The path to victory: Here’s how Mike Ezell defeated Steven Palazzo in Congressional runoff
South Mississippi voters on Tuesday exercised their own term limits, ending Rep. Steven Palazzo’s 12 years in Congress and choosing Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell as the likely candidate to make it to Washington.
The final tally in the District 4 Congressional race was 54% for Ezell to 46% for Palazzo.
Palazzo felt the sting of defeat he dealt to former U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor 12 years earlier.
Taylor, a right-leaning Democrat, represented South Mississippi in the U.S Congress for 21 years when Palazzo, then 40 and a member of the “tea party,” unseated him in the 2010 general election.
Palazzo took 52% of the vote to Taylor’s 47% (two other candidates got 1%) in 2010.
Tuesday night’s victory was even bigger for Ezell — 54% to 46%.
Mississippi Today reports Palazzo’s loss appears to be the first time an incumbent in the U.S. House has lost a primary election in Mississippi since 1962. At that time two Democratic incumbents were forced to run against each other after Mississippi lost a House seat.
Ezell must still face the Democratic nominee, former Hattiesburg mayor Johnny Dupree, in the November election along with Libertarian candidate Alden Johnson.
Since District 4 is largely Republican, Ezell is highly favored to take the seat.
6 against 1 battle
Palazzo on Tuesday night blamed his loss on the endorsements Ezell got from the other five candidates who finished behind them in the primary and then quickly swung their support to Ezell to beat Palazzo.
Ezell called those other candidates “public servants”and “true Americans” who came together for a common goal, “which is to be better for our country.”
Three of those five candidates — Clay Wagner, state Sen. Brice Wiggins and Carl Boyanton — attended Ezell’s victory party in Pascagoula.
“We all wanted change,” Wagner said. “This truly was six of us in this race against the incumbent. It was time for change and we got it tonight.”
Palazzo said it was the 6-against-1 challenge he just couldn’t overcome.
“When you have six opponents shooting at you at the same time, coordinating their campaigns, solely for political ambitions, it has its impact on us and we underestimated that,” Palazzo told the media after the election was called.
Palazzo said he didn’t have any transition help from his predecessor 12 years ago when he entered Congress and said he would be there to help the incoming Congressman and introduce him in Washington.
Palazzo still has six months in Congress and said he doesn’t have any regrets.
“Whatever door opens next, I’m looking forward to walking through it,” he said.
Ethics violations
Politico media company in Washington, D.C. ,said Palazzo became vulnerable after an Office of Congressional Ethics report in 2021 found “substantial reason to believe” the lawmaker had misspent campaign funds and tapped staff to run errands and other personal services.
The complaint against Palazzo will “just sort of evaporate” when the 117th Congress ends on Jan. 3, with the committee neither clearing Palazzo nor taking any action against him, Mississippi Today reported in May.
A spokesman for Palazzo said the allegations were politically motivated.
Kedric Payne, vice president of the Campaign Legal Center watchdog group, said it is sad there’s not serious enforcement of congressional ethics, but the ethics report on Palazzo is out there, and at least gives voters information they need.
Coast sways the vote
The voters apparently considered that information — and Palazzo’s nickname of “no-show Palazzo” for missing so many votes — when they went to the polls.
Hattiesburg and most of the Pine Belt counties continued to support Palazzo, as they have since 2010, but the turnout and votes didn’t match the three Coast counties.
Both candidates won six of 12 counties, but the numbers on the Coast overwhelmingly went to Ezell. He took 68% of the vote in his home of Jackson County and even outscored Palazzo at home in Harrison County 55% to 45%.
Wagner’s endorsement proved powerful in his home of Hancock County, where Wagner helped flip the primary vote to Ezell’s favor in the runoff.
In the June 7 primary, Wagner had 39% of the vote to Palazzo’s 28% and Ezell’s 6%.
On Tuesday Ezell won Hancock County with 55% of the vote to Palazzo’s 45%.
This story was originally published June 29, 2022 at 12:40 PM.
