Republican Chip Pickering, who first won the 3rd District seat in 1996, chose not to seek re-election this year and said he plans to sit out of politics for a while, though probably not forever. His term expires in January.

Republican Roger Wicker was elected to the 1st District seat in 1994. He moved to the Senate in December 2007 after Gov. Haley Barbour chose him to fill a seat left vacant by the early retirement of Trent Lott.

The regular election primaries for the 1st District are overlapping with a special election there. On April 22, there is a nonpartisan special election to fill the final few months of the two-year term Wicker started in early 2007. A runoff, if necessary, will be May 13.