OurTupelo

Nonya Thrasher, who has led Hazlehurst City School District as interim leader since June, is now the permanent superintendent. 

The school board voted 3-2 Tuesday to appoint Thrasher and offer her a one-year, $130,000 contract. Darryl Hilliard Jr., Gloria Sandifer and school board President Paul Rhodes supported Thrasher’s appointment. Corey Murray and Oscar Tanner III voted no. 

Rhodes said there was no reason why the board offered Thrasher a one-year contract instead of a longer one.

Thrasher had served as the district’s director of accountability, compliance and accreditation since July 2023. Before working in Hazlehurst, she was superintendent of Claiborne County School District during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With Hazlehurst, Thrasher inherits a district in crisis. The Mississippi Department of Education may take over the district by December if it does not clear outstanding accreditation violations. In March, the state Board of Education rejected the district’s corrective action plan to address those violations. 

For nearly a decade, the state Education Department has downgraded the district’s accreditation to probation. The agency previously took over the district from 2008 through 2014.

Before Thrasher took over as the interim leader, district facilities needed maintenance, its dysfunctional special education department failed students, and poor administrative oversight allowed for poor recordkeeping. 

The district has received a “C” rating on the state accountability system the past two years. Both its high and middle schools earned “D” accountability ratings in the 2024-25 school year. The district’s graduation rate for disabled students dropped to 17% last year, the lowest in the state.

As Hazlehurst schools’ accountability chief and later, interim superintendent, Thrasher reduced the number of accreditation violations from 11 to two since January.

Her predecessor, Cloyd Garth, left the district on June 5. The school board would not confirm if Garth resigned or was fired.

Thrasher hired a new special education director over the summer and told Mississippi Today on Tuesday that clearing remaining violations is a top priority. Hazlehurst schools still face another threat: consolidation with the Copiah County School District. Lawmakers have been meeting to discuss school district consolidation ahead of the 2027 session. Consolidation bills introduced last session failed. 

Thrasher plans to meet with lawmakers next month.“We want to avoid consolidation if at all possible,” she said.

Democratic Rep. Greg Holloway of Hazlehurst, the Copiah County board of supervisors and other local leaders have expressed support for Thrasher. Hazlehurst residents also rallied for Thrasher in recent weeks. District alumni, parents and community members posted messages of support on Facebook and circulated posters and flyers listing her qualifications.

Rhodes said Tuesday community members have recently approached him in Walmart to voice their support for her.

Thrasher said she is heartened by the support as a Hazlehurst resident.

“I’m ready to get the job done,” she said. “I have been overjoyed, overwhelmed and overloved by the community, but I have always worked in this community long before sitting in this seat. Whatever we need to do to move this community forward, I have always been in the forefront to make that happen.”

Rhodes feels optimistic, too. He said he believes Thrasher will help the district better serve students and improve academic standards.

“I believe we reached that point to where we can now move forward, straighten things up and educate our kids,” Rhodes said, “which is the reason why we’re here.”

After more than half a century, Leake County schools have been released from a federal order that monitored and prevented racial discrimination within the district. 

That means a judge will no longer oversee Leake County School District to ensure Black  students get equal access to a quality education. 

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Jordan approved the order’s dissolution on Sept. 3. Officials announced the decision Monday night on Facebook.

“This historic milestone reflects our continued commitment to providing every student with an equitable, high-quality education,” the post reads. 

Leake County schools Superintendent Will Russell said Tuesday that it’s been an arduous process, and the decision reflects the work of the community and past district leaders. 

“I just want to congratulate everyone who’s been part of this effort,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Justice has been monitoring Leake County schools for decades, after parents of Black students brought a discrimination lawsuit against the school board in 1963. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi imposed a formal desegregation order in 1969, ordering Leake County schools to halt discriminatory practices and practice mandatory reporting to ensure no school within the district was racially identifiable.

Justice Department officials closed two Leake County schools in 2011 and reassigned students and faculty to promote equity after they found four schools were still racially divided.

Monte Ladner, former Leake County superintendent, said Tuesday the district had little choice but to comply at the time. 

