In Mississippi, Democrats Hope New Maps Lead to Statehouse Wins
In the Deep South, in crimson Mississippi, Democrats are sensing a rare opportunity to make inroads on Tuesday, an Election Day test of sorts for a national party that may soon have no choice but to find ways to win Southerners back.
The state will hold seven special elections on Nov. 4 for seats in the Mississippi legislature, prompted by redistricting ordered by the courts to give Black voters more representation. If Democrats flip two seats in the Senate, they would break the Republican supermajority in Jackson, the state capital.
That may not make a material difference in governing, since Republicans control the governor’s office and both chambers of the legislature. But it would bolster a broader attempt by Democrats to rebuild in the South as the Supreme Court considers ending Voting Rights Act protections for majority Black and Latino districts. Those districts, in state legislatures and in Congress, are practically the only ones held by Democrats, and Democrats are pleading for a role in redrawing them.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment for Democrats to really think about what our future looks like,” said Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which is prioritizing five Mississippi races. “It is state legislators who get to decide what our congressional districts look like, what most of our legislative districts look like, what our voting laws look like.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/us/politics/mississippi-elections.html