Mississippi Congressman (clockwise from top left) - Trent Kelly, Bennie Thompson, Mike Ezell and Michael Guest
Congressman Guest will now hold a gavel as House Ethics chairman.
Mississippi’s four Congressmen will sit on a variety of key committees in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 118th Congress.
The three Republican members received the most favorable consideration by the new House GOP majority leadership team after each supported Kevin McCarthy for Speaker in all 15 rounds of voting.
While all committee and subcommittee assignments are not yet finalized, the Magnolia State appears to be well represented by its federal delegation. Here are the committee assignments for the state’s Congressmen as of the time of this article.
Trent Kelly (R) – 1st District
Congressman Kelly will retain his seat on the House Committee on Agriculture. He is also likely to retain a seat on the House Armed Services Committee, although that selection has not been announced at this time.
Although subcommittee assignments have also yet to be announced, the Major General in the Mississippi Army Nation Guard has previously served as the Ranking Member of the Intelligence and Special Operations subcommittees and served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Kelly is assumed to continue in these or similar roles in this new Congress.
Bennie Thompson (D) – 2nd District
Congressman Thompson, the dean of the Mississippi delegation, will continue his service on the House Committee on Homeland Security, a committee he chaired last Congress. He will now be the Ranking Member for the Democrats.
Thompson, Mississippi’s only Democratic member of its federal delegation, will no longer chair the January 6th Committee appointed during the 117th Congress by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. That committee was dissolved at the end of last term and will not be reestablished by new Speaker McCarthy per his office.
Michael Guest (R) – 3rd District
Congressman Guest will wield a gavel in the 118th Congress as chairman of the House Ethics Committee. Guest has been Acting Chairman of the Ethics Committee following the passing of Ranking Member Jackie Walorski.
Guest will also continue to serve on the House Committee on Homeland Security and will take a seat on the House Appropriation Committee as well.
The 3rd District Congressman joins a long line of Mississippians who have served on appropriations committees in both chambers at the federal level. Most recently, former 4th District Congressman Steven Palazzo was a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Palazzo’s defeat in the Republican Primary by now-Congressman Mike Ezell opened a seat on the powerful committee. U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith currently serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Mike Ezell (R) – 4th District
Congressman Ezell is the only member of the Mississippi delegation that is new the U.S. House this term. The GOP leadership has tapped him to serve on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure as well as the House Committee on Homeland Security.
The freshman’s selection to the Homeland Security Committee is a natural fit given his elected position prior to resigning to join Congress was as the Sheriff of Jackson County. With Ezell’s placement on Homeland Security, that means Mississippi will have three of its Congressmen seated on this committee.
As for Ezell’s seat on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, he fills the spot left by Congressman Guest after his being placed on the House Appropriations Committee.