“We weren’t given much of a choice on how we got back in compliance,” he said. “Even if we suggested something different, their reaction was ‘no.’”

That lack of community input about the school closures was devastating, Russell said. 

“It was just one of those hard things to accept even though it was the right thing to do,” he said. 

The district has made strides since then. Last year, each school reached the standard the court established to determine racial balance.

The school district consolidated its high schools this school year due to declining student enrollment. Russell prefers to call that “realignment” because of the community’s negative memories of the 2011 school closures. 

Board attorney John Hooks argued in a July 28 court filing the merger will ensure equity. Ladner agreed Tuesday and said the merger will make it easier for the district to provide equal opportunities to students. 

Leake County schools have lost about a fifth of their students over the past decade. The district enrolled 2,369 students last year, about a 19% decrease from 2015-16. 

“It’s great to get out from under this order,” Ladner said. “It gives the district some flexibility now in moving forward. This reflects the work of this administration and others before that tried to better the district. It’s very positive and will benefit students and parents alike.”

Leake County is the third Mississippi school district to be released from such an order in two years. Rankin County School District was released from its desegregation order in July, and Copiah County School District in August 2025. 

Under President Donald Trump, the Justice Department has signaled increasing willingness to release school districts from desegregation orders. 

Twenty-seven Mississippi school districts remain under desegregation orders. 

Russell is confident Leake County schools will maintain its progress without federal oversight. 

“We’re in a good place to keep it going and make sure we’re equitable across the board with student achievement,” he said. “I don’t see us slipping back into this concern again.”

FAYETTE — By 11:30 a.m., the students at Jefferson County schools are hungry. 

Seated in rows at long cafeteria tables, elementary students tuck into their lunches — crispy chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, corn and fruit. Only a few of them carry lunchboxes. 

When they throw away their plastic foam trays, some lick barbecue sauce off their fingers. 

In Jefferson County, 1 in 3 children is food insecure, making school meals an important source of consistent nourishment for many students. 

And it’s not just food — the district meets all kinds of needs for families, such as childcare and transportation, Superintendent Adrian Hammitte said. 

Fayette has a population of 1,445 people, and 30% of its residents live in poverty. The quiet town is in the wooded southwestern corner of the state, near the Louisiana line.

Many parents work full days in nearby counties or other states, Hammitte said, which means families rely on the district’s afterschool programs for childcare. Coaches and teachers sometimes drive students home from practices when their parents are unavailable. 

“The school is a big, big component of the community,” Hammitte said as his son approached for a hug before joining the lunch line. “We’ve taken on a role as partners with parents and families.”

The enrollment in Jefferson County schools is shrinking, as it is in other rural districts across the state. The Jefferson County district has lost more than 200 students, nearly 20% of its student body, in the past decade. As a result, district officials closed the junior high and upper elementary schools three years ago. Each school had served more than 160 students the year before it closed.

As Mississippi leaders consider consolidating some school districts, Hammitte is fielding questions from teachers and students about a potential merger with Claiborne County School District to its north. Such conversations are happening even though state lawmakers have not said publicly that they’re considering a consolidation between the districts.

“Many communities like mine rely on the district to be the heart of the community,” he said. “When you lose that, you can end up losing the entire community.”

‘When you’re hungry, you can’t pay attention’

Shameka Woods, Jefferson County Elementary School principal, was monitoring the cafeteria on the first day of school when she noticed some students crying. They had gotten to school late and the cafeteria had stopped serving breakfast.

Woods searched the pantry for cereal, milk and muffins.

It’s almost as if hungry students start the day with a strike against them, she said. 

“It makes me feel bad to know what they’re going through, and then they’re expected to come up here and learn,” she said. “When you’re hungry, you can’t pay attention.”

Federal education data shows Jefferson County Elementary had 512 students in 2024-25, all of whom were also eligible for free or reduced price lunch.

Hunger can diminish student performance. Children who experience food insecurity during early years lack the same opportunities for success as their peers.

That’s why many Jefferson County teachers and administrators, including Tawanna Gibson, keep snacks in their classrooms and offices.

