Panel orders Mississippi to redraw DeSoto County legislative districts as special elections loom

A federal three-judge panel on Tuesday evening ordered state officials to develop another legislative map that ensures Black voters in the DeSoto County area have a fair opportunity to elect candidates to the state Senate.

The unanimous ruling gave the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners seven days to propose a new map for the DeSoto County area, with the state facing a time crunch to hold special elections for numerous redrawn legislative districts in November.

The order is another setback for state officials who have fought bitterly with the plaintiffs and among each other to comply with court orders and federal redistricting law.

The panel, comprised of U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan, U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden and U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick, previously ruled that when lawmakers redrew their districts in 2022 to account for population shifts, they violated federal civil rights law because the maps diluted Black voting power.

To remedy the violation, the court allowed the Legislature to propose a new House map redrawing House districts in the Chickasaw County area and a new Senate map redrawing districts in the DeSoto County and Hattiesburg areas.

Earlier this year, during the 2025 session, the Legislature attempted to comply with the order and tweaked those districts. However, the plaintiffs still objected to parts of the Legislature’s plan.

The plaintiffs, the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters from around the state, did not object to the Hattiesburg portion of the Senate plan. But they argued the Chickasaw County portion of the House plan and the DeSoto County portion of the Senate plan did not create a realistic opportunity for Black voters in those areas to elect their preferred candidates.

The judges accepted the Chickasaw County redistricting portion. Still, they objected to the DeSoto County part because the Legislature’s proposed DeSoto County solution “yokes high-turnout white communities in the Hernando area of DeSoto County to several poorer, predominantly black towns in the Mississippi Delta,” which would make it hard for Black voters to overcome white voting blocs.

It’s unclear if Tuesday’s order will impact parts of the election schedule. The judges said they were committed to voters participating in November special elections, but it might change other parts of the pre-Election Day schedule.

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This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.