Democrat Kweisi Mfume won a special election Tuesday to fill the Congressional seat of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D), decisively beating his opponent in the state’s first mail-in election due to the coronavirus.

Mfume, a former U.S. congressman and NAACP leader, won 72.5 percent of the votes to the 26.5 percent won by Republican Kimberly Klacik. He will serve out the remainder of Cummings’ term, which ends in January, although he will soon contend in a primary ahead of the 2020 general election. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) delayed Maryland primaries from April to June to give the state time to prepare for a larger-scale mail-in election amid the pandemic.

Maryland attempted to reduce in-person voting as much as possible to comply with social distancing recommendations. The state sent ballots to eligible voters in the 7th Congressional District, which includes parts of Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County. Only three polling places were open to serve people who did not receive their ballots by mail or otherwise could not vote by mail.

Of nearly half a million ballots sent, some 111,000 were filled out and returned by Tuesday afternoon. More completed mail-in ballots may arrive in the coming days, as the requirement is that they are postmarked by Tuesday.

The election will be certified on May 8.

This story originally appeared on WAMU.