State Sen. Jenifer Branning was declared the winner of a state Supreme Court seat on Friday after a runoff election Nov. 26.

 

Branning, an attorney from Philadelphia who represents District 18, which includes parts of Neshoba, Leake and Winston counties, has served in the state Senate since 2016. She ran against incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens, a Copiah County native, who was running for his third term in the District 1, Seat 3 position on the court.

 

According to the Associated Press, which called the race at 1:05 p.m., Branning received 64,025 votes or 50.6% compared to Kitchens’ 62,585 votes or 49.4%. The win, by 1,440 votes, comes more than a week after Election Day as county elections officials worked to certify the results and transmit them to the Secretary of State’s office.

 

In the Nov. 5 general election, Branning maintained a solid lead over Kitchens in both Lauderdale County and District 1, which includes 22 counties in Central Mississippi. She received 59.09% of the vote in Lauderdale County, while Kitchens received 20.12%. Districtwide, Kitchens trailed Branning by about 6.2%.

 

In the runoff, Lauderdale County voters doubled down, with 75.3% of the vote going to Branning and 24.5% going to Kitchens, but districtwide voting put the candidates in a much tighter race. Elections officials on Nov. 27 said the winner would likely be determined by absentee and affidavit ballots.

 

Mississippi law allows circuit clerk’s to count mail in absentee ballots received up to five days after an election as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day. Voters who cast affidavit ballots due to voter ID issues similarly have five days to bring the necessary documents to the circuit clerk’s office for their vote to count.

 

The deadline for both affidavit and absentee ballots was 5 p.m. Wednesday.

 

Although Mississippi judicial races are nonpartisan, meaning candidates don’t declare an affiliation with any political party, the Supreme Court race divided neatly along idealogical lines. Branning, known for her staunch conservative stances in the Senate, billed herself as the conservative answer to Kitchens’ rulings and was supported by many Republicans.

 

Kitchens, who is considered to be one of the more centrist justices of the nine-member court, was supported by many Democrats although he was not endorsed by the party.

 

First elected to the Supreme Court in 2008, Kitchens had previous experience in public service as district attorney for Copiah, Lincoln and Walthall counties in the 1970s. He held office for nine years before going into private practice. He will end his second term on the court as a presiding justice and next in line to succeed Chief Justice Mike Randolph.

 

His departure will put Justice Leslie King in position to succeed Randolph instead.