Mississippi

What to know about the election in Mississippi

Published

1 year ago

October 29, 2024

What to know about the election in Mississippi

Mississippi voters have until 7 p.m. Tuesday to cast their ballots for U.S. President, Congress, Senate and several judicial races.

Below is all the information you need to know before heading to the polls:

How to find your voting precinct:

Along with providing access to other information, registered voters can use the Mississippi Secretary of State’s My Election Day tool to locate their polling place. My Election Day also provides voters with a sample ballot, a list of current office holders and contact information for local election officials.

State voters also can just contact the agency’s website to find more information about polling locations and contact information of election commissioners.

Who is on the ballot?

This year’s federal elections include three contested congressional elections and one in the Senate, as well for the U.S. President. Also on the ballots will be three contested judicial races in the Mississippi Supreme Court and the Mississippi Court of Appeals.

Congressional races

As for congressional races, incumbent Republicans Trent Kelly (Dist. 1) and Mike Ezell (Dist. 3) face Dianne Black and Craig Raybon, respectively. Dist. 2 House Rep. Bennie Thompson is facing Republican challenger Ron Eller, and Dist. 3 Rep. Michael Guest, a Republican, is running unopposed.

Those races are not statewide, so only the candidates in your districts will be on the ballot. For example, only Thompson and Eller will be on the U.S. House section of the Nov. 5 ballot in District 2.

Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican, is facing challenger Ty Pinkins. The U.S. Senate race is statewide just like the presidential race, so it will be on ballots throughout the state.

Presidential race

On the presidential ticket, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, is facing former Republican President Donald Trump. A few third-party candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy, who earlier this year endorsed Trump, before withdrawing from the race.

For more information, look at this year’s sample ballot.

Mississippi judicial candidates

As for the state judicial races, 10 candidates are running for seats on the state supreme court and appellate court.

Incumbents in the Supreme Court races are Central District Justice Jim Kitchens and Southern District Justice Dawn Beam. The state appellate court does not have an incumbent this year.

The court races are not statewide but districted. To check what district you are in, look at the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website.

Kitchens is facing four challengers: State Sen. Jenifer Branning, R-Philadelphia, and former Mississippi Appeals Court Judge Ceola James and private practice attorneys Byron Carter and Abby Gale Robinson.

Beam is facing off against David Sullivan, a Gulfport-based attorney who has been city prosecutor and is a municipal judge in D’Iberville.

Running in the appellate court race are Jennifer Schloegel, a chancery court judge for the 8th District, which encompasses Harrison, Hancock and Stone counties; Ian Baker, an assistant district attorney and division chief for the office in Gulfport and Amy St. Pe’, a Pascagoula attorney.

When do polls open?

Polls will open Tuesday at 7 a.m. and close Tuesday at 7 p.m. Voters who are in line by 7 p.m. can still vote as long as they stay in line.

What should you bring to the polls with you?

Mississippi voters are required to provide photo identification when voting, commonly known as Voter ID. Below are acceptable forms of Voter ID:

A driver’s license (including a Digital ID provided by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety)
A photo ID card issued by a branch, department, or entity of the State of Mississippi
A United States passport
A government employee ID card
A firearms license
A student photo ID issued by an accredited Mississippi university, college or community/junior college
A United States military ID
A tribal photo ID
Any other photo ID issued by any branch, department, agency or entity of the United States government or any state government
A Mississippi Voter Identification Card

A voter who does not have photo ID on election day will be asked to vote via affidavit ballot. They will then have five business days to show an acceptable form of photo ID or apply for a Mississippi Voter ID Card, at their local circuit clerk’s office.

Voters should also consider bringing water and a cell phone with them to the polls in anticipation of lines. Voters who have difficulty or questions can contact the secretary of state’s elections division at 1-800-829-6786

What if I voted absentee or by affidavit?

Absentee and affidavit voters can track the status of their ballots through the My Election Day tool as well. There is a new tracker for both absentee and affidavit ballots. All mail-in absentee ballots must be postmarked by election day to be counted.

How can I follow the election results?

