MERIDIAN, Miss.—Carolyn Rash Hampton, an NAACP member and interim president of her local Voters’ League in Louisville, Mississippi, graduated from Louisville Colored High School in 1966, a year after the Voting Rights Act became law.
“Please don’t take us back to that era,” she begged of lawmakers during a hearing in Meridian, Mississippi, that the Mississippi Standing Joint Legislative Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting hosted on Sept. 10. “We don’t want to live in that era again. So, please, keep the 2025 map and honor the laborers that went before us and are working now.”
Members of the Mississippi Legislature’s joint redistricting committee have been holding hearings across the state during the past two months to hear from voters about how lawmakers should draw the state’s legislative and congressional district maps.
The renewed push for redistricting comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Republican majority curtailed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act—a key provision which has long prevented states from enacting racially gerrymandered maps for the purpose of diluting the voting power of racial minorities. In recent years, federal courts have cited Section 2 when ordering Mississippi to create more majority-Black legislative and state Supreme Court districts to comply with the Voting Rights Act. But the Louisiana v. Callais decision scrutinizes the usage of race when drawing maps, a requirement that could roll back the gains Black voters made.
“The purpose of these hearings is to give you the opportunity to let us hear your thoughts and opinion on, like I say, and the reason we’re here is because of the Supreme Court ruling on Louisiana v. Callais,” Mississippi Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Flowood, said at the beginning of the hearing. He noted that the legislators would not share their opinions nor answer questions during the hearing.
Hampton said Mississippi will face consequences if it redraws its congressional and legislative districts maps before the 2030 census. She compared this year’s redistricting efforts to President Donald Trump tearing down the East Wing of the White House, resurfacing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, renaming the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center to include Trump’s name and influencing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling of Louisiana v. Callais, saying each decision was “unnecessary” and “had consequences.”
‘A Dog and Pony Show’
When Amir Badat’s parents immigrated to Meridian almost 50 years ago, then-Mississippi House Rep. Charles Young Sr., welcomed them to the city. The representative was one of the first Black Mississippians elected to serve in the Legislature since Reconstruction. His district, which was majority-Black, came to fruition when a federal court had to order Mississippi to draw it.
Badat is the Southern States director and senior director of the political organization Fair Fight Action, who frequently works alongside the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He said Young would have never served in the Legislature if people did not fight for Black people’s right to have political power.
The attorney said legislative hearings about redistricting, like the one he was attending that night, were a “dog and pony show” because lawmakers would draw new maps anyway, no matter how many Mississippians spoke in opposition.
“And that will diminish Black political power. Now, I would love for y’all to prove me wrong. I would love for y’all to stop this process right here today in Meridian,” Badat said.
“Please do,” an audience member interjected.
“I would love for y’all to say you’re going to stop wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars going through a mid-decade redistricting process that no one wants,” Badat said. “That you are going to be responsible stewards of taxpayer money and wait until after the 2030 census to redistrict like you always do. And when you do that, you’re not going to attack Black political power.”
Badat shared three “lies” that he believes Mississippi legislators have and will say about redistricting. First, he said lawmakers would claim that the Louisiana v. Callais decision forced Mississippi to redraw its congressional and legislative district maps. The attorney counteracted that claim by saying the ruling only required Louisiana to redistrict, not other states.
Second, Badat said lawmakers are lying if the Legislature claims to be worried about people suing the State if it doesn’t redistrict because voting rights advocates did just that when they filed a federal lawsuit in 2022, alleging that the new district map violated the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution by denying Black voters the ability to elect a justice of their choice.
“So, let me get this straight,” Badat said. “When white voters might sue you, you have to redistrict to take away Black political power. While when Black voters might sue you, who cares? Bring on the lawsuits.”
Lastly, the attorney said legislators are lying if they say they are only looking at partisanship, not race, when drawing new maps.
“But let’s be real: We all live in Mississippi,” Badat said. “You know full well that race and party are intertwined in Mississippi. You know when you are eliminating Democratic-majority districts, you are eliminating Black-majority districts. You know that, we know that and we won’t fall for it.”
The attorney then directly addressed Sen. Dean Kirby, chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee, and Rep. Noah Sanford, chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, and said Mississippians will know they are lying if and when the chairmen present the new district maps to the Legislature that prove Badat’s concerns true.
Similarly, Meridian resident Ramona Sanders agreed with Badat and articulated that the Louisiana v. Callais decision did not mandate Mississippi to redraw its legislative or congressional district maps—but lawmakers did. Mississippi lawmakers cannot make race-neutral decisions without the federal government having to “step in and make us do right,” she added
She said redistricting at this time was a “power grab for the Republican Party because as soon as they go back to the supermajority, things will go back to where it used to be. And I’m just going to say honestly, nobody wants to go back. So, we need to make a choice here. Who is more important, the citizens or your pockets?”
‘Mississippi Will Suffer’
Vickie Pickens, a Lauderdale County, Mississippi, resident, said she once thought the U.S. was the greatest country in the world, even though she grew up poor. She was proud of how the country recovered from the Vietnam War and the deaths of former President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy Sr., and how Black Americans finally had equal treatment under the law thanks to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
But jobs disappeared, prices increased faster than wages and now, the U.S. Supreme Court has weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Because of this, the nation “can no longer justify ‘equality for all,’” she said.
