- The Mississippi Senate legislative redistricting plan requires five special elections be held in DeSoto County.
The DeSoto County Board of Supervisors has retained outside legal counsel “to explore all legal remedies available to it in order to contest the Senate plan on behalf of the voters of DeSoto County.”
“In light of the potential adverse impact upon our county and its citizens created by the Mississippi Senate’s proposed redistricting plan,” a statement from the board read Tuesday afternoon.
The Mississippi Senate passed its legislative redistricting plan last week. It requires five special elections be held in DeSoto County in an effort to comply with a federal court order to redraw districts and create a new majority-minority Senate district in the area.
As previously reported, the current Senate District 11 would become District 1 in DeSoto County and become a new majority-minority district with no current incumbent Senator in the district.
This change, which pairs Senators Reginald Jackson (D-SD 11) and Michael McLendon (R-SD 1), and the changes created within four neighboring Senate Districts would require five special elections in the Northern Mississippi area.
Senator McLendon expressed his extreme displeasure with the change in the area, questioning the process by which the districts were drawn. He offered an amendment to change the North Mississippi districts, his main contention being that Hernando should not be split into two Senate districts, but it overwhelmingly failed on a voice vote.
The chamber ultimately passed Joint Resolution 202 by a vote of 33 to 16.
Frank Corder
