When Mississippi lawmakers take up redistricting, whether that be in a special session this year or during the 2027 regular session, they should keep this objective in mind: Don’t do anything that gets the state sued.
That means ignoring the calls of the most rabid Republicans to draw congressional boundaries that give the GOP control of all four of the state’s U.S. House seats, and to draw legislative lines that significantly reduce the number of state House and Senate seats held by Black Democrats.
Early indications are that Mississippi’s legislative leadership is rightfully tuning out some of those overly partisan voices. Both Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Jason White have put several Democrats on the special committees on redistricting they have created, presumably to inject at least some fairness in a process that will be tilted, of course, to the advantage of Republicans, the state’s dominant political party.
Those who think decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court on redistricting have opened the door to leave already heavily outnumbered Democrats in Mississippi with nothing but political crumbs are overreading those decisions.
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling that racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional does not only outlaw voting lines that are drawn to guarantee the election of a Black candidate. It also outlaws those that are drawn to guarantee the election of a white candidate.
Nor is the earlier court ruling that permits partisan gerrymandering likely to provide cover for a racially disproportionate outcome. In Mississippi, political party and race are almost indistinguishable, with whites voting predominantly Republican, and Blacks predominantly Democratic. Thus, it is inconceivable to see how a state that is almost 40% Black and votes about 40% Democratic in national elections could draw congressional lines, for example, that put the one seat long held by Black Democrat Bennie Thompson into the Republican column without those lines being racially discriminatory, not to mention geographically convoluted.
And if they are, that will prompt a certain lawsuit, which will not only be expensive to taxpayers but could well result in federal judges drawing the voting lines instead of the Legislature.
Hosemann has taken early flak from some of his Republican colleagues for putting two Democrats, both Black, on the Senate’s 10-person redistricting committee that will propose new voting maps. Hosemann has a history, though, of not just being fair but being wise when it comes to navigating the minefield of election law.
When he was secretary of state, he was able to implement Mississippi’s then-controversial voter ID law without getting sued by the U.S. Justice Department during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama. Hosemann accomplished that feat by being transparent, working to address in advance any concerns the federal agency had and instituting a communications campaign that lessened whatever fears minority voters might have about the ID requirement.
Though the playbook may be a little different with redistricting, a non-litigious outcome also could be the result If Mississippi lawmakers draw voting lines that are geographically compact and group voters of like social and economic interests together. That would still leave Republicans in a dominant political position, while being fair to minority voters and candidates.
Such an approach would also have the benefit of further lifting a persistent, and once accurate, national perception that Mississippi will only do right by its Black citizens if it’s forced to by the federal courts.
