Tuesday night at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College I told the joint redistricting committee what I also put in the public record. Maps are not paperwork. Maps are power. They decide whose voice counts and whose children get a real shot at a better life.
I am a citizen of Gulfport, vice president of the Conservative Coalition of Mississippi, and a member of the Harrison County Republican Executive Committee. Fair maps matter. Mississippians deserve a transparent process that follows the Constitution and the hard rule of one person, one vote. This is a chance to take bold action that can lift hundreds of thousands of adults and children out of poverty. Do not waste it.
We support redrawing the congressional districts now to respect communities of interest. We do not support maps drawn to protect incumbents or to serve an outside agenda. Update the lines to match the people who live here now. Every legislator and every candidate should sign the CCMS Congressional Redistricting Pledge: transparent, constitutional maps that put Mississippians first.
Louisiana v. Callais settled the legal point. States are no longer required to draw congressional districts first and last by race. Authority is back where it belongs, with the Legislature, the governor, and the people. Redistricting should not be a racial project. It should be equal representation with a practical goal: every Mississippian gets a fair chance to vote for leadership that delivers opportunity, not managed decline. Do not lock any region into long-term disadvantage.
Look at the 2nd Congressional District next to the other three:
- Median household income is about $47,495—only 80 percent of the Mississippi median and about 58 percent of the national median.
- The poverty rate is 23.6 percent—about 1.3 times the state rate and nearly double the national rate.
- Roughly 37 percent of children under 18 live in poverty.
- Per capita income is around $27,380, well below state and national figures.
- Year after year, MS-2 ranks near the bottom of all 435 House districts by income and poverty.
Those are not talking points. They are families. They are kids. In my view, they are why the committee exists. The 2nd District has been among the poorest in America for years. That did not happen by accident. It persisted under the current lines. Every citizen deserves candidates who fight for prosperity, not a status quo that has produced crushing poverty.
Then came the smears. Many in that room did not argue law or even common sense. They did not argue compactness, counties, or one person, one vote. They reached for the oldest club in Mississippi politics and swung it at anyone who wants a race-neutral map. They called today’s equal protection the 1890 constitution. They called colorblind rules the Klan. One speaker advertised her grandfather in the Silver Dollar KKK so she could lecture the committee on “how white supremacy operates,” then treated Forrest County’s name as if Nathan Bedford Forrest were sitting at the dais. Another had a script with one word for every question. Why mid-decade? Racism. Why spend money? Racism. Why move a line? Racism.
