Contest for Hinds County district attorney heads to runoff

The race for Hinds County district attorney is heading to a runoff between Darla Palmer and Gwen Agho after none of the five candidates in Tuesday’s special election won a majority of the votes. 

The runoff, scheduled for Dec. 1, will decide who will finish the term of former District Attorney Jody Owens, who left office over the summer after pleading guilty to a federal corruption charge. He is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

Palmer led the pack with roughly 27% of the vote, while Agho finished second with roughly 23%, according to unofficial tallies from the Hinds County elections office.

The winner of the special election will serve through January 2028 and take over the job from interim District Attorney Brad McCullouch, who was appointed by Gov. Tate Reeves. 

Palmer, 59, a private defense attorney, twice unsuccessfully challenged Owens for DA. She ran on the campaign slogan that asked, “Are you ready to feel safe?” She touted during the race that she was the only candidate who had never worked in the Hinds DA office. 

Palmer was the only candidate of the five who did not file a campaign finance report by the Oct. 27 deadline. As of election night, she still had not filed the mandatory preelection disclosure, according to the secretary of state’s website. 

Agho, 37, has spent nearly her entire career as a prosecutor for the Hinds DA office, which she joined in 2016 under former DA Robert Shuler Smith. She has argued that her familiarity with the office has given her insight into its many problems. 

The next district attorney will inherit an office facing significant challenges, including a backlog of criminal cases that has contributed to crowding at the troubled Hinds County Detention Center, which remains under federal oversight under a consent decree.