(AP) — After being in office for over a decade, Mississippi state Sen. Dean Kirby got challenged in the Republican primary. More than four-fifths of Mississippi's legislative candidates will have no major-party opposition in the Nov. 7 general election. And more than half of this year's winners will have faced no other Republicans or Democrats in either the primary or the general election. Though Mississippi represents an extreme example, it highlights a national decline in competition for state legislative seats. The DLCC is spending a few thousand dollars this year on several legislative races in the largely uncompetitive Republican-leaning states of Mississippi and Louisiana.

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