A runoff election for the state Supreme Court in Mississippi is too close to call between state Sen. Jenifer Branning and incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens as of Wednesday morning. 

Although Mississippi judicial candidates run without party labels, Branning had the endorsement of the Republican Party, while Kitchens had several Democratic Party donors but did not receive an endorsement from the party. 

Branning, who has been a state senator since 2016, led Kitchens by 2,678 votes out of 120,610 votes counted as of Wednesday morning. Kitchens is seeking a third term and is the more senior of the court’s two presiding justices, putting him next in line to serve as chief justice. Her lead had been 518 just after midnight Wednesday.

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Around midnight Wednesday, The Associated Press estimated there were more than 11,000 votes still to be counted. In the Nov. 5 election, 7% of votes were counted after election night.

Branning had a substantial lead in the first round of voting with 42% compared to Kitchens’ 36%. Three other candidates split the rest.

The victor will likely be decided by absentee ballots that are allowed to be counted for five days following an election in Mississippi, as well as the affidavit ballots, according to the Clarion Ledger.

Voter turnout typically decreases between general elections and runoffs, and campaigns said turnout was especially challenging two days before Thanksgiving. The Magnolia State voted emphatically for President-elect Donald Trump, who garnered 61.6% of the vote compared to Vice President Harris’ 37.3%.

Branning and Kitchens faced off in District 1, also known as the Central District, which stretches from the Delta region through the Jackson metro area and over to the Alabama border.

Mississippi Supreme Court justices including Justice Jim Kitchens, seated at right, fourth from top, listen to arguments on July 6, 2023 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Branning calls herself a “constitutional conservative” and says she opposes “liberal, activists judges” and “the radical left.” The Mississippi GOP said she was the “proven conservative,” and that was why they endorsed her. 

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She has not previously held a judicial office but served as a special prosecutor in Neshoba County and as a staff attorney in the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Division of Business Services and Regulations, per the Clarion Ledger.

Branning voted against changing the state flag to remove the Confederate battle emblem and supported mandatory and increased minimum sentences for crime, according to Mississippi Today.

Kitchens has been practicing law for 41 years and has been on the Mississippi Supreme Court since 2008, and prior to that, he also served as a district attorney, according to the outlet.

The Magnolia State voted emphatically for President-elect Donald Trump, who garnered 61.6% of the vote compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 37.3%. (Getty Images)

He is endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Action Fund, which calls itself “a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond.” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., also backed Kitchens.

In September, Kitchens sided with a man on death row for a murder conviction in which a key witness recanted her testimony. In 2018, Kitchens dissented in a pair of death row cases dealing with the use of the drug midazolam in state executions.

Elsewhere, in the state’s other runoff election, Amy St. Pe’ won an open seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals. She will succeed Judge Joel Smith, who did not seek re-election to the 10-member Court of Appeals. The district is in the southeastern corner of the state, including the Gulf Coast.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President-elect Trump announced a slew of appointments as his team prepares to transition to the White House next year. 

The incoming president announced Jamieson Greer as his pick to serve as the next U.S. trade representative. Greer previously served as chief of staff to the trade representative during Trump’s first term, Robert Lighthizer at a time when the administration implemented tariffs on China and other nations. 

In announcing Greer’s nomination, Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Greer would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization.

Also nominated will be Jim O’Neill to serve as the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been tapped to lead the agency.

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O’Neill, who served as principal associate deputy secretary of HHS, “will fight in unison to ensure every American, and especially our most precious resource, our children, will live long and healthy lives and, Make America Great and Healthy Again!” said Trump.

Jamieson Greer is President-elect Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. trade representative.  (USCC)

Trump also tapped Vince Haley, who served speechwriter during his campaign, to serve as director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Kevin A. Hassett to lead the White House National Economic Council. 

“I am proud to announce that Vince Haley, who served as Director of Policy and Speechwriting on my Winning Campaign, will lead my Domestic Policy Agenda as Director of the Domestic Policy Council,” Trump said in a statement. 

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“Vince helped lead the Speechwriting Department in my First Administration, working to convey our message to the Public,” he added. “Prior to joining my 2016 Campaign, he worked for twelve years in a variety of roles for Newt Gingrich, a man who I greatly respect.”

Haley served as policy director and campaign manager for Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign. 

Vince Haley during Trump’s podium check at the Fiserv Forum before the start of the session of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 17.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

In his new role, Haley will lead Trump’s domestic agenda, the incoming president said. 

Economist Kevin Hassett, 62, was named director of the White House National Economic Council, bringing into Trump’s administration a major advocate for tax cuts. He played a crucial role in helping design and pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Trump said. 

He will also “will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration” and that together they would “renew and improve” the 2017 tax cuts, many of which are set to expire after 2025.

Hassett served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

“He will play an important role in helping American families recover from the Inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration,” Trump said.

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Businessman John Phelan will serve as the next secretary of the Navy as well. Phelan is the co-founder of co-founded MSD Capital.

