Black Dems End GOP Super Majority In Mississippi State Legislature With Election Night Wins

Multiple seats in the Mississippi Legislature were flipped to the left following Tuesday's special election results.

Democrats are celebrating a monumental win in the Mississippi Legislature with Election Night working in their favor.

The Nov. 4 special election resulted in the collapse of the Republican supermajority in the state legislature. Voters exercised their right after a court-ordered redistricting measure, which ultimately helped Black Mississippians gain more representation in state government.

According to The New York Times, Democrats won two highly anticipated elections for seats within the State Senate. Despite being an off-year, voters flocked to the polls to change the leadership landscape, even if marginally.

A former Democratic nominee for governor, Johnny Dupree, beat GOP opponent Anna Rush for a newly drawn seat representing Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dupree, also the city’s former four-term mayor, was able to secure for residents a familiar face that reflected their area. Black people account for over 50% of Hattiesburg’s population, numbers confirmed by Data USA.

Another win came from retired nurse Theresa Gillespie Isom. Gillespie Isom beat out a local Republican opponent to represent a new suburban district below the border of Memphis, Tennessee.

The election results broke the supermajority State Republicans formerly held in the Senate, leaving GOP lawmakers with only a 34-18 divide. While the GOP still owns the majority, these wins signal to the Democratic Party that growth is still possible in the Mississippi Legislature. This news is especially significant amid political shifts away from a Voting Rights Act provision that authorizes the creation of majority-minority districts.

With these districts, often the only ones led by Democrats, at risk, securing even a few seats in the state legislature is considered a major win for the left and a major blow for the right. State Republicans intend to “come back even stronger,” presumably for the midterms next year, according to the Party Chairman Mike Hurst.

Other southern states have also followed suit, with crucial wins for the left, such as Georgia, which made historic appointments of two Democrats to the Public Service Commission. In light of the 2024 general election, those disappointed by Trump’s win have evidently decided to fight back at the state and local levels.