Senate 28 race unsettled; run-off scheduled

By Daphne Higgins

Contributing Writer

With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, two of the nine candidates in the race for the Senate District 28 seat will be returning to the polls on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in a run-off election to declare a winner for the position left vacant by the death of Senator Alice Harden.

Unofficial results show that Marshand Crisler edged out opponents, Sollie B. Norwood and Tamara Grace Butler, by a close margin to lead the trio in the special election poll results Feb. 5, 2013.

Crisler received 25 percent of the vote; Norwood received 23 percent of the vote; and Butler received 22 percent of the vote.

All candidates are deeply rooted in their communities.

Crisler, a democrat who serves as a board member of the State Democrat Executive Committee, is active in several civic organizations. Currently working on his Ph.D at Jackson State University, Crisler received his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from JSU.

Norwood, who is running as a non-partisan candidate, received his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Jackson State University and attended the University of Mississippi.  He is a former president/member of the Board of Trustees for Jackson Public Schools.

Butler, the niece of the late Senator Harden, is a democrat. She is a lifelong Jacksonian who was educated in Jackson Public Schools, at Alcorn State University and the University of Southern Mississippi.