“His Record of Success speaks for itself — A true Champion of American Enterprise and Ingenuity!” Trump said in a statement.

John Phelan, co-managing partner and co-founder of MSD Capital LP. (Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“John will be a tremendous force for our Naval Servicemembers, and a steadfast leader in advancing my America First vision,” Trump said. “He will put the business of the U.S. Navy above all else.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Gearing up for another Trump presidency, Los Angeles County supervisors will funnel millions in funding to beef up support for immigrants and transgender residents, who could be targeted by the incoming administration.

The governing board of the deep-blue county passed a flurry of resistance-themed motions Tuesday in response to the incoming president’s anti-transgender rhetoric and his pledge to carry out mass deportations of immigrants in the country illegally.

“I have a sneaking suspicion this is the first of what will be many [motions] that will come forward as the new administration rolls out their ideas for what will be best for making America great again — or not,” said Supervisor Holly Mitchell, adding that it was “surreal” to find California back on the defense against a Trump administration.

One motion, put forward by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn, asks for $5.5 million in ongoing funding for legal services for immigrants. The motion, which passed 4 to 0, would also create a county task force focused on federal immigration policy and develop a campaign to educate immigrants on their legal rights.

“We know in the coming months it’s going to become more difficult for many of our friends and our neighbors,” said Solis, noting that her office has already seen a ramping up in calls from desperate people in need of legal services. “We’ve seen this playbook — and we know what the consequences can be.”

L.A. County is home to an estimated 800,000 immigrants who live here illegally, according to USC’s Equity Research Institute, or about 1 in 12 county residents.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the board’s sole Republican, abstained from the vote after noting there is already an immigration crisis under the Biden administration, with some migrants landing in tents on Skid Row. She said she visited the area recently and met a 15-year-old mother who had just come across the border.

“These families say the conditions on Skid Row are better than what they came from,” said Barger. “I just want to be careful to frame this for what it is — we already have a serious crisis taking place right now.”

Many advocates Tuesday praised the county for moving swiftly to put some money behind its pledge to remain a safe haven for immigrants.

“Sometimes, localities will issue resolutions that just have nice words,” said Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of immigrant and racial justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center, who said her organization met with Solis’ team almost immediately after Donald Trump was elected to suggest additional protections the county could enact. “The county actually has concrete things they will do.”

The city of Los Angeles, meanwhile, is moving forward with a plan to make it a “sanctuary city” by forbidding city employees from being involved in federal immigration enforcement.

L.A. County took a similar step during Trump’s first term, prohibiting county sheriffs from transferring people to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a judicial warrant.

But that has done little to ease the fears of many immigrants wary of deportation, advocates told the board Tuesday.

“Since the election, we have heard from numerous families paralyzed by uncertainty,” said Diego Rodrigues, chief operating officer of Alma Family Services, a community organization. “Including children terrified of seeing their parents deported or themselves taken away from the only country they know and love.”

Another motion, from Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, which passed unanimously Tuesday, would create a pilot program to support organizations serving transgender people in L.A. County, funded with $7 million over two years. Such an investment had long been sought by advocacy groups such as the TransLatin@ Coalition, founded by transgender women in L.A.

The pilot program is expected to include $4.5 million for groups that provide a range of services to the “trans, gender-expansive and intersex,” or TGI, community, preferably organizations led by TGI people. A Horvath spokesperson said the money would come from the county general fund.

It will also include $2 million for an outside administrator who will process grant applications and help bolster the training and capacity of organizations that receive the money, as well as $500,000 for a program ombudsperson, according to the proposal.

Outside the county building ahead of Tuesday’s vote, dozens of people rallied and waved flags in support of the transgender “wellness and equity” initiative.

June Paniouchkine, legislative affairs coordinator for the TransLatin@ Coalition, said the money would go to groups that “are going to empower our community — to be housed, to be fed, to be employed, to be healthy, to have equal access” to government resources.

“We know that there’s a political force who are trying to diminish us and devalue us, but we are here to say, ‘Hell, no,’” TransLatina@ Coalition President and Chief Executive Bamby Salcedo said to cheers and shouts.

The move comes as President-elect Trump has argued that the U.S. should recognize only two genders — male and female — that are assigned at birth. He has pledged to stop federal money from being used for gender transition, which could limit access to medical procedures for transgender people who rely on programs such as Medicaid.

And Trump has vowed to cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to youths. Medicaid and Medicare are major sources of funding for healthcare facilities.

Horvath, who introduced the proposal for the L.A. County pilot program, said it was “about putting action to our words — that we not only stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, but give them the tools and resources needed to thrive.”

The measure drew little criticism at the Tuesday meeting. One person argued in written comments that the pilot program was discriminatory and that the funding should instead be earmarked to support small-business owners.

Barger said she was not questioning the validity of the proposal but had concerns about the process behind it, including the parameters surrounding which groups could receive funding and how the $7-million figure was reached.

“The real need could be much higher,” said Barger, who ultimately voted with the rest of the board to back the proposal.