Gibson, a district alumna, oversees the career and technical education center. Teachers often send students who are misbehaving in class to Gibson’s office. After a few minutes of conversation, many reveal that they’re hungry.

Gibson remembers when she was in school and students were ridiculed for asking peers for food from their lunch trays. Now she keeps granola bars, popcorn and fruit in her classroom for anyone who needs it. 

“They knew that when they got home they wouldn’t have anything to eat,” she said of her former classmates. “That experience has stayed with me, and now I’m in the position I can help students.”

Child food insecurity is highly correlated to poverty. In Jefferson County, about a third of residents live in poverty, according to federal data — and lack of opportunity. Less than half of the county’s residents are employed, and the school district is the biggest employer.

There’s only one grocery store, Fayette Supermarket, in the county’s most populous town.

The grocery store carries a limited amount of fresh produce. Processed, pre-packaged food mostly lines the aisles.

‘An extension of the family’

Fayette is a close community. 

“Everybody knows everybody,” Gibson said. “School has become much more than a place of academics. We basically serve as an extension of the family.”

That can mean school staff driving students home if their parents or grandparents are working. 

Woods, the elementary principal, knows many of her children’s families. When she says she will  call their homes to report their misbehavior, they know she’s not messing around. 

Earlier this year, one of Woods’ students was arguing with another student on the school bus and got taken off. Woods knew his grandmother and was able to get in touch with her immediately. Then, she asked the school’s cheer coach to drive the student home.

“You don’t see things like that in a big district,” she said. “You have so many people who know these families and they’re able to step in. It takes a village.”

Other families take advantage of Jefferson County schools’ afterschool program, where the district provides homework assistance and snacks until 6:30 p.m. It’s a win-win for parents, said the Rev. Tracy Collins, a pastor at East Mount Olive Baptist Church in Lorman.

“Obviously, kids get off school before parents get off work,” he said. “You can get your kids taken care of and they can get some assistance in their learning.”

Collins’ church is one of the community organizations that the district partners with to provide extra resources for students, such as the supplies donated during a back-to-school tailgate this year. The district also worked with a number of local businesses and historically Black fraternities and sororities before the new school year began to provide classroom supplies for students to take that burden off of families. 

“We educate our students, but we also nurture and encourage them,” Gibson said. “Families trust their children with us, and we take that responsibility seriously.”

That’s why, as the district continues to lose students and the threat of consolidation looms closer, families and school officials hope they aren’t forced to merge with another district. Jefferson County Schools is too closely tied with its community, Hammitte said. 

“Consolidation is at the forefront of everyone’s minds,” Hammitte said. “Even though we’re a small district, we have our own identity and traditions. The concern is that you just don’t know how it’s going to be if we have to consolidate with another district.”

“This is home for so many people, a lot of people who want to see it get better.”

This reporting is part of a collaboration with the Institute for Nonprofit News‘ Rural News Network and Big Local News at Stanford University, with data journalist Cherry Salazar’s analysis helping anchor the reporting. Six nonprofit newsrooms were involved: BenitoLink, KAXE, Mat-Su Sentinel, Mississippi Today, Oxford Free Press and The Texas Tribune. Support from the Walton Family Foundation made this project possible.

Michael Chiaradio, an entrepreneur and owner of a small farm in Shubuta, is the Democratic nominee for Mississippi’s 3rd District congressional seat, challenging incumbent Republican Michael Guest. Chiaradio, a first-time political candidate, said that as a constituent he was disappointed with Guest rubber stamping the Trump administration agenda, and that when he saw Guest as the only name on his ballot in 2024, he decided he would challenge him. “Who the heck is going to do it if not me,?” Chiaradio said.

Hitachi Energy is investing $528 million to build a new transformer factory in Copiah County, with plans to create 654 jobs. 

Gov. Tate Reeves announced the development on Tuesday morning from the G20 Energy Abundance Ministerial in Houston, alongside President Donald Trump administration leaders. 

Federal leaders emphasized that the Zurich-based company’s investment is a part of Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda and goal to bring back American manufacturing.

