Mississippi Senate adopts court-ordered redistricting plan after heated debate

The Mississippi Senate on Tuesday approved a court-ordered redistricting plan after hours of debate, adopting map changes that create two new majority-minority districts — one in northern DeSoto County and another centered on Forest and Hattiesburg — and that require several incumbent senators to run again this year.

Senator Kirby said the legislature was acting under a federal court directive and argued the plan complied with legal requirements. “First, we have to comply with the courts. Whatever the court said, that’s what we have to do,” Kirby told the chamber as he presented the revised map and election schedule.

The plan responds to a July 2024 opinion from a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi that found two Senate districts failed to provide minority voters a fair opportunity to elect their preferred candidates under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The adopted package redraws lines in DeSoto County and in the Hattiesburg/Forest County area and sets qualifying and election dates tied to the court’s timeline.

Debate grew heated when several senators objected to parts of the map and the process by which it was developed. Senator McClendon, a vocal opponent of parts of the plan, argued the proposal split local communities and criticized evidence used by plaintiffs in the litigation. “I love where I live. And it is not right to send Hernando, Mississippi and pair him with Senator Jackson,” McClendon said during floor remarks. Other senators praised Kirby’s outreach to members and staff work to refine the maps.

The enacted plan creates a new majority-minority district in western DeSoto County that extends south into Tunica County; the plan’s authors said the district has a Black voting-age population (BVAP) of about 50.9% and contains no incumbent. The Hattiesburg-area district (named in the package as District 45 in the enacted numbering) is wholly or mostly within Forrest County with a BVAP around the low-50s and likewise contains no incumbent, according to the committee presentation.

Senator Kirby said the plan preserved contiguity, met the one-person, one-vote standard, and minimized the number of paired incumbents where possible. The package schedules elections for affected districts later this year, with qualifying set in mid-May and a general election in November; the joint resolution follows the same timeline the House adopted earlier in the session.

After debate and several unsuccessful floor amendments, the Senate voted 33 to 16 to adopt the joint resolution and the new district lines. The roll call followed motions to adopt the committee substitute and to move the plan for final passage.

What the vote means going forward is that the Secretary of State’s office will receive the new plan by the date set in the resolution for implementation by local election officials and for ballot preparation for the scheduled elections. The plan’s backers said it implements the specific remedies the court described; its opponents said the state’s lawyers and the legislature could have defended the original plan differently and expressed concerns about community splits and the process.