Mississippi legislators may be poised to vote on a state flag alternative next week

Though details remain murky, there are several legislators commenting on the record that they expect a proposal for a vote regarding the Mississippi state flag sometime next week during the last scheduled week of legislative session.

Talk was rampant around the state capitol today as legislators huddled in conference committee meetings trying to attend to the final stages of a COVID-19 interrupted legislative session.  Meanwhile, there were reports of various groups of Senators and Representatives meeting throughout the capitol on the flag issue.

Philip Gunn, Speaker of the House, seems to indicate legislative solutions could range from a referendum to some sort of flag change or multi-flag alternative.

Meanwhile, a relatively small band of legislators, including State Senators Chris McDaniel and Melanie Sojourner, that oppose a flag change of any sort were sounding the alarm to their supporters.  But in so doing, they indirectly confirmed that there was a substantial enough amount of momentum on the flag issue that there was at least a possibility that the Mississippi Legislature could respond with flag alternatives this upcoming week.

https://www.facebook.com/senatormcdaniel/videos/186379032807184/

All of this is against the backdrop of the 8 IHL Presidents issuing a statement encouraging the legislature to change the flag after the SEC and NCAA each came out with statements in the last 24 hours on the Mississippi flag issue.