Black Democrats In Mississippi Helped Tilt Election

Across Mississippi, before Tuesday's close runoff election, African-American Democrats were urged to go to the polls to support white Republican Senator Thad Cochran over Tea Party-backed Republican Chris McDaniel, and the strategy appears to have worked.

A Washington Post analysis of voting results shows that in Mississippi's 24 majority African-American counties, turnout increased approximately 40 percent compared to the June 3 primary, a rate that was more than double the turnout rate in other counties.

Mayor George Flaggs, Jr. of Vicksburg, Mississippi, is among those who urged his supporters to vote for Sen. Cochran because of Cochran's record of supporting historically black colleges and bringing federal money to Mississippi for important local projects. Flaggs speaks to Here & Now's Robin Young.