Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant Re-elected

Mississippi Republican Governor Phil Bryant won re-election to a second term on Tuesday, easily defeating a little-known opponent in the conservative Southern state, according to local media reports and CNN projections.

Bryant fended off a long-shot challenge from truck driver Robert Gray, whose surprise victory in a Democratic primary in which he did not spend money or seriously campaign revealed the weakened state of the Mississippi Democratic Party.

Gray congratulated the governor and said he hoped for the best for the state, a reporter for WJTV in Jackson, Mississippi, said in a post on Twitter.