Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers (D) and Southaven Mayor Greg Davis (R) are headed to a May 13 runoff in the open special election to fill the northern Mississippi House seat of now-Sen. Roger Wicker (R). According to unofficial results posted by The Associated Press, neither man was able to secure the simple majority of votes necessary to secure an outright victory in the crowded six-way primary contest, although between them, the two men accounted for 95 percent of the total vote in the special election. In perhaps the most surprising turn of events in what was a safe Republican district under Wicker, Childers got 49 percent of the vote to Davis’ 46 percent, coming just a few hundred votes shy of locking up the special election outright on Tuesday night. No party IDs appeared on the special election ballot. The special runoff in three weeks will be a preview of the November general election, after Childers and Davis secured their party’s nominations in their respective primary runoffs earlier this month. Both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee invested tens of thousands of dollars in today’s special primary and may continue to do so through May 13. — John McArdle