For the second time in nine months, Chuck Younger has defeated Bobby Patrick in a race for the District 17 state senate seat.
In Tuesday’s Republican primary, Younger outpaced Patrick by an almost 2-to-1 margin and will move on to face Libertarian candidate Jake Reeves in the Nov. 3 general election.
Younger collected 4,330 votes (64 percent) while Patrick picked up 2,436 votes. There was one write-in vote.
Reached Tuesday evening, Younger said he was pleased and humbled by the result.
“I’m just happy the people of Lowndes County trust me to work as hard as I can for everyone, Republican and Democrat alike,” said Younger, 51. “I was honored when they sent me to Jackson last year and I’m honored that it looks like they are sending me back.”
Younger, a farmer and rancher, had never sought office until Terry Brown, who had represented District 17 since 2003, died in September. Younger and Patrick emerged from a field of four candidates in the Nov. 4 special election to fill Brown’s unexpired term. In the Nov. 25 runoff, Younger collected 3,018 votes to 2,231 for Patrick, a retired insurance company owner.
Younger represented the district during the 2015 legislative session and said his approach, should he prevail in the general election as expected, will be much the same going into the 2016 legislative session, which begins in January.
“I learned a lot from that experience, but you can’t learn everything you need to know in just one session,” he said. “I don’t really have an agenda going forward. I want to talk to our supervisors and Joe Max Higgins with the LINK and try to continue to build on what they’ve got started.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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