Mississippi

In Mississippi, most voters will have no choice about who represents them in the Legislature

Published

8 months ago

October 29, 2023

In Mississippi, most voters will have no choice about who represents them in the Legislature

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — After being in office for over a decade, Mississippi state Sen. Dean Kirby got challenged in the Republican primary. He won with 70% of the vote.

That was in 2003 — and it remains the last time Kirby faced an opponent. The longtime Jackson-area senator is on the ballot again this year without either a Democratic or Republican challenger.

While the length of Kirby’s uncontested streak is unusual, his situation is not. More than four-fifths of Mississippi’s legislative candidates will have no major-party opposition in the Nov. 7 general election. And more than half of this year’s winners will have faced no other Republicans or Democrats in either the primary or the general election.

“I think people are happy with the state and the way things are going,” Kirby, Mississippi’s Senate president pro tem, said in explaining the lack of challengers.

Though Mississippi represents an extreme example, it highlights a national decline in competition for state legislative seats. New research suggests the reasons are more complex than mere voter satisfaction with incumbents. It also raises questions about the ability of American voters to hold their elected representatives accountable.

In some states, “there’s so many uncontested seats that one party wins the chamber before an election takes place,” said Steven Rogers, a political scientist at Saint Louis University who focuses on state legislatures.

A democracy “relies on this notion that the people will have some sort of choice,” Rogers added. But “without someone running for office, there isn’t really a choice.”

In Mississippi, the percentage of legislative seats with no major-party opposition in the general election has risen steadily from 63% in 2011 to 85% this year. The percentage with no Republican or Democratic challengers in either the primary or the general election has grown from 45% to 57% over that same time, according to data compiled for The Associated Press by Ballotpedia, a nonprofit organization that tracks elections.

Rogers’ research found that legislative competition around the U.S. has been dwindling for decades. Though contested elections were common in the 1960s and 1970s, about 35% of incumbent state lawmakers did not face either a primary or general election challenger from 1991 to 2020, according to Rogers’ new book, “Accountability in State Legislatures.”

One reason is political gerrymandering — a process by which those in power draw voting districts to give their party’s candidates an advantage.

Lawmakers are less likely to face challenges when one political party holds an overwhelming majority in the legislature and when district boundaries are drawn to include voters predominately favoring one party, Rogers found. Competition also is lower when lawmakers’ salaries are lower. And fewer challengers are likely to step forward when they are of the same party as an unpopular president.

All those factors are in play this year in Mississippi. Republicans currently hold lopsided legislative majorities. The vast majority of districts are packed with voters favoring one party. The legislative salary is $23,500, plus a daily expense allowance when lawmakers are at work. And President Joe Biden is underwater in public opinion polls, adding to the challenge for fellow Democrats in Mississippi.

“Candidates don’t want to run races they think they’re going to lose,” said Abhi Rahman, communications director for the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

The DLCC is spending a few thousand dollars this year on several legislative races in the largely uncompetitive Republican-leaning states of Mississippi and Louisiana. It said it has spent $50,000 in Democratic-controlled New Jersey, one of just four states with legislative elections this year. But it has spent $2.2 million so far on legislative races in Virginia.

Other Democratic- and Republican-aligned groups also are pouring millions of dollars into Virginia’s legislative races.

The stakes are high in Virginia because Democrats currently hold a narrow majority in the Senate while Republicans hold a slim majority in the House of Delegates and control the governor’s office. Both parties see a pathway to a legislative majority. The races also are being watched as a test of the two major parties’ messaging ahead of the national 2024 elections.

In contrast to Mississippi, the percentage of Republican or Democratic candidates in Virginia facing no major-party opposition in either the primary or general election has declined from 61% in 2011 to 28% this year, according to Ballotpedia data. The districts in place for this year’s election were crafted by court-appointed experts after a bipartisan commission responsible for redrawing boundaries based on 2020 census data failed to reach a consensus.

“In Virginia, there’s a sense that no matter what the district is, you at least have a puncher’s chance,” Rahman said. “Whereas in states like Mississippi and Louisiana, a lot of people feel like they’re just running to get creamed.”

Though Democrats are a minority in Mississippi, many of the districts they do win are packed with a large proportion of their voters.

Three Democratic lawmakers will be succeeded by their sons running in uncontested races this year. Sen. Barbara Blackmon and Rep. Ed Blackmon, who are married to each other, both initially qualified for reelection with one of their sons in the Senate race and one in the House race. After nobody else signed up to run, the incumbents dropped out and cleared the way for Bradford Blackmon to be elected to the Senate and Lawrence Blackmon to the House. Sen. Robert Jackson’s son, Reginald Jackson, is unopposed for his father’s seat.

