Despite the chilly weather, voters turned out Tuesday, sending transportation commissioner candidates Mike Tagert and John Caldwell Sr. to a runoff election. While Caldwell was the top vote-getter, Tagert, of Starkville, won the vast majority of votes in the Golden Triangle.

Caldwell, of Nesbit and transportation director for the DeSoto County School District, led the seven-candidate race in the 33-county northern transportation district that includes Oktibbeha, Lowndes, Clay and Monroe counties, according to unofficial returns.

Tagert, president of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Council, was second and will face Caldwell again Feb. 1.

“We”re just very grateful for the votes throughout the district and the level of support we”ve seen from many different areas of the district,” Tagert said Wednesday. “We look forward to the next three weeks so we can get the message out and let people know the importance of this election, because (the Mississippi Department of Transportation) is the largest agency in the state and has the largest budget in the state, so we”re hoping people see the importance of that and get out and vote.”

The transportation race was to fill a vacancy created by the Nov. 1 death of Commissioner Bill Minor of Holly Springs. The three-member Mississippi Transportation Commission oversees one of the largest agencies in state government, with responsibility over highways, bridges, ports and airports.

Only one precinct in Leflore County remained to be counted. Local officials said that would happen Wednesday.

While Tagert was second district-wide, he soundly beat Caldwell locally.

Of the 7,292 votes cast in the four local counties in the district, 3,988 went to Tagert while 592 went to Caldwell. Tagert captured more than 54 percent of the counties” votes, compared to Caldwell”s 8 percent.

In Oktibbeha County, Caldwell only received 3.2 percent of the vote, or 71 votes, while Tagert received 77.3 percent, or 1,710 votes, according to official results.

In Lowndes County, Caldwell took 366 votes, or 14.9 percent of the vote, while Tagert took 1,117 votes, of 45.6 percent, according to official results.

In Clay County, Caldwell received 5.7 percent of the vote, or 71 votes, while Tagert received 48 percent of the vote, or 594 votes, according to official results.

In Monroe County, Caldwell received 6 percent of the vote, or 84 votes, leaving Tagert with 40.7 percent, or 567 votes, according to unofficial results.

Many counties reported that fear of icy roads affected the turnout.

In other elections Tuesday, voters in Harrison County will have a runoff in House District 116 and a winner was announced in a state Senate election.

Casey Eure and Jim Atchison will face off in the runoff, according to complete but unofficial returns that showed Eure, a Biloxi business owner, leading the eight-candidate field. Atchison, owner a Biloxi real estate company, was second.

The winner of the Feb. 1 runoff will fill the vacancy created when then-Rep. Steven Palazzo of Biloxi was elected to the U.S. House in early November.

There was also a winner Tuesday night in a state Senate election in Pontotoc and Lee counties.

Complete but unofficial returns, including absentee ballots, showed Nancy Adams Collins, a registered nurse from Tupelo, winning the six-candidate field with a little over 50 percent of the vote.

Collins will fill the vacancy created when then-Sen. Alan Nunnelee of Tupelo was elected to the U.S. House in early November.