“This is bigger than just one factory announcement,” said U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, chairman of the National Energy Dominance Council. “This is about America’s determination to build the infrastructure to win the intelligence race, to power the next generation of American manufacturing and to bring prosperity and affordability to American citizens.”

Reeves said: “This administration is doing the work to bring back jobs to America because in Mississippi just like in America this what we do. We make stuff. We build stuff.”

The plant would be Hitachi Energy’s largest investment in America and is part of the company’s total $1.5-billion investment across the U.S. to increase production of transformers and other grid infrastructure to meet energy demand. The company is a subsidiary of multi-billion dollar Japanese firm Hitachi, Ltd.

Trump has said that he wants the U.S. to be the leader in energy production and exports. 

According to the company, the transformers produced in Mississippi will bring additional capacity to help growing demand for electricity. Consulting company Mckinsey has estimated that the U.S. demand for power will increase by 3.5% annually through 2040. 

“America needs more affordable, reliable and secure electricity generation, and this new investment by Hitachi will help make that happen,” said Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “The Trump Administration welcomes today’s announcement of a Hitachi transformer manufacturing facility that will provide jobs to local Mississippi communities while also helping improve electricity reliability and affordability for millions of Americans.”

Hitachi Energy has been in Mississippi for 70 years, but this investment would double the size of its existing operation. The company will build the new factory on a 45-acre site at the Copiah County Industrial Park in Gallman. Construction is expected to begin later this year with production to start in 2029.

Reeves called it a historic day for the U.S., Japan and Mississippi, emphasizing Mississippi’s existing relationship with other Japanese companies such as Toyota and Nissan. 

“Hitachi could’ve picked any state in the country. They chose Copiah County. They chose Mississippi,” Reeves wrote on social media.

A national trend of Republican candidates warning that Democrats are a bunch of Bolsheviks trying to turn the U.S. into the USSR has trickled down to Mississippi, with some of our GOP politicians warning of the red menace in the midterms.

But Mississippi McCarthyites seeking reelection to Congress or other offices might want to look inward, to the current administration they appear to support without question. As they seek to root out socialists and communists on the Mississippi midterm ballot, Comrade President Donald J. Trump appears to have broken out the Marx-Engels playbook. He’s been pushing to seize the means of production, redistribute wealth and institute what appears to be socialist-leaning market and price controls.

“If you elect a Democrat, you’re going to elect a socialist party,” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell told Mississippi Today recently. “Anybody that votes for a Democrat, that’s what we’re going to get.”

But if Ezell’s Democratic opponent, state Rep. Jeffrey Hulum, is a fellow traveler, he must be one heck of an embedded sleeper agent. Retired Army Sgt. Maj. Hulum, a 22-year combat veteran, has shown no overt socialist or communist leanings in his nearly five years in the Legislature nor in his congressional race platform.

That’s exactly what commie sleeper agents do. Better keep an eye on him.

But despite their vocal fears of the creep of socialism and communism into American government, Ezell and his fellow Republicans in Mississippi’s congressional delegation have been noticeably quiet about what critics and analysts have called “Trump socialism,” or “state capitalism.”

A Wall Street Journal column recently opined that Trump is “imitating the Chinese Communist Party by extending political control ever deeper into the economy.” The libertarian think tank the Cato Institute has noted the “irony” of the Trump administration denouncing the left for socialism while it seizes federal equity stakes in private businesses and implements centralized planning.

The Trump administration has taken federal government equity stakes in more than two dozen companies. It has converted federal grants into stock and taken “golden shares” of private companies. The federal government has created quite a venture investment portfolio, seeking control of production in industries including nuclear power, semiconductors, steel, minerals and quantum computing.

The pretense for federal government control of private companies has been national security and to — kid you not — promote innovation.

Anyone who believes socialism or communism promotes product innovation should go out and buy a Lada automobile.

The real corker is the potential U.S.-Venezuelan oil “deal.” The term deal here means the U.S. taking another country’s oil production at gunpoint, ousting one dictator and installing another and cooking up a deal in secret without approval from the elected legislatures of either country for the U.S. government to seize more control of the global oil market.

