race for Hyde-Smith just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday with over 80 percent of all precencts in the state reporting. At that time, Hyde Smith held roughly a 75,000 vote lead, giving her a 55-to-45 percent edge across the state.
In Greene County, Hyde-Smith won easily, claiming nearly 79 percent of the vote total. She received 2,420 votes in the county, compared to 660 for Espy.
In all, 42.63 percent of Greene County’s 7,249 registered voters turned out for the runoff election.
Hyde-Smith was in her second term as Mississippi agriculture commissioner when Republican Gov. Phil Bryant appointed her to temporarily succeed GOP Sen. Thad Cochran. The longtime lawmaker retired in April amid health concerns.
The win makes Hyde-Smith, 59, the first woman elected to Congress from Mississippi.
Hyde-Smith and Espy emerged from a field of four candidates Nov. 6 to advance to the runoff. Her win allows her to complete the final two years of Cochran’s six-year term.
