Unofficial results show Tuesday's special election for state House District 23 will be decided in a runoff.
Ballots from Calhoun, Grenada, Lafayette and Webster counties show Andy Stepp with 1,142 votes, or 48.49%, and Perry Van Bailey with 896 votes, or 38.05%, according to broadcast reports.
Andy Clark finished third with 317 votes, or 13.46%. He and the runoff candidates are from Calhoun County.
As of press deadline, the Webster County Circuit Clerk’s Office had posted unofficial totals from five of the seven local precincts in the district. Clark was leading with 89 votes, followed by Bailey with 82 and Stepp with 31.
The winner of the Jan. 31 runoff between Bailey and Stepp will serve the remainder of Jim Beckett's term and run for reelection later this year.
Beckett left the Legislature to become executive director of the Mississippi Public Utilities Staff.