But don’t worry, Trump is full of proposals to redistribute wealth to the workers, although his promised checks have a way of not ever showing up in the bank accounts of the proletariat.

Back home in Mississippi, our Republican politicians appear unperturbed and unimpressed by this. Instead, they are trying to create a new Red Scare for Mississippi voters to shun those commie Democrats in the midterms and next year’s statewide elections.

“We can’t let the radical Democrat socialist agenda take hold in Mississippi,” Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith recently urged.

“This November 3rd, we must rally and defeat the Marxist Communists, Democratic Socialists and Red-Green alliance …” wrote Republican Agriculture Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Andy Gipson. “Standing with President Trump, we will never let the enemies of freedom win!”

There is an unprecedented shift from capitalism to some form of socialism that probably has Ronald Reagan rolling over in his grave. But it’s not being led by Mississippi Democrats.

Update, 9/16/2026: This story has been updated to correct a spelling error in one reference to Communist.

An early morning blaze engulfed the old Midtown Center located on Mill Street in downtown Jackson Tuesday, causing extensive damage but no injuries, fire officials said.

The Jackson Fire Department was dispatched to 1030 Mill Street at about 5:30 a.m. Crews arrived to heavy smoke and flames.

Division Fire Chief of Investigations Charles Felton confirmed the building was vacant and there were no injuries.

“At this time, I do not have any information as to how long it’s been vacant. We do know it’s been vacant for some time. But the definite time frame we do not have,” Felton said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The fire broke out near a residential neighborhood and not far from the Midtown Head Start Center on East Fortification Street.

Luckily, the childcare facility was not in operation, said Nita Norphlet-Thompson, the executive director of the Mississippi Head Start Association. The building is under construction, according to Norphlet-Thompson.

“Currently, that center is under renovation and probably won’t be open until the 1st of the year,” Norphlet-Thompson told Mississippi Today.  

Capitol Police closed off nearby streets near the fire zone, as water from firetrucks slickened streets.

Mississippi does not hold runoffs for general elections for federal offices, Secretary of State Michael Watson is reminding voters. 

“Ensuring Mississippi voters and election officials have clear, straightforward information about how our elections are decided is imperative,” Watson said in a statement. “The requirements are not the same for every office, so we want to make sure candidates, election officials, and voters have trusted information prior to Election Day.”

Watson’s clarification comes amid a high-profile Senate race, with Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith facing two challengers: Democratic nominee Scott Colom and independent opponent Ty Pinkins. 

Runoff elections can be confusing in Mississippi because some offices require them, but others do not. There have been runoff elections in recent congressional elections. But those were either primary elections or special elections, not regular general elections.     

In 2018, a runoff between Hyde-Smith and Mike Espy occurred after the two received more votes than former state Sen. Chris McDaniel. This was a special election after longtime Sen. Thad Cochran’s resignation. 

McDaniel also forced Cochran into a 2014 runoff in the Republican primary after neither gained an outright majority because of a third-party candidate, Thomas Carey. Cochran later defeated McDaniel in the runoff. 

But it’s long been the law in Mississippi that there are no runoff elections for general elections in federal races. The winner is required to win only a plurality of the votes, not a majority. 

Cochran famously became Mississippi’s first Republican U.S. senator since Reconstruction in 1978 without securing an outright majority. Cochran competed in the general election against Maurice Dantin, the Democratic nominee, and Charles Evers, an independent. 

Cochran received 45% of the vote, Dantin received 31%, and Evers received 22%. 

Mississippi requires candidates for the eight statewide state offices, judicial offices, and county offices to receive a majority. Only a plurality is required for candidates running for congressional, legislative, state district, and municipal offices.

Under the welcome shade of Fondren Park trees, dozens of LGBTQ+ friends and allies socialized and enjoyed barbecue with a drag performance at a local Black Pride event, organized by public health group My Brother’s Keeper. Then, they were called upon to provide the entertainment.

