JACKSON, Miss.— At The Rookery on Tuesday night, longtime Mississippi Sen. John Horhn beamed with pride as the results showed he held a commanding lead over the incumbent Jackson mayor, Chokwe A. Lumumba, in his bid to become the Democratic nominee to lead the capital city. Just after 9 p.m., Horhn took the stage to celebrate the victory with his wife, Lydia Gail Horhn, and daughter, Charla Horhn, by his side.
More than 15 years had passed since he had launched his first campaign for mayor, and now he was closer than ever to the office that had for so long eluded him.
“We all know the story of the little engine that was just trying to get up the mountain,” Horhn told his supporters Tuesday night. “He had perseverance and persistence. Today, I feel like that little engine that could.”
Horhn secured about 75% of the votes cast in the April 22 runoff election for the Democratic nomination for mayor, defeating incumbent Lumumba, who has led the capital city since 2017.
The senator will now go on to the June 3 general election, where voters will decide between him, Republican nominee Kenny Gee, and independent mayoral candidates Kim Wade, Zach Servis and Rodney Depriest.
Of Jackson’s 114,006 registered voters, fewer than 25,000 cast ballots in the runoff elections, unofficial tallies from the Jackson Municipal Clerk’s office showed, mirroring similar low voter turnout numbers from the April 1 primary. The turnout rate was about 21%.
‘We Are Going To Turn The Page’
Sen. Horhn, 70, has served in the Mississippi Senate since 1993. He first ran for mayor in 2009, garnering about 1,800 votes that year—far fewer than the roughly 18,000 votes he won on Tuesday. He ran again for mayor in 2014 and then a third time in 2017.
“After the fourth time, we did it,” Horhn declared Tuesday night as his supporters cheered and applauded. The senator outlasted a packed race that featured 12 contenders for the Democratic nomination for mayor—a list that included many familiar names and newcomers like military veteran and Delta native Tim Henderson, who came in third during the April 1 primary.
As he stood on stage Tuesday night, Horhn thanked the vanquished 42-year-old incumbent, saying that Lumumba ran a passionate campaign. “I salute the mayor for his efforts,” Horhn said, while adding that Jackson is ready to turn the page to a new era.
Throughout his campaign, he touted his affable connections with state lawmakers, arguing that his ability to work with state officials who are often hostile to the capital city makes him the best choice to lead Jackson.
While both Horhn and Lumumba have spoken out in recent years against Republican state leaders’ attempts to take control of Jackson’s resources and institutions, Lumumba has directly characterized those attempts as “paternalistic and racist.” The incumbent has long had frosty relations with Republican state leaders and lawmakers who dominate Mississippi.
Despite his history of speaking out against state takeovers of Jackson’s assets, some voters have expressed concerns about whether Horhn would be more willing to make deals with state leaders to relinquish city assets than the current mayor, a claim that Horhn has fervently denied.
U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson addressed that concern directly in a glowing April 16 endorsement of the senator’s campaign, saying that Horhn is “100% opposed to the State’s hostile takeover actions of the Jackson Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport.” The senator long opposed the airport takeover.
Horhn told the Mississippi Free Press on April 17 that as mayor of Jackson, he will focus on “improving quality of life for Jackson residents through bringing in resources, improving the management of city services and infrastructure, growing our revenue, tracking our performance, and communicating effectively to the public.”
He said his first priority will be “restoring trust, accountability, and transparency to the citizens of Jackson, county, and state government.”
‘It Has Been an Honor’
Minutes away, at the Ice House—an event venue on West South Street—the incumbent mayor’s watch party started off with music and dancing as he and his family joined supporters in doing the electric slide.
But as the night wore on, his loss became apparent, despite his best efforts to keep spirits up. Tears streamed down the mayor’s face as he delivered his concession speech. He named several members of his administration, thanking them for their dedication to the work and shared his gratitude to the citizens of Jackson.
“I take this moment to remind you that you—Jackson, Mississippi—are an amazing city filled with amazing people. The moment we begin to grab ahold of that, we can accomplish anything,” the mayor said, adding he was honored to lead the City for eight years.
Voters first elected Chokwe A. Lumumba to the mayor’s office in 2017. He unseated then-incumbent Mayor Tony Yarber for the Democratic nomination that year. At just 34 years old, Lumumba was the youngest person elected to lead the City of Jackson. He followed in the footsteps of his father, the late Chokwe Lumumba, who served from 2013 until his death in 2014.
When he first won the office in 2017, the younger Lumumba said he intended to make Jackson “the most radical city on the planet” and that his political ideology centered on “an agenda of social justice, economic democracy and making sure that people had a voice.” In the last days of the campaign, he told WLBT that he considers himself “really kind of conservative at heart” and that he wants to “work in order to build something that’s worth conserving.”
“It is necessary that we have a radical love for our city; a love that is unyielding, a love that won’t allow our people to be taken advantage of,” the mayor said on Tuesday night after his loss became apparent.
He thanked his father and late mother, Nubia Lumumba, for their demonstration of political activism. “I thank my parents for bringing us to Jackson, Mississippi. They had a love for this city and they had a love for what we could do, building a self-determining city. We’re going to continue to push for that,” he said.
His tenure as mayor included successes such as establishing the City of Jackson’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery to support community-based crime prevention efforts. He coordinated with former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant to stave off a state takeover of the Jackson Public School District and helped to secure millions of dollars in federal funding to repair the City’s fledgling water infrastructure.
He also oversaw the City’s acquisition of a $10 million settlement from Zurich-American Insurance Company after suing the company in 2019 for failing to adequately cover the cost of damages that a 2013 hailstorm caused to city buildings.
His two terms were not without controversy, though, such as in 2023 when highly-publicized disagreements with members of the Jackson City Council over a vendor contract stalled garbage-collection services across the city for more than two weeks.
His indictment on federal bribery charges last year left a blemish on his campaign for a third term and hurt him with voters. Lumumba will face trial for the charges in 2026 alongside Ward 6 City Councilman Aaron Banks and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens.
He has repeatedly said that he is not guilty of any wrongdoing in the case.
Near the end of his speech, Lumumba remained resolute, vowing to return to his roots as an organizer and to continue supporting Jackson. “If you thought I was a problem as a mayor, you’re going to really get a problem out of me as an organizer and as an attorney. I won’t stop. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
He also had a message for his successor.
“I want the next mayor to know this: you have to protect our City’s assets. The airport is ours. The water system is ours. JPS is ours. Smith Wills Stadium is ours,” Lumumba said. “If you love this city, we’ll work with you and we’ll fight with you to make sure that we protect these assets.”
The general election is June 3.
