Agriculture Rural Development (RD) Mississippi State Director Trina George (left) and Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Chief Phyliss J. Anderson stand in front of a picture of the Choctaw Health Center building in Choctaw, MS on Tuesday, July 17, 2012. The tribe was awarded a $1 million grant for water and sewer upgrades to the Pearl River Community and the Health Center Development through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development (RD) Water and Environmental Programs (WEP) Native American Grant programs. WEP provides loans, grants and loan guarantees for drinking water, sanitary sewer, solid waste and storm drainage facilities in rural areas and cities and towns of 10,000 or less. Photo courtesy Flickr/U.S. Department of Agriculture
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) — Chief Phyliss J. Anderson has been re-elected chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Complete but uncertified returns from Tuesday's runoff show Anderson with 55 percent of the vote, defeating former chief Beasley Denson.
A new runoff was set after the Tribal Council overturned a June 20 runoff where Anderson defeated Denson with 52 percent of the vote.
Anderson was sworn in for a second term on July 14. Anderson defeated Denson in 2011
The first Tribal Chief election was overturned by the Tribal Council on July 24 after members heard almost nine hours of testimony, mostly centering on absentee ballots.
Anderson unseated Denson in 2011 with 56 percent of the vote to become the first female to lead the 10,000-member Tribe, which is headquartered in Neshoba County.
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