Preliminary results will begin to be announced shortly after the polls close at 7 p.m. The secretary of state will not release official results on election, but preliminary statewide figures will be posted live to the Clarion Ledger’s Mississippi Election Results page at www.ClarionLedger.com.

Further absentee ballots will be tallied in the days following the election, which could determine whether a race will extend into a runoff.

Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.

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Mississippi

When will you get your April 2026 SSI check in MS? See payment schedule

Published

4 hours ago

March 30, 2026

Press Room

When will you get your April 2026 SSI check in MS? See payment schedule

People who get Supplemental Security Income checks will get paid on Wednesday, April 1.

The payments sometimes go out early. It happens when the first falls on a weekend or a holiday. Checks get sent on the last weekday before the normal send date.

Social Security recipients also will get their regular checks as scheduled in April. Benefits are typically disbursed to almost 74 million people on Wednesdays later in the month. Your payment date depends on the day of the month you were born.

Here’s what you should know about the April payment schedule, when the next time SSI checks will go out early and where to find a Social Security Office near you in Mississippi.

March 2026 Social Security payment schedule

The Social Security Administration’s 2026 payment schedules are online to help beneficiaries plan their budgets.

Regular Social Security retirement benefits will be issued according to the SSA’s standard payment schedule in March:

March 11: Birthdates between the first and 10th of the month
March 18: Birthdates between the 11th and the 20th of the month
March 25: Birthdates between the 21st and the 31st of the month

When will SSI checks be sent early in 2026?

The next time checks will be sent early is Friday, July 31. August 1 is a Saturday this year.

SSI checks also will be sent out early for November because the first is over a weekend.

And the first check of the new year always gets sent on New Year’s Eve because of the holiday conflict.

SSI payment schedule for 2026

Supplemental Security Income checks will be sent out on the following dates in 2026, according to the SSA calendar.

It’s usually sent on the first of the month, but they are disbursed early if the first falls on a weekend or holiday.

Wednesday, April 1 (check for April)
Friday, May 1 (check for May)
Monday, June 1 (check for June)
Wednesday, July 1 (check for July)
Friday, July 31 (check for August)
Tuesday, Sept. 1 (check for September)
Thursday, Oct. 1 (check for October)
Friday, Oct. 30 (check for November)
Tuesday, Dec. 1 (check for December)
Thursday, Dec. 31 (check for January 2027)

➤ Most Americans think Social Security won’t be there for them. Are they right?

Why will some people get paid 3 times in certain months?

People who get both SSI and regular Social Security will be paid three times in October and December.

The regular SSI payment will come on the first. The Social Security check will be paid on its usual date. Then the SSI funds for the following month will be sent near the end of the month because the next SSI disbursement date falls on a weekend or holiday.

See the full 2026 Social Security Payment schedule

Social Security offices in Mississippi

There are almost two dozen Social Security offices in Mississippi. To find the one nearest you, visit ssa.gov/locator.

Brookhaven
Clarksdale
Cleveland
Columbus
Corinth
Forest
Greenville
Greenwood
Grenada
Gulfport
Hattiesburg
Hernando
Jackson
Kosciusko
Laurel
McComb
Meridian
Moss Point
Natchez
Philadelphia
Starkville
Tupelo
Vicksburg

Contributing: Mike Snider and Laura Daniella Sepulveda

Bonnie Bolden covers money issues that matter to people in Mississippi for USA TODAY Network. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

Lawmakers signal K-12 teachers will get $2,000 raise, first pay increase since 2022 – SuperTalk Mississippi

Published

16 hours ago

March 29, 2026

Press Room

Lawmakers signal K-12 teachers will get ,000 raise, first pay increase since 2022 – SuperTalk Mississippi

A back-and-forth affair over teacher pay raises inside the Mississippi capitol – a debate that technically died before being revived – is expected to end with K-12 educators statewide receiving a $2,000 bump to their salaries.

The Senate on Sunday unanimously voted to fund the pay increase for teachers in the state’s public school system while conversations in the House affirmed the chamber will follow suit. Special education teachers, assistant teachers, speech therapists, and school psychologists will receive the same pay increase.

