State Sen. Jenifer Branning will serve as a Mississippi Supreme Court justice for the Central District for the next eight years after runoff election results were finalized Friday.

According to the Associated Press, which called the race in Branning’s favor Friday afternoon with 98.96% of ballots in, the challenger defeated incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens with a total of 64,025 votes, or 50.6%. Kitchens received 62,585 votes, or 49.4%.

In Warren County, Election Commission Chairman Sara Dionne said Branning garnered a total of 3,091 votes to Kitchens’ 2,448.

The race for the Central District seat headed to a runoff after neither candidate received a majority of votes in the early November general election.

Branning told The Post during her runoff campaign push that she is excited to bring her expertise and experience as both a lawyer and a legislator to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

“Two decades of legal experience, including courtroom experience, in addition to legislative experience. So, I’m the only candidate in the race with a combination of legal and legislative experience. For almost a decade I’ve made policy for Mississippi,” Branning said in November. “I got into public service in the beginning because, as a young lawyer, I got tired of seeing our young people leave the state for lack of opportunities. So, fast forward to this supreme court race, the overall purpose is the same thing: to make Mississippi the best it can be.”