In a stunning development that some believe foreshadows bigger things this fall, Democrats have regained control of northern Mississippi’s heavily Republican 1st Congressional District — at least for now.

The Prentiss County Chancery Clerk, Democrat Travis Childers, was declared the winner over Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, a Republican, in a runoff.

Childers’ victory means he will serve the remaining six months of the U.S. House of Representatives term left by Roger Wicker, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate after former Sen. Trent Lott resigned in December.

Despite Republican efforts to tie Childers to Sen. Barack Obama, who had endorsed him, and to Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, he earned a comfortable victory, 54-46 percent, in a chiefly “red” district.

The Mississippi seat had been in GOP hands since 1994. The win by Childers gives the Democrats a 236-199 majority in the House.

After Childers’ victory, normally confident House GOP leaders acknowledged the obvious: The loss of three long-time Republican districts in two months is a setback for the party - and the worst is still to come.

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