Black lawmakers suspect effort to eliminate their districts likely not over

Author of measure does not respond to request for comment

A joint resolution that would have automatically reverted Mississippi’s Senate maps to district lines that a federal court previously struck down for diluting Black voting strength died in the Senate Rules Committee after no committee member was willing to move it forward.

The two senators whose districts would have been eliminated say, however, that the effort is likely not over.

Joint Resolution 201, filed by Sen. Jeremy England (R-Vancleave), would have amended the 2025 remedial redistricting plan to include a trigger provision: If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Louisiana v. Callais that Louisiana’s congressional map violates the Constitution or is nonjusticiable, Mississippi’s current Senate districts would automatically revert to Joint Resolution 202 of the 2022 Regular Session—the maps a three-judge federal panel struck down for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The 2022 maps did not include the majority-Black districts now held by state senators Johnny DuPree and Teresa Isom.

Senate Rules Committee Chair Dean Kirby (R-Pearl) told The Mississippi Independent that the resolution died for lack of a motion after it was introduced on Sunday.

“The bill was brought up before the committee and died due to the lack of a motion,” Kirby said. “I believe the committee had several legal questions about the resolution.” Kirby added that the meeting was well attended by the press and other senators.

In addition to Kirby, members of the Senate Rules Committee are Vice Chair J. Walter Michel (R-Jackson); Dennis DeBar Jr. (R-Leakesville); Hillman Terome Frazier (D-Jackson); and Neil S. Whaley (R-Potts Camp).

England, who authored the resolution, did not respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Johnny DuPree (D-Hattiesburg), who won Senate District 45 with 71 percent of the vote in last fall’s court-ordered special elections, said he learned of the resolution when a reporter approached him at the Capitol. Asked if he was shocked, DuPree told The Mississippi Independent, “Yes and no. It’s been par for the course.”

DuPree called the resolution preemptive—an attempt to undo lawfully created districts before the Supreme Court has even ruled. “You don’t preemptively go and do something,” he said. “It’s, like, in hopes of it happening.” He acknowledged the resolution would put his district at risk but pushed back on the idea that it would automatically remove him from office, noting that a ruling on Louisiana’s congressional plan would not automatically apply to Mississippi’s legislative maps. “There had to be some litigation to prove that that Louisiana law applies to Mississippi,” DuPree said. Still, he conceded, the resolution “puts us at risk of having to go back to the old ’22 redistricting” and “gives them an avenue and an argument.”

Asked whether he expects another attempt, DuPree did not hesitate. “Sure. Why would I not?” he said. “This is not a session thing. This is a historical thing.” He added that the resolution could resurface in another bill before the session ends. “They seem to do things in the dark at night,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s going to stop because this one didn’t [pass].”

Sen. Teresa Isom (D-Southaven), who won Senate District 2 with 63 percent of the vote, said she learned of the resolution about an hour before it was killed. “I was very disappointed that this resolution was presented,” Isom told The Mississippi Independent, adding that she was “glad that the Senate committee members killed it before it was presented on the floor.” Isom said Senate leadership has declined to comment to her directly on the resolution.

DuPree’s and Isom’s victories in November broke the Republican supermajority in the Senate for the first time since 2019, reducing GOP seats from 36 to 34 in the 52-member chamber. Both of the new senators were sworn into office on Jan. 6, 2026.

Louisiana v. Callais was reargued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 15, 2025, and the court is widely expected to limit or eliminate Section 2’s application to redistricting. The State of Mississippi has separately appealed the three-judge panel’s ruling to the Supreme Court.

Under the Mississippi Constitution, legislative redistricting is accomplished by joint resolution and is not subject to the governor’s veto. The constitution permits redrawing state legislative lines at any time mid-decade. The 2026 session does not end until April 5.

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Image: State Sen. Jeremy England (via Mississippi State Senate)