Lawmakers expected to target Thompson’s seat before 2028 election
Hundreds of Mississippi residents gathered across from the state capitol in Jackson on Thursday evening, then packed a hearing room inside to oppose Republican-led efforts to redraw the state’s congressional maps. The Jackson event was the eighth and final stop on a redistricting tour the joint legislative committee began in August, with hearings held across the state.
The redistricting push follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which severely weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Governor Tate Reeves moved in lockstep with other Republican governors and lawmakers to call a special session to redraw the maps. He canceled that special session and wrote on X that he expected “lawmakers to redraw congressional lines BETWEEN NOW and 2027 elections!”
Safia Malin, policy director at the civic organization One Voice, told the crowd before the hearing that the moment echoed earlier struggles over voting rights in Mississippi. “This fight is familiar territory for all of us. The giants of the civil rights movement didn’t fight so that we could sit this fight out. They fought so we could stand exactly where we’re standing right now and finish what they started,” Malin said. Malin was one of several speakers who connected the current fight to the state’s history, including the 1890 constitution, which disenfranchised Black voters and ushered in an era of Jim Crow, the 1964 efforts of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party, and the work of Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer.
Following the rally, those gathered marched to the capitol holding signs, their chants of “Leave our maps alone” and “Whose maps? Our maps” echoing through the building.
An hour before the hearing was scheduled to begin, the room was full, with some people leaning against the walls. Others sat in an overflow section outside and watched the proceedings on television screens.
House Democratic Leader Robert Johnson, who is Black, encouraged audience members to make sure they were recorded. “This is testimony,” Johnson said. “And at some point it may be evidence. So let’s make sure we’re heard.” Johnson was one of several Democratic lawmakers who observed or spoke at the proceedings.
The committee, handpicked by legislative leaders, is primarily made up of white men. It consists of 16 Republicans, all of whom but one are white, and four Democrats, all of whom are Black. The committee did not answer questions, provide information about how the redistricting process would proceed on its end, or explain how citizens’ testimony would affect its decision.
In a room full of dozens of Black men and women, six of the first 10 speakers were white. The first Black woman called to testify was the 15th person to speak. Sixty-seven people spoke overall, each given two minutes; the proceedings lasted just under two hours.
State Auditor Shad White, who is considering a gubernatorial run, drew immediate controversy with his opening remarks. “The delta deserves better leadership than Bennie Thompson. It just does,” White said, as members of the audience booed. Thompson, who is Black, is Mississippi’s lone congressional Democrat. White, Reeves and other Republicans in the state have openly targeted Thompson and his district. Through continued boos, White said there was a “silent majority” of people who “want better representation for the Mississippi delta,” and not someone who is “focused on running the January 6th committee.”
Jesse Otto Smith, 76, who was born and raised in Mississippi, told the committee the redistricting decision was personal. “I’m 76 years old. My father was born in 1926 – he couldn’t vote. My grandfather was born in 1891 – he couldn’t vote. That’s why I’m here. My great-grandfather was born as an enslaved man, considered less than a human, in 1861 – he couldn’t vote. He was a piece of property,” Smith said. “That’s why I am here. My mother graduated from Rust College, grew up in Starkville, but couldn’t go to school at Mississippi State, paid taxes without representation.”
Walter Boone, who is white, called the redistricting efforts “Mississippi plan 2.0.” “The original Mississippi plan culminated in our 1890 constitution, and we cannot ignore that history,” Boone said. “I’m not a scholar or trained historian, and even I know that Mississippi has been here before.” He added: “Our first reconstruction ended in much the same way, through a culmination of redistricting and fraud. Our Black elected representatives were stripped of their offices, and Black constituents did not see another person represent them that looked like them for 75 years.”
Lauren Wilson, a Tougaloo College sophomore from Tupelo, asked why the committee had held hearings on redistricting but not on Medicaid expansion or other issues facing the state. “If I’ve learned one thing from history, if I’ve learned one thing from the Lord, if I’ve learned one thing from my educators and my pastors, I’ve learned no matter who holds the position, the people hold the power,” Wilson said. “The pharaoh had the position, but Moses had the power. Woodrow Wilson had the position, but Ida B Wells had the power. Lyndon B Johnson had the position, but Martin Luther King had the power.” She added: “We stand today before the committee who has to make a decision on redrawing the lines that seek to disenfranchise the people. So I want you to know that even though tonight you have the position, we hold the power.”
The full legislature is expected to convene in a special session later this year to redraw state legislative maps. While those maps would not affect November’s midterm elections, lawmakers will likely target Thompson’s seat before he is up for re-election in 2028.