“We seem to not realize that if one group is oppressed, everyone will hurt eventually,” Pickens said at the hearing. “We can never go back to those days—Make America Great Again—because it only means Mississippi will suffer. Now, Mississippi has the chance to move to the top for the first time.”
She added that Mississippi has to improve its economic and health outcomes and get off the bottom of the national rankings.
“I keep asking myself, ‘Why can’t we be the state for once that makes the difference?’” Pickens said. “We don’t have to go blue and we don’t have to remain red. Why don’t for once in our lives we go our own way?”
Beverly Cotton, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the deputy director for field operations with the Indian Health Service, said district boundaries should “preserve legitimate communities of interest.”
“Respecting legitimate communities without presuming how their citizens will vote is very important,” the Neshoba County resident said. “We treat every Mississippi voter as an equal citizen whose vote and voice share equal dignity. We understand that redistricting does not solve our problems, but it does determine whether or not we have an effective voice (in government).”
Veteran Michael Roberts asked why the Legislature would choose to redraw its legislative and congressional districts now. He said Mississippians will fight against redistricting efforts to diminish Black political power.
“This is a war on Black political power and y’all are trying to put us back another 150 years,” Roberts said at the hearing. “We had to struggle to even get to the voting box and vote. I think it’s wrong. If y’all don’t reconsider this, it’s going to be a big problem. It’s going to be a big problem because we’re not going to vote for this.”
‘Do It on a Race-Neutral Basis’
Though she is retired now, Lucy Hurst Gordon, a Lauderdale County resident, said she was one of the first women engineers for the Mississippi Department of Transportation. She was alive to see the 1965 Voting Rights Act become law, and she said “Mississippi has moved forward since then.”
Lawmakers should consider partisanship, not race, when drawing district maps because the Constitution prohibits grouping citizens by race, Gordon said. Lawmakers should also be transparent throughout the redistricting process, by letting citizens know how and why leaders created the maps, she added.
“A map with no racial target is a map least vulnerable to racial gerrymandering lawsuits,” Gordon said at the hearing.
Tamara Ward, an anesthesia provider in Neshoba County, said she fully supported the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, saying that Mississippi must redraw districts to be less divisive and “raise greatness.”
The Legislature should look at continuity when it comes to drawing district lines through counties, she said, noting that one representative or senator should not have four partial counties in one district. She said she wanted equal treatment for all Mississippians when redistricting.
“We’re Americans and we’re Mississippians and treat us as such,” Ward said at the hearing. “Treat us as a collective. Redistricting, certainly, I would compel the Legislature to promptly review and redraw congressional, state, legislative, regional and state Supreme Court lines. And do it on a race-neutral basis—not just race neutral but all neutral.”
Redistricting Committee Has Three Stops Left
So far, legislators have visited Itawamba Community College in Tupelo, Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Delta State University in Cleveland, Alcorn State University in Natchez and Meridian Community College in Meridian.
The committee has three stops left: the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg on Sept. 17; Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Gulfport on Sept. 22; and the Mississippi Capitol Building in Jackson on Sept. 24. Each of the hearings will be held at 6 p.m. on their respective days. The Mississippi Legislature’s YouTube channel will broadcast all the hearings live.
In 2025, U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi Sharion Aycock ordered Mississippi to redraw its 1987 state Supreme Court map to give more voting power to Black Mississippians, in compliance with the Voting Rights Act. More than a third of Mississippians are Black, but all three districts—which each elect two Mississippi Supreme Court justices—are majority-white.
Also that year, the Mississippi Legislature redrew its state House and Senate district maps to add more Black-majority districts after another court similarly ruled in 2024 that the state’s previous map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by having too few districts where Black voters could elect candidates of their choice. The new districts led to the election of Sen. Johnny DuPree, D-Hattiesberg, the first time that city has ever had a Black senator represent them in Jackson, despite the city’s population being 51% Black.
Subsequently, Gov. Tate Reeves canceled a special legislative session in May to redistrict the state’s Supreme Court map.
Now, Black voting gains may get rolled back because of the U.S. Supreme Court Republican-appointed majority’s Callais ruling.
Reeves hinted at a potential special session for legislative redistricting this year when talking to reporters in June at the Neshoba County Fair. During a special session, the Legislature may only consider topics explicitly called for by the governor.
Lawmakers might have to gather in Jackson before this January to work on legislative redistricting because the qualifying deadline for candidates is on Feb. 1, 2027. Although, Reeves has yet to confirm with reporters whether he would call a special session or when it would occur.
“That’s going to take a little bit of time to get all of that together,” he told reporters on June 25 at the Neshoba County Fair, referring to redrawing legislative, congressional and state Supreme Court district maps. “But I would not be surprised if there is a special session to deal with redistricting sometime between now and when the next legislative session begins, but we will definitely have our redistricting done before the 2027 election.”
It is unknown how far redistricting will go if a special session does come together, though Republican leaders have generally praised the Callais decision. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said the ruling put “an end to years of federal overreach” in Mississippi’s redistricting matters, but Reeves and other white Republicans have made clear their hopes to redraw Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District, Mississippi’s only majority-Black congressional district and home to Mississippi’s only Black congressman, Bennie Thompson.
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