NATCHEZ — Sen. Roger Wicker defeated opponent Ronnie Mugrove in the special election to fill the four leftover years vacated by Republican Trent Lott.

Though the final tally in Adams County for the two contenders left Wicker behind with 39.71 percent and Musgrove with 60.23 percent, the statewide vote has put the Republican in Lott’s vacated seat.

Local Republican party member Sue Stedman said it’s vital that Wicker was elected to that position in the U.S. Senate.

She said had Musgrove been elected, the balance of government would have been skewed, especially with Democratic president-elect Barack Obama in office.

She said with Wicker elected, it maintains a filibuster-proof senate and also is a true representation of the country.

“What we’re seeing here is a country that’s 50-50 in the long run, and I’d like to at least see a balance of power maintained in the House or Congress,” she said.

She said while it still won’t be a Republican majority, without Wicker in that seat, the system of checks and balances would fall to pieces.

Republican party leader Johnny Junkin also said that system would no longer exist had Musgrove been elected.

“You’d have no checks and balances whatsoever,” he said. “We haven’t had that since Lyndon Johnson and anyone who wants to go back to Lyndon Johnson, that’s fine, just don’t take me with you.”

He said without a filibuster-proof senate and Wicker not in that seat, it would not only be hard on the state of Mississippi, but it would also be hard on the country.