Mississippi House passes lottery bill
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The Mississippi House has reversed itself and passed a bill to create a state lottery -- the same bill it killed a day earlier.
The bill will go to Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who is expected to sign it into law.
Mississippi is one of six states without a lottery, and Bryant has been pushing lawmakers for more than a year to create one. He wants money to help pay for highways and bridges.
Bryant points out that three of the four states bordering Mississippi have a lottery, and Mississippi residents are driving to Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee to buy millions of dollars of tickets each year.
Monday night, the lottery bill passed the Senate but failed in the House.
The House voted 58-54 Tuesday to pass the bill. Here's how the vote went.
Democrats voting yes (18)
Banks, Jackson; Blackmon, Canton; Burnett, Tunica; Calhoun, Jackson; Clarke, Jackson; Cockerham, Magnolia; Denton, Vicksburg; Dixon, Raymond; M. Evans, Preston; D. Gibbs, Jackson;
K. Gibbs, West Point; Holland, Plantersville; Holloway, Hazlehurst; Hughes, Oxford; Mickens, Brooksville; Miles, Forest; Reynolds, Charleston; Watson, Hattiesburg.
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Republicans voting yes (40)
Aguirre, Tupelo; Baker, Brandon; Barnett, Waynesboro; Barton, Moss Point; Bennett, Long Beach; Busby, Pascagoula; Carpenter, Burnsville; Crawford, Pass Christian; Currie, Brookhaven; DeLano, Biloxi;
Denny, Jackson; Eure, Biloxi; Ford, Vicksburg; Guice, Ocean Springs; Haney, Gulfport; Hood, Ackerman; Kinkade, Byhalia; Ladner, Poplarville; Massengill, Hickory Flat; McGee, Hattiesburg;
McLeod, Lucedale; Mettetal, Sardis; Morgan, Morgantown; Patterson, Biloxi; Pigott, Tylertown; Powell, Brandon; Read, Gautier; Roberson, Starkville; R. Rogers, Pearl; Rushing, Decatur;
Sanford, Collins; Shanks, Brandon; Steverson, Ripley; Tullos, Raleigh; Wallace, Mendenhall; White, West; Wilkes, Picayune; Willis, Diamondhead; Wilson, Madison; Zuber, Ocean Springs.
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Democrats voting no (25)
Anderson, Escatawpa; Bailey, Greenville; Bain, Corinth; Baria, Bay St. Louis; Williams-Barnes, Gulfport; C. Bell, Jackson; Clark, Pickens; Dortch, Raymond; B. Evans, Monticello; Faulkner, Holly Springs;
Hines, Greenville; Horan, Grenada; Hudson, Shelby; Jackson, Como; R. Johnson, Natchez; Karriem, Columbus; Paden, Clarksdale; Perkins, Greenwood; Rosebud, Tutwiler; Straughter, Belzoni;
Sullivan, Okolona; Sykes, Jackson; Taylor, Starkville; Walker, Carthage; Wooten, Jackson.
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Republicans voting no (29)
Arnold, Booneville; Beckett, Bruce; D. Bell, Fulton; Bomgar, Madison; Bounds, Philadelphia; Boyd, Mantachie; Byrd, Petal; Chism, Columbus; Corley, Lumberton; Criswell, Olive Branch;
Foster, Hernando; Gunn, Clinton; Henley, Southaven; Hopkins, Southaven; Horne, Meridian; Huddleston, Pontotoc; C. Johnson, Hattiesburg; Lamar, Senatobia; Mangold, Brookhaven; McNeal, Leakesville;
Mims, McComb; Oliver, Winona; M. Rogers, New Albany; Scoggin, Ellisville; Shirley, Quitman; Smith, Columbus; Snowden, Meridian; Staples, Laurel; Turner, Baldwyn.
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Democrat not voting (1)
Young, Meridian.
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Republican not voting (1)
Touchstone, Hattiesburg.
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Democrats absent (3)
Middleton, Port Gibson; Myers, McComb; Scott, Laurel.
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Republicans absent (4)
Brown, Nettleton; Eubanks, Walls; Hale, Nesbit; Weathersby, Florence.