Cliff Huckstable retweetledi
IT’S TIME FOR BENNIE THOMPSON TO GO. Mississippi Conservatives agree with me, it is time for Bennie Thompson to go! Folks have lots of questions, like why isn’t Mississippi redrawing the lines … now??
Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and others are acting now. Why isn’t Mississippi?
Well, Mississippi absolutely needs to act. The problem is, unlike other states, our Legislature is not in Session at the present time. As a result - under our State Constitution, only the Governor can give the call to action.
Here are some facts you should know about redistricting and where we stand after the Callais decision.
Status of Congressional District Lines. January 25, 2022 - That is when the Mississippi Legislature most recently redrew the district lines for our four Congressional seats. Two general elections have occurred since then (in 2022 and 2024), plus a primary election held this past March, 2026 with congressional elections set for November 3rd this year. Unlike other states, in Mississippi has already held our primaries and as of today no federal court has ruled the existing congressional districts should be withdrawn.
I believe they should be redrawn on the basis of Callais.
Legally and constitutionally, redistricting is required after every 10-year census, most recently the 2020 census. This is to guarantee “one man, one vote.” Redistricting is also required after a federal court finds that the districts violate the Voting Rights Act. In the recent Callais decision by the US Supreme Court, a Louisiana district was thrown out by a court and required to be redrawn because it was drawn “predominantly” on the basis of race.
You can study our current Congressional map down to the precinct level here: gis.mississippi.edu/portal/apps/we…
The Callais decision held it is ILLEGAL to draw a district predominantly on the basis of race. That is the right decision and is the law of the land! Mississippi certainly needs to redraw our districts on the basis of Callais without regard to race.
Status of Mississippi Supreme Court District Lines. Recently, Mississippi had a federal court order requiring the redrawing of only our elected Mississippi Supreme Court district lines. The court did not require congressional lines to be redrawn. That case was vacated this week because of the Callais decision, meaning that currently Mississippi does NOT have to redraw our state Supreme Court lines.
Meanwhile, as noted above our Legislature is no longer in Session and can only meet upon the Special Session call of the Governor.
Gov. Reeves had previously issued a call to redraw the state Supreme Court district lines. Because of the recent federal court ruling vacating that requirement, this call is technically no longer required, but it is fully in the Governor’s hands at the present time. It’s gonna be interesting to watch what happens now.
Other Options on the Table. The Governor has the option to maintain the call, amend the call or withdraw the call. If he maintains the call, the Legislature will be showing up to redraw court lines next week. Then we will have to wait and see what if anything gets added.
The Governor also has the power to amend the call to add the redrawing of Congressional lines to a Special Session. If he does, this raises the issue whether and how new primary elections would have to be held in the new districts - before the November 3rd election. The people just voted in March for congressional primaries. Will the people have the right to vote again?
The Governor could also include redrawing the court-ordered legislative district lines that were redrawn in 2025 for a special election or for 2027.
All this is to say, unlike other states - in Mississippi the entire redistricting issue is squarely within the hands of Governor Reeves as of today.
One way or another, Bennie Thompson has got to go!!
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