Mississippi Republicans will take a second chance to pick their party's nominee for governor after the leading candidate failed on Tuesday to score a high enough percentage of the vote to win a contested primary outright.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) led two challengers with 49 percent of the vote, according to The Associated Press . He will face the second-place finisher, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. (R), who garnered 33 percent, in an Aug. 27 runoff.

ADVERTISEMENT Reeves began the primary contest as the overwhelming favorite. He had backing from both his mentor, former Gov. Haley Barbour (R), and the governor under whom he served, Phil Bryant (R), and he raised far more than his two rivals.

But Waller, the son of a former governor, capitalized on what some conservative activists called an anyone-but-Reeves sentiment. He and the third-place finisher, state Rep. Robert Foster (R), spent their primary budget attacking Reeves while Reeves largely laid off his Republican rivals.

"Obviously, avoiding a runoff would save a couple million dollars against the left's candidate," said Henry Barbour, a top Mississippi Republican strategist and nephew of the former governor.

Reeves is expected to mount a quick blitz against Waller just hours after the polls closed. The incumbent lieutenant governor kept $4 million in the bank, money he will use to try to define his opponent in the 21 days before Republican voters go back to the polls.

Waller spent about $1.5 million on his primary campaign, far less than Reeves.

The winner of the late August primary will face Attorney General Jim Hood, one of the last Democrats who holds statewide office in the Deep South. Hood, who first won office in 2003, won the Democratic primary with 70 percent of the vote over seven other candidates. The Associated Press called the race for Hood.