McGee secured her seat in the Mississippi House of Representatives with 2,107 votes while her opponent, Kathryn Rehner, earned an even 1,000 votes. The run-off election was a result of all candidates failing to obtain 50 percent plus one of the vote in the special election that was first held on Sept. 12. McGee earned approximately 45 percent of the vote with 1,475 votes while Rehner trailed with 24 percent by earning 807 votes in total in the special election held in September. With this win, McGee will serve until December 2019 to finish the term previously left vacant by current Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker. This will be McGee’s first term as an elected official. McGee plans to spend the time between now and when the next legislative session meets in January learning from and getting to know other legislators.

“There have been so many members [of the Legislature] who have already offered their help and advice and support so I’m going to listen to everything that anybody offers me and [I] look forward to learning all that I can,” McGee said.

McGee said of her campaign success, “I am honored. I am humbled and overwhelmed by the support the folks of District 102 have shown me. I’m so honored to be able to serve the place where I’ve spent my whole life. We have so many strengths here in Hattiesburg, but I also know that we have challenges that we need to address.”

Areas such as education and infrastructure fall into those challenging areas according to McGee.

McGee, who announced her candidacy in July, ran her campaign as a lifelong Hattiesburg resident and was quoted by Fox 23 as promising to focus on being an advocate for USM and support the medical community as well as local business. McGee ran as an independent.

Many critics were disappointed in the turnout for the special election held on Sept. 12 when only 21.1 percent of Hattiesburg’s 15,753 registered voters turned out to the polls. That number dropped to 19.02 percent with only 2,997 voters making their voices heard during the runoff.