LOCATION CHANGE: Voting rights advocates to host Wednesday rally at Jackson Convention Complex
Note: The location of this event has changed from the state Capitol steps to the convention complex at 105 East Pascagoula Street in Jackson due to forecast rain.
Civil rights leaders, elected officials and other voting rights advocates will gather at the Jackson Convention Complex on Wednesday at noon for the “Rally for Our Representation,” an event organized by the Mississippi Voting Rights Act Rapid Response Coalition to oppose what organizers describe as a coordinated effort to dilute Black voting power across the South in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 29, 2026, ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.
Scheduled speakers include U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who represents Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District; NAACP President Derrick Johnson; Reena Evers-Everette, daughter of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers and director of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute; Princeton University professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr.; Scott Colom, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Cindy Hyde-Smith; and Cheryl Turner, the international president and CEO of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
The Callais decision narrowed the use of race-conscious remedies under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Elena Kagan, writing in dissent, said the ruling renders Section 2 “all but a dead letter.” In the three weeks since the decision, two Mississippi Section 2 cases have been vacated and remanded by federal courts under the new Callais framework. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on May 11 vacated U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock’s August 2025 order in White v. State Board of Election Commissioners, which had required Mississippi to redraw its state Supreme Court electoral districts. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated a separate federal court ruling that had required Mississippi to redraw portions of its 2022 state legislative maps.
The Mississippi Voting Rights Act Rapid Response Coalition describes itself as a statewide coalition of civil rights organizations, community leaders, advocates, attorneys and grassroots organizers working to protect voting rights, defend Black political power and ensure fair representation for all Mississippians.
Organizers say the rally is timed to a broader regional push by Republican-led legislatures across the South to redraw electoral maps following the Callais ruling. Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana have all signaled that they will move to redraw legislative or congressional districts in light of the Court’s decision. The Mississippi legislature is expected to take up redistricting in the 2027 regular session.
The Rally for Our Representation is open to the public.
Image: Voting signs (via Hampton Institute)