After the Supreme Court struck down congressional redistricting done solely on the basis of race last week, Republican officials in Mississippi are split over whether to redraw the state’s congressional map ahead of the midterm elections.
“It’s time for Mississippi to redraw the lines and eliminate the racially gerrymandered district that exists solely to protect Bennie Thompson,” Mississippi State Auditor Shad White told The Daily Signal. “I’m not scared to say it: Bennie Thompson is the worst member of Congress, and we need to redraw his district so we can send President Trump more allies in Congress.”
White is currently the only statewide Republican official publicly calling for redistricting before November. As of Friday, none of the Republican gubernatorial candidates or state lawmakers had called for the Legislature to take up congressional redistricting ahead of the midterms.
Other Republican leaders, including Mississippi House Speaker Jason White, have expressed interest in redrawing the map but argued that the effort should wait until after the election.
Unlike Tennessee and Florida, which each convened special legislative sessions within the past two weeks to enact new congressional maps, Mississippi officials have so far declined to pursue similar action. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has said he plans to call a special session in the near future, but it would focus exclusively on redrawing districts for the state Supreme Court—not Congress.
“I’m disappointed that I’m the only statewide official in Mississippi calling for the state to redraw these lines,” White said.
White accused his fellow Republicans—whom he described as “establishment politicians”—of avoiding the issue because they do not want to “make anyone mad” and are “terrified of being called a racist by Bennie Thompson.”
White pointed to Indiana as a cautionary example for Mississippi Republicans.
In Indiana, GOP lawmakers failed to approve a new congressional map during the previous legislative session that would have added two Republican-held House seats ahead of the midterms. That decision later drew the ire of President Donald Trump and his allies, including Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who directed millions of dollars to the primary campaigns of challengers running against those lawmakers.
As a result, Republican state Sens. Travis Holdman, James Buck, Greg Walker, Linda Rogers, Dan Dernulc, and Rick Niemeyer were defeated by candidates backed by Trump and Banks.
White warned that Mississippi could face similar political consequences if it declines to redraw its congressional map before the midterms.
“If Republicans lose control of the House by only a handful of seats, then the weak Republicans who refuse to do anything to fight against the Democrats will be partially responsible for the president’s agenda being halted,” White said.
While redistricting efforts stalled in Indiana, Democrats moved forward with redrawing congressional maps in California on the basis of race, potentially adding as many as five House seats for the Democratic Party.
House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has since called on the New York State Assembly to pursue similar redistricting efforts.
