After Supreme Court gutted VRA, Mississippi tries to bring back a GOP gerrymander

By Jen Rice

Sen. Joseph Thomas, D-Yazoo City, holds a copy of a proposed redistricting map at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

A federal court will decide at an upcoming hearing whether Mississippi can move forward for now with a gerrymandered GOP map for its 2027 elections without waiting for input from a district court or the legislature.

A group of pro-voting plaintiffs is asking a federal court to grant an emergency temporary restraining order to block Mississippi’s top election official from implementing new voting maps, arguing he is overstepping his authority in an overly enthusiastic, premature response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. A federal judge will consider that request at an Aug. 28 hearing. 

Seizing on the Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, an elected Republican, is trying to unilaterally revive a gerrymandered map a federal court struck down in 2024 for diluting Black voters. The Supreme Court had sent the Mississippi map back to the district court for further proceedings in light of Callais. Rather than wait for that process, Watson told local officials to use that 2022 map for next year’s voting.

Now, pro-voting plaintiffs have filed an emergency motion seeking a temporary restraining order to block GOP officials from using the 2022 maps until the state legislature has a chance to act. Mississippi Republicans have already made it clear they intend to redraw maps before 2027 to eliminate districts where Black voters have been able to elect the candidates of their choice. 

According to the plaintiffs’ filing, a member of Watson’s senior staff sent a July 24 email to local officials instructing them to revert to the 2022 maps in their election systems. Pro-voting plaintiffs argue Watson’s actions are unlawful and circumvent both the judicial and legislative process.

In their 2024 ruling, federal judges ordered Mississippi to implement new legislative maps that included additional majority-Black districts. Those maps were used in the 2025 special elections, and they’re the current status quo in Mississippi that Watson has instructed officials to replace.