Though he lacks such family ties, first-time Republican candidate Andy Berry also is getting an uncontested path to the state Senate after a two-term Republican incumbent chose not to seek reelection in a reconfigured district south of Jackson. Berry, who has worked the past nine years for the Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association and the affiliated Mississippi Beef Council, has connections to three of the four counties in the district. He grew up in one, lives in another and has a cattle farm in a third.

Though Berry said he’s “very blessed” to be guaranteed a victory, he is still asking people for their vote by reminding them that casting a ballot is their chance to have a voice in government. But it’s hard to spur interest without an opponent.

“Turnout is a struggle in all these elections,” Berry said.

___

Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri.

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Mississippi

Jerry Gray, 68 of Mendenhall, Mississippi

Published

2 hours ago

June 15, 2024

Press Room

Jerry Gray, 68 of Mendenhall, Mississippi

Visitation will be held on Monday, June 17, 2024 from 1:00 P.M. until 3:00 P.M. at Colonial Chapel Funeral Home in Magee. Funeral services will be held on Monday, June 17, 2024 at 3:00 P.M. at Colonial Chapel Funeral Home in Magee. Burial will follow in Magee City Cemetery in Magee, Mississippi. Bro. Joe Metts will officiate. Colonial Chapel Funeral Home of Magee is in charge of arrangements. 601-849-5031

Jerry worked at Cumberland’s Body Shop most of his adult life. He loved hunting, fishing, dirt track racing, camping, and being outdoors. Jerry loved his family and the love of his life, his wife, Carol Gray.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Velton and Lillie Mae Gray; brother, Danny Gray; sister, Sheila Gray Henry; brother-in-law, Steve Bridges; paternal grandparents, Odell Gray and Winnie Cook; maternal grandparents, Earl and Cammie Byrd.

Survivors include his wife, Carol Jones Gray; son, Michael Dickey (Deidra); daughters, Dawn Gray, Cherie Overby (Jeffrey) and Brittany Miller (Rob Elmore); grandchildren, Hunter Pope, Kory Gray, Kannon Magee, Abbigail Pope, Mayleigh Pope, Sawyer Overby, Waylon Overby, Chloe Miller, Layla Miller, Scarlet Miller and Hunter Dickey; brother, Odell Gray (Kim); sister, Lynn Bridges; aunts, Brenda Brandon (Jerry)and Betty Carolyn Bland; a host of nieces, nephews, and friends.

Pallbearers will be Levi Gray, Hunter Pope, P`nut Kennedy, Kevin Kennedy, Joe Boyle, and Joseph Boyle.

An online guestbook may be signed at www.colonialchapelmageemendenhall.com

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Mississippi

The United States Department of Justice and the Mississippi Attorney General move to prevent needed water rate relief to 40,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi

Published

9 hours ago

June 15, 2024

Press Room

Actions by the US Department of Justice will delay or potentially eliminate the ability to provide water rate relief to the estimated 15,000 households served by JXN Water which currently receive SNAP benefits.

JACKSON, Miss., June 15, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The US Department of Justice (US DOJ) and the Mississippi Attorney General filed notices of appeal from the order issued by US Federal District Judge Henry T. Wingate’s on April 16, 2024, directing the United States and the State of Mississippi to confidentially disclose Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) information to the Interim Third-Party Manager (ITPM).

The SNAP data is needed by the ITPM to identify customers that are eligible to be included in the new SNAP Customer Classification implemented with the new rate structure effective on February 1, 2024. The rate for customers in the SNAP Customer Classification includes a reduced availability fee, ensuring water and sewer bills can be paid by all. It will also allow the ITPM to avoid spending significant amounts of ratepayer money seeking to collect bills which these customers are simply unable to pay.

Judge Wingate’s order found the rate structure associated with the ITPM’s SNAP Customer Classification satisfied the criteria under federal statute for the confidential release of the SNAP recipients’ names and addresses so that they could be categorically placed in the SNAP Customer Classification without the need for extensive administrative efforts on the part of the ITPM and without requiring customers endure an additional burdensome application process to be appropriately included in the SNAP Customer Classification.

For reasons we simply don’t understand, the US Department of Justice disagrees that the ITPM’s rate schedule constitutes a federal assistance program under the SNAP statute and, accordingly, object to the State of Mississippi giving the ITPM the list (to be used in strict confidence).

