Lawmakers from both chambers review the House redistricting map following a meeting of the House Legislative Reapportionment Committee, Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
- Multiple special elections will occur next year, after a three-judge federal judicial panel orders lawmakers to reconfigure legislative districts.
A federal three-judge panel has ordered the supermajority Republican Mississippi Legislature to draw and adopt new state legislative district maps during the 2025 session and subsequently hold special elections to fill the seats next year.
The decision comes after the panel, composed of U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden, Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan, and U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick, ordered the reconfiguration of some legislative districts, saying current districts as drawn dilute black voter strength in parts of the state.
The three-member Mississippi state Board of Election Commissioners had argued that being forced to redraw the legislative district maps this year before the November general election was not possible. Governor Tate Reeves (R), Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) and Secretary of State Michael Watson (R) make up the Board.
The judges unanimously granted the State extra time, saying, “The equitable weighing process we must use when selecting the proper remedy for Voting Rights Act violations leads us to conclude that the Mississippi Legislature need not act until its regular 2025 session.”
The decision also noted that because there are no general, statewide elections in 2025, “the Mississippi Legislature must also determine the most appropriate dates in 2025 for elections in the affected districts.”
While the judicial panel did not order the creation of additional legislative districts, it does order lawmakers to draw majority-black Senate districts in DeSoto County and in the Hattiesburg area, as well as majority-black House districts in both Chickasaw and Monroe counties. Neighboring district boundaries will be impacted, resulting in the need for multiple special elections next year.
The order is a result of the Mississippi NAACP’s lawsuit challenging the 2022 legislative redistricting plan adopted by lawmakers following the 2020 Census. Those maps resulted in 15 of the 52 Senate seats and 42 of 122 House seats being majority-black districts. Candidates ran under the maps in the 2023 election cycle.
In 2023, voters elected 79 Republicans, 41 Democrats and 2 Independents to serve in the Mississippi House while 36 Republicans and 16 Democrats were elected to the Senate.
Voting trends in the state have shown that districts with a higher black voting population tend to elect Democrats while higher populations of white voters lean Republican.
Legislative leaders contacted by Magnolia Tribune were reviewing the order and did not want to comment at this time.
Frank Corder