Notably, lawmakers are also working to budget for a $5,000 raise for school attendance officers and funding to hire nine more. The plan would ensure one attendance officer for every 4,000 students statewide. Attendance officers are responsible for investigating unexcused absences, making home visits, and coordinating with families and courts to improve dropout rates.

The anticipated investment comes as Mississippi continues to grapple with chronic absenteeism. According to an October report from the Mississippi Department of Education, more than a quarter of public-school students missed over 10% of the 2024-25 school year.

The raises will be immediate if a conference report approved by both chambers goes into law. It is expected to be passed by both chambers as early as Monday with Republican Speaker Jason White telling the House he expects the session to end “no later than Thursday.”

The deal to give teachers a $2,000 raise follows months of different numbers bouncing around the capitol. The Senate initially proposed a $2,000 immediate raise, while the House pushed for a $5,000 immediate raise. After missing a key deadline earlier this month, both chambers found alternative routes to revive the measures. The House maintained its $5,000 proposal, while the Senate advanced a plan to phase in a $6,000 raise over three years.

Despite recent academic gains that have drawn national praise – including a No. 16 national ranking after decades at the bottom – Mississippi teachers remain among the lowest paid in the country. A 2025 report from the National Education Association found the state’s starting salary of $41,500 ranks near the bottom nationwide, even when accounting for cost of living.

Sunday’s budgeting work is part of a broader education appropriation expected to round out at approximately $3.3 billion. If the numbers stand, it will make way for the first teacher pay raise since 2022.

Sen. Dennis DeBar, a Republican from Leakesville and chair of the Senate Education Committee, said lawmakers settled on the $2,000 figure due to competing budget demands, including Medicaid and the Public Employees’ Retirement System. The state’s total budget for Fiscal Year 2027 is expected to be around $7.4 billion.

“There’s nothing that says we can’t do a (teacher) pay raise again next year,” DeBar said. “However, we didn’t want to lock ourselves in somewhere we couldn’t pay.”

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Mississippi

How Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius dominated third straight SEC team vs Ole Miss

Published

2 days ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

How Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius dominated third straight SEC team vs Ole Miss

OXFORD — Tomas Valincius struck out top Ole Miss baseball batter Tristan Bissetta looking on his last pitch of the game.

There was no emotion from the Mississippi State starting pitcher as he walked back to the dugout after Bissetta was the fourth straight Ole Miss batter to strike out.

It was another instance of Valincius, the left-handed Virginia transfer, showing a trait that’s made him such a dominant pitcher for the No. 4 Bulldogs. The longer Valincius pitches, the better he gets.

The sophomore pitched another five shutout innings as MSU (23-4, 5-2 SEC) took down No. 18 Ole Miss, 6-1, at Swayze Field on March 28 to win the series.

“It’s all mental,” Valincius said. “Just going out there and just kind of trusting yourself and all the work you put in throughout the week. And even when you don’t have your stuff, it’s still a war between every battle in every inning. It’s kind of like finding a way to do what you can do with what you got.”

The win clinched the Bulldogs’ ninth series against the Rebels (19-9, 3-5) in the last 10 meetings. Another win March 29 (3 p.m., SEC Network) would make Brian O’Connor the third straight first-year MSU coach to sweep Ole Miss.

Valincius (6-0) hasn’t allowed an earned run in 19 SEC innings and his season ERA dropped to 0.91.

Against the Rebels, one game after striking out a career-high 14 batters against Vanderbilt, Valincius recorded nine strikeouts with three hits, two walks and one hit by pitch in 90 pitches.

“He buckled down when runners were in scoring position,” O’Connor said. “He’s always best in his middle innings. You see him just rise his game up.”

Why Tomas Valincius could’ve done even better against Ole Miss

While the Ole Miss game was Valincius’ third SEC start without allowing an earned run, it was his shortest outing of the three. The other two against Arkansas and Vanderbilt both lasted seven innings.

Valincius stranded six Ole Miss batters on base in his five innings.

“Early on, I didn’t really feel like I had anything going,” Valincius said. “I was kind of just finding a way to win. That was kind of my whole approach throughout the whole game. I couldn’t really figure out the slider and fastball command. It wasn’t working a lot. I just found a way to win.”

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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