The US Department of Justice has doubled down by threatening to withdraw SNAP benefits for the entire state if the State complies with Judge Wingate’s order. That threat has forced the Mississippi Attorney General to also appeal Judge Wingate’s order. The ITPM is an officer of Judge Wingate’s court, and his January 2024 rate schedule (including the SNAP Customer Classification rate schedule) easily qualifies as a federal assistance program. There is no good reason that DOJ can’t acquiesce and allow the State to share the list with the ITPM.

“While we would have preferred that Mississippi’s Attorney General not appeal Judge Wingate’s order, we recognize that the US DOJ has put them between a rock and a hard place given their threat to punish all SNAP recipients in Mississippi if the State gives the ITPM the Jackson area SNAP list,” said ITPM Ted Henifin.

These actions by the US Department of Justice will delay or potentially eliminate the ability to provide water rate relief to the estimated 15,000 households served by JXN Water which currently receive SNAP benefits. Under the ITPM’s rate structure, SNAP recipients would save $30 per month and save the ITPM untold collection costs.

The DOJ’s misguided opposition to the confidential use of SNAP recipient’s names and addresses to provide significant water rate assistance is inexplicable and disheartening given the economic challenges the beneficiaries face (Mississippi has the lowest per capita income in the nation and this rate relief is for residents of the City of Jackson, a community with a minority population of over 80 percent).

DOJ’s ill-advised and unnecessary opposition is particularly troubling given the water-related suffering these residents have endured for years.

ABOUT JXN WATER

Committed to providing safe, reliable drinking water and collecting and cleaning wastewater before it returns to our local waterways, JXN Water is the Mississippi corporation led by an Interim Third-Party Manager to achieve the objectives of the federal stipulated orders that re-establish the entire water system.

Media Contact

Ameerah Palacios, JXN Water, 1 5022435803, [email protected], www.JXNwater.com

SOURCE JXN Water

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Mississippi

2nd suspect arrested after abducted child found dead in Mississippi | WKRG.com

Published

16 hours ago

June 15, 2024

Press Room

2nd suspect arrested after abducted child found dead in Mississippi | WKRG.com

JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said a second suspect has been arrested in connection to the abduction and death of a four-year-old girl in Mississippi.

Wade told WJTV 12 News that the female suspect, 32-year-old Victoria Cox, is an acquaintance of 36-year-old Daniel Callihan, who was captured on Thursday, June 13 in Jackson.

“She was arrested at 3880 I-55 South, the OYO hotel, here in South Jackson. Of course, it was a collaborative effort, again, between the FBI Task Force, Jackson PD, U.S. Marshal’s and Rankin County Sheriff’s Department,” the police chief said.

Jackson police said Cox was charged with capital murder and sexual assault. She was transferred to the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards said his investigators plan to question Cox.

Victoria Cox was taken into JPD custody on Friday, June 14, 2024. (WJTV)
Victoria Cox was taken into JPD custody on Friday, June 14, 2024. (WJTV)
Victoria Cox was taken into JPD custody on Friday, June 14, 2024. (WJTV)
Victoria Cox was taken into JPD custody on Friday, June 14, 2024. (WJTV)

Callihan was the suspect at the center of an Amber Alert in Louisiana before he was arrested on Boozier Drive.

According to Wade, 4-year-old Erin Brunett was found deceased in a wooded area. Her sister, 6-year-old Jalie Brunett, was taken to a Jackson hospital for treatment.

The Jackson police chief said there was evidence of possible human trafficking at the location on Boozier Drive, including small animal cages. Wade said Jackson police have contacted the Human Trafficking Divisions of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) and Hinds County to assess the scene.

Authorities said the Amber Alert was issued for the two girls, who were abducted after their mother was killed in Loranger, Louisiana, on Thursday.

Edwards said 35-year-old Callie Brunett was found dead by her father on the floor of her bedroom inside her locked mobile home on North Cooper Road after having been reported missing by her parents 24 hours earlier. They had last spoken to her Tuesday morning.

Daniel Callihan (Courtesy: Rankin County Sheriff’s Office)
Daniel Callihan captured in Jackson, Miss., on Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Courtesy: Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office)
6-year-old Jalie and 4-year-old Erin Brunett (Courtesy: Louisiana State Police)

Callihan is suspected of killing Callie Brunett. Investigators told the Associated Press the two had dated.

Wade said he did not believe Callihan was the father of the two children. Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said Callihan is being held in the Rankin County Jail on a courtesy hold.

WJTV 12 News reached out to the FBI in Jackson about the case. They said, “The FBI is dedicating all available resources and tools at its disposal to this investigation, including Victim Services personnel, who are working closely with the survivors of this unspeakable tragedy.”

Anyone with additional information about the incident can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

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