Harrison: Mississippi tried redistricting in 2001. Democrats dropped the ball

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has indicated he could call the Mississippi Legislature into special session later this year to tackle the contentious issue of redistricting.

It is likely that the Legislature would consider redrawing the 52 state Senate and 122 state House districts in addition to the four U.S. House districts in the aftermath of the recent Louisiana v. Callais decision where the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to significantly limit the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act designed to prevent the dilution of Black voter strength.

Based on comments of Mississippi elective leaders, it is likely they will attempt to redraw political districts with the intent to limit the number of majority-Black districts in a state where the African American population is near 40%.

In any special session, it is likely that the redistricting of legislative districts would be done for the 2027 state elections and that the congressional redistricting would be conducted for the 2028 federal election.

Mississippi tried redistricting in a special session a generation ago, and the majority party – the Democrats – could not agree on a plan. Republicans hold the majority now, and they are likely to get the outcome they want.

In the early 2000s, Mississippi lost one of its five congressional seats based on the results of the 2000 U.S. Census.

The most obvious choice for the candidates who would be placed in the same district were Democratic Rep. Ronnie Shows, who represented southwest Mississippi up to parts of metro Jackson, and Republican Rep. Chip Pickering, who represented portions of east Mississippi, extending over to portions of metro Jackson.

Like ongoing redistricting efforts, the 2001 Mississippi redistricting special session drew national attention. After all, in the early 2000s, just as now, the two parties were fighting for control of the U.S. House.

But the special session highlighted what already should have been obvious – Mississippi Democrats held control of the state Legislature but were not in lockstep with national Democrats.

State House leaders, including Speaker Tim Ford, were the most aligned with the national Democrats. But House leaders said what was presented as a pro-Democratic plan did not favor Democrats, but instead would create “a competitive” district where both Shows and Pickering would have a 50-50 chance.

The Senate, led by Lt. Gov. Tuck, who was still a Democrat, offered a plan that most agreed would give the Republican Pickering a distinct competitive advantage over Shows.

A lot of factors went into the rift between the House and Senate. Many officials in Tupelo and northeast Mississippi opposed the House plan – deemed the tornado plan after one funnel-shaped proposed district – because they did not want to be in a district with parts of suburban Jackson. In addition, Tuck had allegedly made a commitment not to split relatively populous Lauderdale County into two districts.

Opposition to the tornado plan and to the splitting of Lauderdale County made it difficult to draw a district where both Pickering and Shows had a fighting chance.

While Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove would have had to sign into law any plan passed by the Legislature, he held little ability to sway either the House or Senate.

So the House and Senate redistricting committees met and exchanged plans, but essentially sat and stared at each other. The hearings evolved into a comedy routine where Senate Redistricting Chair Hob Bryan and House Chair Tommy Reynolds, perhaps the two most literate members of the Legislature, regaled onlookers by quoting Tennessee Williams, the two Williams – Shakespeare and Faulkner – and, of course, the Bible.

Finally, Musgrove had had enough, and he opted to use a little known gubernatorial constitutional power and end the special session.

The issue ended up in court. When Republicans did not get the outcome they wanted in the state court, they turned to the federal judiciary, where they got a favorable ruling.

The next election cycle, Pickering handily defeated Shows. And before winning a second term as lieutenant governor, Tuck switched to the Republican Party.

The special session was perhaps one of the many precursors of the state’s by-then ongoing embrace of the national Republican Party.

When the Legislature meets in the next redistricting special session, Republicans will have significant majorities of the House and Senate and a resident of the Governor’s Mansion.

It is unlikely that they will disappoint national Republicans to the extent that Mississippi Democrats did their national counterparts in that 2001 special session.

This column was produced by Mississippi Today, a nonprofit news organization that covers state government, public policy, politics and culture. Bobby Harrison is the editor of Mississippi Today Ideas.