When you can't beat 'em, get a little help from your friends. If it worked for George W. Bush in 2000, why not Mississippi GOP State Rep. Ashley Henley in 2019. Just like Bush appealed to a conservative-leaning Supreme Court to help him snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, Henley is now looking to the Republican-led Mississippi House for the same type of assist in overturning an election she lost by 14 votes—results already certified by the Republican secretary of state.
In an election challenge filed Wednesday, Henley says her examination of the results revealed a failure "to adhere to proper election procedures to insure a fair and legitimate election." In conclusion, Henley writes, "Petitioner prayerfully requests Mississippi's House of Representatives' Special Committee to report a resolution recommending to declare the office of representative for Mississippi's State Representative for District 40 as vacant." One sentence later, Henley writes, "Petitioner prays a vote in the majority" by the state's GOP-led House will officially declare the seat vacant.
That's a whole lot of praying that just might pay off considering the GOP-led Mississippi state House in 2016 voted to ignore chamber rules and seat a Republican candidate who lost to a Democratic incumbent in a straw-drawing tiebreaker. Seating Republican Mark Tullos in that election gave the GOP a three-fifths supermajority in the House that continues to this day.
Democrat Hester Jackson-McCray, who would be the first African American woman to hold the seat, said Henley was challenging the results of an election entirely run by her own party.
"I just beat you fair and square. Hard work just beat you this time," Jackson-McCray said. "She has the right to go through the technicalities, but I think if people read this notice she’s putting out, it looks like she’s arguing that her own party didn’t manage the election right. The election was run by Republicans. The DeSoto County election commissioners are Republicans. The Secretary of State is a Republican.”
State law allows the House to vacate the seat, hold another election, or simply seat one of the candidates, according to Mississippi Today.