Hundreds gather in Mississippi to protest Republican redistricting: ‘This fight is familiar territory’

Hundreds of people rallied across from the Mississippi state capitol in Jackson on Thursday evening to oppose Republican efforts to redraw district maps, shortly before the final of eight statewide redistricting hearings. After the U. S. Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v Callais weakened section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Governor Tate Reeves first sought a special session, then canceled it and said on X that he expected lawmakers to redraw congressional lines before the 2027 elections, according to The Guardian.

Speakers at the rally, including Safia Malin of the civic group One Voice, tied the moment to Mississippi's long voting rights struggle, from the 1890 constitution to the Freedom Democratic Party and figures such as Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer. Marchers then chanted their way into the capitol building. The hearing room filled early, with an overflow area outside.

Sixty-seven people testified for two minutes each in a session lasting just under two hours. The joint committee has 16 Republicans, all but one of them white, and four Black Democrats; it did not answer questions about its process or how testimony would be used.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →