NATCHEZ — After months of waiting, days of hearings and ultimately a senate vote to confirm his election, Sen. Bob Dearing, D-Natchez, will return to the Mississippi Senate representing District 37.

A five-person committee heard arguments and testimony last week in the election challenge brought forth by incumbent Sen. Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez.

The committee of four Republicans and one Democrat unanimously recommended Monday the senate vote to confirm Dearing’s election.

The senate voted 47-3, with one abstention, to seat Dearing, who held the seat for 32 years before Sojourner beat him in 2011,

“I’m just excited,” Dearing said. “So many senators came up to me after we adjourned, congratulated me, and said they look forward to serving with me. We got some excellent returning senators, and I’ve been really impressed with the new senators, too.”

Dearing defeated Sojourner in November’s general election by a 64-vote margin.

Sojourner’s petition to the Senate challenging the race contended that alleged election improprieties — especially in the Bude precinct in Franklin County — called the fairness of the election into question.

The committee found that Sojourner did not prove the wrongdoing of poll workers nor did she prove the alleged wrongdoing had significantly impacted the election’s outcome.

Dearing has contended the election was conducted properly and his certification as the winner is correct.

The senate opened the floor for debate on the challenge immediately after the committee recommendation was announced.

Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Laurel, proposed holding a new election for the District 37 seat, but his motion failed. Sojourner worked closely with McDaniel during his 2014 campaign for U.S. Senate.

In the roll call vote that followed, McDaniel, Republican Angela Hill from District 40, and Republican Michael Watson from District 51 voted against seating Dearing. Republican Chad McMahan of District 6 voted “present.”

Sojourner said the vote did not surprise her.

“The outcome of today was exactly what we anticipated it to be,” Sojourner said. “I never fought this to win.”

Sojourner said her goal was instead to expose what she sees as the problems in the election process.

“Even the Mississippi state senate just turned a blind eye to 19 laws being broken and just shunned the Supreme Court and the case law,” Sojourner said. “Sometimes you don’t fight because you can win, sometimes you fight because justice has to be served.”