Mississippi Senate Runoff Too Close To Call

Polls closed at 8 p.m. ET in the runoff for U.S. Senate between Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R).

Going into the primary there were reports of increased in turnout in Madison and Jackson counties, two of the most important counties to watch in the runoff. Madison County went for Cochran in the June 3 primary 61 percent to 38 percent. Jackson County just barely went for McDaniel, 49 percent to about 48 percent.

Recent polling has shown McDaniel with some kind of single digit lead over Cochran. McDaniel came out ahead of Cochran in the initial primary, 49.5 percent to 49 percent, though neither candidate cleared the 50 percent threshold to avoid a runoff.

See updates below:

Update: 10:44 p.m.

According to the Associated Press, with 95.3 percent of votes in Cochran barely leads 50.6 percent (175,549) to 49.4 percent (171,505). The race is too close to call.

Update: 10:28 PM ET

At 93 percent reporting Cochran still kept his lead over McDaniel. About 168,013 votes went for Cochran (50.2 percent) while McDaniel had 166,850 votes (or 49.8 percent).

Update: 9:54 PM ET

With 76 percent reporting Cochran had 124,880 votes (or 51.5 percent) to McDaniel’s 117,447 votes (or 48.5 percent).

Update: 9:33 PM ET

With about 38 percent reporting, Cochran led McDaniel 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent. Some of the key counties for McDaniel had not reported yet. Turnout for black voters also seemed to surpass the June 3rd primary night, according to The Upshot’s Nate Cohn.

In the handful of completed counties, turnout is up by about 40% in black areas, but less in white areas pic.twitter.com/7aM3Lp9hsO

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) June 25, 2014

Humphreys County, also heavily black, has already eclipsed initial turnout and is showing a 20 pt shift to Cochran with 89 percent counted

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) June 25, 2014

Those are almost surely black precincts; there were very precincts where Cochran did so well anywhere in the state last time around

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) June 25, 2014

Update: 9:12 PM ET

With that said, there are 2,000 votes counted in Hinds County (Jackson) where Cochran holds 89 percent

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) June 25, 2014

The Clarion-Ledger’s Sam Hall noted that early numbers for Jackson County looked promising for Cochran.

Early numbers in Jackson County encouraging for Cochran. He lost it in primary. Solid lead right now. #mssen

— Sam R. Hall (@samrhall) June 25, 2014

Update: 9:04 PM ET

With just 15 percent reporting Cochran led McDaniel 55.4 percent to 44.6 percent. That said, most of the results have not come in yet.

Update: 8:55 PM ET
Turnout seemed to be significantly higher than the June 3rd primary.

So far, turnout in #MSSEN today looks significantly higher than 6/3. Still, so far so good for McDaniel (R) in most counties. Early.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 25, 2014

This story was updated.