One Candidate Qualified For District 45 Special Election

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – One candidate signed up to run for a vacant seat in the Mississippi House.

Republican businessman Jay W. Mathis will only serve a few months in District 45, which is in parts of Leake, Neshoba, Rankin and Scott counties.

The only way he’ll vote at the Capitol is if the governor calls a special session before January.

Still, Mathis said Monday that he’s looking forward to serving because he says he might be able to help someone.

Mathis will succeed longtime Democratic Rep. Bennett Malone, who resigned from the House in early March.

Both men are from Carthage, and Mathis ran against Malone in 2007 and 2011.

The secretary of state’s office says Mathis is the only person who filed to run in a May 5 special election.