This year, 1,313,894 Mississippians participated in the election. The total turnout for this year’s election broke the 2008 record, which saw 1,313,894 Mississippians vote. This was the highest total turnout since 2008, when 1,289.865 voters voted for John McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee. With 756,789 votes (57.6%), President Donald Trump won the most votes of any candidate in Mississippi’s contested election. McCain had 724,597 votes in 2008, making him the previous top vote-getter. In the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Mississippi, Mike Espy received 724,597 votes in 2008. Espy received 578,806 votes (or 44.1%) against Hyde Smith. Obama, who won 562,949 votes for his re-election campaign in Mississippi in 2012 was the previous record voter on the Democratic side. The Republican Mitt Romney, who won 710,746 votes in Mississippi that year, was the previous record vote-getter. Former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, a Democrat running to fill a Senate seat, received 560,064 votes. This is a 45% increase over the previous record. Musgrove was running against Roger Wicker in a special election. Hyde-Smith was 54.1% ahead of Trump with 709,539 votes. Trump received 47,000 more votes than Hyde-Smith, which is 3.5 points less than her. Before final votes were tabulated, Secretary Michael Watson, Secretary of State, had predicted in November that Mississippi’s turnout was strong, but not record. Watson stated that while he believed we would surpass 2016’s total votes cast, he didn’t expect it to be as high as expected. “… I don’t believe it will be a large increase over 2016.” However, after records-breaking absentee votes were counted in populous areas, final numbers showed that 2016 turnout was not only higher than 2016, but also set a new high. Watson stated, “I am extremely proud of this year’s extraordinary voter turnout.” PODCAST: Secretary Michael Watson talks about 2020 elections. Dave Wasserman, a statistician for the Cook Political Report, tweeted that there had been an 8.6% increase of voter turnout over 2016. This was despite a low turnout election in Mississippi and a 1.3% swing in support of Trump in the state, compared to 2016. Although the state saw the largest turnout in its history, it was still relatively low compared to other states. According to Statista, the national turnout of eligible voters was 66.7 percent in 2020. Mississippi was among the 10 lowest-ranking states with 60.4% of eligible voters. Although the 2020 turnout figures are still being compiled and could be changed, they will most likely reflect a record-breaking turnout. The 1960 record turnout was 62.8%. Although there was a higher turnout in the 1800s, more than half of the population (including women) were not allowed to vote. The Espy campaign stated that to win the 2020 election, Espy would need to achieve a record turnout among African American voters. These voters are more likely to vote Democratic in Mississippi. Although information about the 2020 election is still being collected, Joe O’Hern (Espy’s campaign manager) told Mississippi Today that Espy achieved a record turnout among Black Mississippians. O’Hern stated that “you probably saw historic Black turnout in this cycle.” “… Even though nobody thought Biden would win Mississippi, you probably witnessed historic Black turnout.” Espy achieved lofty numbers as a Mississippi Democrat but not enough to allow Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, to win the state.