AP: Cassidy and Guest in neck-and-neck race for Republican nominee for Miss. District 3

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) - As ballot tallies came in, the Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District Republican Primary remained too close to call on Tuesday night.

At the time of reporting, Michael Cassidy led by only 528 votes with 89% of precincts reporting. Unofficial results at the time were Cassidy with 48% of the vote and incumbent Michael Guest with 47% of the vote. Absentee ballots have yet to be counted.

Either candidate could still take the election with 50% plus one, or they could end in a runoff election, which would be held on June 28.

Guest spoke to WLBT reporters on Tuesday night as votes continued to be counted.

“I think people are confused about who we are and what we stand for,” said Guest. “We’ve allowed our opponent to define that. So is this does go to a runoff, then we are going to make sure that people of the 3rd District know who we are, they know our conservative values, and when they have the chance to go back to the polls, we hope that we’re going to be able to better convince people that we are the right person to represent our state in Washington D.C.”

Statements were not available from Cassidy at the time of reporting.

Cassidy was born in Annapolis, MD, and now resides in Meridian. He is a Harvard graduate and former Navy pilot.

Cassidy has been critical of Guest’s vote to form a January 6 investigative committee - in which Guest was in the minority of Republicans to do so - calling the congressman a “RINO.”

Guest was originally voted into the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. He is a Brandon native and a former district attorney for Madison and Rankin Counties.

The winner of the primary or runoff election will face off with Democrat Shuwaski Young in the November general election.

Copyright 2022 WDAM. All rights reserved.

Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.