OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A closely-watched Republican run-off election in Mississippi has been called between incumbent Rep. Michael Guest and former Navy pilot Michael Cassidy.
Guest, who voted to create a “bipartisan” commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol incident and former President Donald Trump, was forced into a runoff amid criticism that he was disloyal to Trump.
Guest has been declared the winner of the GOP primary for Mississippi’s 3rd District.
He will face former Homeland Security staffer Shuwaski Young, a Democrat, in November.
BREAKING: Michael Guest wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District: @WinWithJMC pic.twitter.com/88lrAsPzpQ
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 29, 2022
Projection:
Incumbent Representative Michael Guest is the Projected Winner in the #MS03 Republican Primary Runoff. He will defeat Michael Cassidy.#ElectionDay #Election2022 pic.twitter.com/JT39Ygcr45— The Election Center (@ElectionCenter_) June 29, 2022
In the June 7 primary, Cassidy received 47.5% of the vote and Guest received 46.9%.
Because neither candidate received over 50% of the vote, they were forced into the June 28 run-off.
Guest voted along with 34 other House Republicans to create a “bipartisan” commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6, 2021. According to the New York Times, “the decision to buck their party and former President Donald J. Trump has imperiled several Republicans in their primaries this year” despite the fact that the House’s proposal later failed in the Senate.
Cassidy mentioned this vote when he challenged Guest to a debate after the June 7 primary: “I am calling on Mr. Guest to give the voters the opportunity to see us debate and so he can be held accountable for voting for the Democrats’ January 6th Commission.”
Guest’s campaign responded saying, “Congressman Guest did not vote for Nancy Pelosi’s Select Committee on January 6th that’s currently in the news…He voted against the Select Committee because he knew it would lead to the witch hunt we are seeing now…[Cassidy] has spent a personal fortune to mislead the people of Mississippi about Congressman Guest’s conservative, Christian character.”
Last year, Guest claimed during an interview that he voted for the earlier commission because he wanted to probe whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shared any responsibility for the incident.
“So I truly believe that, if you’re looking at an investigation, a key part of that investigation needs to be surrounding Speaker Pelosi,” the Republican incumbent said. “What was Speaker Pelosi’s role, and what by her being involved and having discussions, what is the level of blame that should be placed on her for what happened?”
“They don’t want to talk about our 95% voting record with Donald Trump that we were co-chairs of his Mississippi reelection campaign, that we voted against impeachment twice and actually spoke on the floor in opposition to that,” Guest told a lunch crowd last week when asked again about his voting record.
Voters in Mississippi's 3rd District will choose between Rep. Michael Guest and Michael Cassidy in tomorrow's primary on Tuesday, June 28.
Mississippi has open primaries. There was no Dem primary this year, so all voters can vote in the GOP runoff.https://t.co/OiaoQMjKux
— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) June 28, 2022
Many election forecasters have rated Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District as a “solid/safe Republican seat.”
This means that the seat is very likely to remain in Republican hands after the general election in November.