After some cajoling by repeat Jackson Black Pride host JStruktuur on Saturday, a few intrepid attendees stepped up to the open mic, which featured a $75 cash prize for the winner. First up was Tony Patrick, who sang Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking of You.” Patrick came to the event with Jose Ramirez, driving from an hour away in Scott County on his lime green motorbike. After hearing about Pride in the Park the night before at Shade, a LGBTQ+ bar and nightclub in Jackson, they decided to make another trip to the city.

Despite living in an environment that can feel “closed in,” Patrick said he feels comfortable expressing himself as a gay man.

“We’ll go right now to a club that we’ve never been to and hold hands,” he said.  ” If I love myself, there’s nothing nobody can do about it.”

Afterward, they were off to a birthday party, again traveling by motorcycle and hoping the rain would hold off. 

Next on the mic was Cyanne Herron, an artist, fashion designer and poet. Herron told Mississippi Today that she is still shy about sharing her poetry. When she found out about the open mic, her first reaction was, “ Don’t look at me.”

An hour later, wearing a bright yellow bandana and a shirt she painted herself, Herron sat on the steps on the Fondren Park stage and began reading from her phone. Friends who had encouraged her to speak cheered her on, including Landon Williams, a retail worker by day and drag queen by night. 

Herron and Williams first met at Shade, and at Saturday’s event, they caught up on his Batman-themed show hosted at the nightclub the weekend prior. Williams flipped through videos on his phone of a fellow drag artist performing stunts as DC antihero Harley Quinn, while he twirled his cape as Quinn’s paramour, Poison Ivy.

 ”Drag has saved a version of myself that was kind of scared,” Williams said. He’s 26, but remembers that at 18, he didn’t have public events like Pride in the Park to meet other members of the LGBTQ+ community. In January, he started doing drag after finding two drag mothers, or mentors, who gave him a makeup kit and his first wig. 

“When you want to show your confidence in a bold way, you kind of feel shy about wanting to put it out there like that because people might look at you a certain way,” he said. “ But it’s just like, why don’t I get to be bold in my confidence?”

“ I love that for you, actually,” Herron said. “ Because I feel like we all deserve, our last day on Earth, to at least have some type of thought in our consciousness that says that I actually was being myself while I was here.” 

Connecting people to care

Aside from building a sense of community, Pride in the Park allowed attendees to connect with resources. Some partners, like MS Capital City Pride and the Transgender Resources, Advocacy, Networking and Services (TRANS) Program, have been at previous iterations of the event. Others, like Awakening Love, a Jackson-based, Black and trans-led organization with a drop-in center that offers health resources and regular social programming, were there for the first time. 

Love Latonia, the founder of Awakening Love who is herself a veteran drag entertainer and transgender woman, tabled a booth alongside her longtime friend, Aubrey Grayson. The two got to know each other through the Jackson nightlife scene, where Grayson loved the way her friend performed in drag shows. 

“It just drew me to her,” she said, turning to Latonia.  “And then you did my hair. Remember you did my hair?”

Latonia replied with an emphatic, “Uh-huh,” as they laughed together.

Grayson said she knew several of the people there but wanted to mingle in the crowd. “ I thought it was more important for me to come out here because I’ve never really been, and I just wanted to just see my community,” she said. 

Participants also learned about health resources and received HIV screenings through the Open Arms Healthcare Center, the clinical arm of My Brother’s Keeper. 

Inside an air-conditioned trailer several notches cooler than the humid 90 degrees outside, phlebotomist Monica Smith took finger pricks for about a dozen attendees throughout the day. With each blood sample, she then administered an HIV test. Seconds later, the appearance of a blue dot in the HIV test showed a positive or negative result. 

The mobile unit can be requested through Open Arms Healthcare to travel across Mississippi, and provides both screenings and information or referrals to PrEP, a prescription drug that prevents HIV.

Outside, the party wound down as the sun began to set. Dana Brooks, who owns a catering company and is a transgender man, started packing up the burgers and beans he supplied. Friends folded up their lawn chairs, and Taylor Turnage, running the vintage sports clothing pop-up booth, put away her wares. 

