The primary election results in Winston County followed the pattern across the rest of the state of Mississippi on Tuesday. In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton won by a large majority over her main rival, Bernie Sanders. Unofficial results show that Clinton garnered 86% of the vote across the county. This compares to a statewide percentage of 82.65% There was very little drama for the Democrats as most news agencies called the race for Clinton as soon as the polls closed across the state.
Donald Trump also had a strong win as he gained 46 % of the vote in the county's 12 precincts. Ted Cruz was his strongest competition. Cruz finished with 37% of the vote followed by John Kasich with 9% and Marco Rubio with 5%. Other Republican candidates who had suspended their campaign were listed on the ballot. These percentages also closely reflect statewide totals. Statewide, Trump received 47.34%, Cruz received 36.3%, Kasich finished with 8.8% and Rubio received 5%.
Primaries for the First Congressional District were also on the ballot. In the Democratic primary, Jacob Owens was unopposed. On the Republican side, incumbent Congressman Trent Kelly had little trouble defeating challenger Paul Clever. Kelly received over 95% of the votes cast.
The Winston County Circuit Clerk's Office indicates that 4212 of 12434 registered voters cast their ballots in the primaries on Tuesday. This is a voter turnout of 33.87 % These totals and percentages do not reflect absentee ballots and will not be official for several days.
DEMOCRAT - PRESIDENT
CLINTON 1442
SANDERS 202
WILSON 10
O'MALLEY 10
LA FUENTE 6
WRITE-IN 3
DEMOCRAT 1ST DIST
OWEN 1340
WRITE-IN 7
REPUBLICAN - PRESIDENT
TRUMP 1156
CRUZ 941
KASICH 231
RUBIO 121
CARSON 40
HUCKABEE 10
SANTORUM 3
PAUL 2
CHRISTIE 1
PATAKI 1
FIORINA 1
REPUBLICAN - 1ST DIST
KELLY 2326
CLEVER 100
WRITE-IN 3