The open mic wrapped up, too, after announcing the winner: Cyanne Herron. 

This story was produced with support from the Sarah Yelena Haselhorst Fund for Health Journalism.

Key Senate & House Races Explained

Midterm elections in November will determine control of both chambers of Congress. In Mississippi, a U.S. Senate race tops the ticket, which includes contested general elections for all four of the state’s U.S. House districts.

Who’s in the race: U.S. Senate

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is running for reelection to a second full term. She faces Democratic nominee Scott Colom and Ty Pinkins, who is running as an independent.

Cindy Hyde-Smith (Republican, Incumbent)

Native of Brookhaven, she is a former state agriculture commissioner and previously served as a Democratic state senator. She was appointed to the U.S. Senate by then-Gov. Phil Bryant in 2018, later won a special election, then a full six-year term in 2020. She is the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress.

Committee roles: Serves on the Senate Agriculture, Appropriations and Energy committees

Scott Colom (Democrat)

Native of Columbus, Colom was elected district attorney for the 16th Circuit serving Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay, and Noxubee counties in 2015. Colom is the first Black DA for his district.

Notable: Nominated by President Joe Biden in 2023 for a northern Mississippi federal judicial seat, but his nomination was blocked by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Ty Pinkins (Independent)

Vicksburg-based attorney and military veteran, former White House communications aide and lawyer with the Mississippi Center for Justice. Pinkins ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for U.S. Senate in 2024 against incumbent Roger Wicker and ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state in 2023.

Focus: Pinkins says partisan politics and big-money influence have caused government to fail Mississippians.

Who’s in the races: U.S. House

1st Congressional District, northern Mississippi

2nd Congressional District, western Mississippi

3rd Congressional District, central Mississippi

4th Congressional District, southern Mississippi

Key issues for this election

Most pundits and prognosticators have Mississippi’s midterm federal elections firmly in the “noncompetitive” category, expecting incumbents to sail to reelection in November.

But challengers are putting in the shoe leather, traversing the state, bombarding social media and, at least in the state’s U.S. Senate race, raising significant amounts of campaign cash.

Particularly, the state’s Democratic challengers to the majority Republican congressional officeholders here hope polling across the country showing dissatisfaction with the GOP on consumer costs, the Iran war, tariffs and trade wars and other policies will provide a foothold to flip seats even in one of the reddest states in the country. Plus, conventional wisdom is the incumbent party can face voters’ ire in midterm elections.

Referendum on Trump

The key question for the 2026 midterms: Will voters in Mississippi, a state dominated by Republican politics, stay loyal to the GOP, even after President Donald Trump’s approval ratings nationwide have plummeted? Rising costs of goods and a protracted war in Iran could erode Trump’s popularity even in red states. 

So far, Mississippi’s incumbent Republican members have allowed little daylight between themselves and Trump, generally praising him and continuing to campaign on alignment with most of his policies.

But the state’s lone Democratic member, Rep. Bennie Thompson, and Democratic challengers for the other open seats this midterm have criticized the Trump administration and campaigned against many of the president’s policies.

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has aligned her campaign closely with Trump, who has endorsed her, and she has emphasized her access to and support from the current administration. She has been one of Trump’s staunchest allies in the Senate.

That closeness is also the center of the Democratic case against her. Democratic nominee Scott Colom’s campaign has focused heavily on her vote for Trump’s tax-and-spending package, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which cut health coverage for many Mississippians and delivered tax breaks weighted toward the wealthy. Colom has tried to characterize Hyde-Smith as a rubber stamp for the White House while forsaking average Mississippians.

Affordability: tariffs, trade wars, inflation and imported beef

The cost of living, or “affordability,” has emerged as a central theme of the midterms, with rising prices, tariffs’ effects on farmers and consumers, gas prices and health insurance and healthcare access are all incampaign issues. After Republicans criticized former President Joe Biden’s handling of inflation, prices have continued to rise under Trump, who pledged to get them under control. 

Generally, Mississippi’s incumbent Republicans have supported the Trump administration’s trade wars and tariff policies, or at least held their tongues.

Hyde-Smith, a farmer and former state agriculture commissioner, has at times been in a tough spot with Trump’s trade wars. She has supported Trump’s use of emergency powers to enact tariffs, but has also urged the administration to protect farmers from some tariff hikes, such as on fertilizer, and has tried to downplay the costs to Mississippi’s farmers and ag markets.

President Trump’s recent proposal to import cheap beef to try to drive down consumer costs as midterm elections near has drawn flak from Mississippi cattle producers, and at least muted dissension from Hyde-Smith and Republican Rep. Michael Guest. Hyde-Smith faced criticism from Colom and others when she commented in February when asked about high beef prices that, “You have so many proteins to choose from and all commodities go through peaks and valleys.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson has vocally criticized Trump’s tariffs and trade wars, as have Democratic challengers for the midterms. But Thompson’s Republican challenger, Ron Eller, has said more tariffs are warranted because they will spur more domestic manufacturing.

Iran War

The conflict between the U.S. and Iran, which followed strikes ordered by Trump earlier this year, has become an issue nationally and in Mississippi. Congress has been divided over the president’s use of military force without prior congressional authorization, and a War Powers Resolution aimed at curbing that authority passed the Senate with bipartisan support, though it fell short of a veto-proof majority. 

Hyde-Smith and Mississippi’s three U.S. representatives voted against the resolution, consistent with their broader support for the administration’s national security approach.

The war has also become entangled with the affordability debate, as critics have linked the chokehold in the Strait of Hormuz with higher gas and grocery prices and questioned its cost and open-ended objectives.

Lack of national party support, fundraising

The two main national political parties have not invested heavily in Mississippi’s midterm races, which is not unusual, given the state has not been considered very competitive for non-incumbents in general elections for many cycles.

Some candidates have lamented this, saying the GOP has become too complacent in its hold on all but one congressional office, and the Democratic Party has written the state off as a lost cause.

But for candidates to be successful, they have to raise enough money to buy ads to build name ID. They also need the funds to develop a strong campaign infrastructure leading up to the election. Incumbents tend to have the edge in fundraising, as is the case with this election, though some of the challengers have raised enough money to be competitive. 

Colom has outraised Hyde-Smith for two fundraising quarters this election season. Cliff Johnson, the Democratic nominee for the 1st Congressional District, has for at least a couple of quarters bested incumbent Republican Trent Kelly in fundraising. But both incumbent Republicans have far more campaign cash in their coffers than their challengers.

A recent report showed Hyde-Smith with $2.54 million cash on hand, and Colom with $847,000.

But things could change in short order in Mississippi races, should national parties or big-money interests decide to weigh in. Mississippi’s media market is relatively cheap, so campaign donations or independent expenditures can go a long way in campaign advertising as races enter the final stretch.

When, Where & How to Vote

Mississippi’s federal midterm Election Day is Nov. 3. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. All Mississippi voters are required to present a photo ID. If you do not present an acceptable form of photo ID, you are entitled to cast an affidavit ballot, but must then present an ID in the local circuit clerk’s office within five business days. For voter ID information or help obtaining valid identification, call 1-800-829-6786.

Register to vote. Mississippians can register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election by mail, at their local county circuit clerk’s offices or at Department of Public Safety offices through Oct. 5. All mail-in applications must be postmarked on or before 30 days prior to Election Day. Mail in applications are available here, or from your circuit clerk. For your circuit clerk’s address and contact information, go to the Secretary of State’s County Election Information page here.

Absentee voting begins Sept. 19. Mississippi does not have standard early voting like many other states do, but the state allows for absentee voting in person and by mail under certain circumstances, including for students attending schools away from their homes, people who will be away from their residence due to work or “any qualified elector who is required to be away from his or her residence within the county on election day for any reason.” Those who are 65 or older also can vote absentee by mail or in person. For more information on how to vote absentee in person or by mail, go to this secretary of state’s web page.

Find your polling location. To find your polling location, view sample ballots and see who your current officeholders are, go the the secretary of state’s My Election Day page.