Jackson, Mississippi (AP) Voters in Mississippi will select the winners of one Supreme Court and one Court of Appeals seat.
Candidates who advanced from the general election on November 5 will compete in runoff elections on Tuesday. Central polling is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Between general elections and runoffs, voter turnout usually declines, and campaigners warn that it may be particularly difficult two days prior to Thanksgiving.
The Supreme Court
State Senator Jenifer Branning is challenging Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens, who is running for a third term.
FILE – Mississippi Supreme Court Presiding Justice James W. Kitchens asks a question, July 6, 2023, before the court in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
Image: Rodolio V. Solis/Associated Press
They are competing in District 1, commonly referred to as the Central District, which extends from the Delta region to the Alabama border to the Jackson urban area.
In the initial round of voting, Kitchens received 36% and Branning 42%. The remaining three candidates were divided.
Although judicial candidates in Mississippi do not have party affiliations, on November 5, Kitchens received a majority of the vote in Democratic districts and Branning received a majority in Republican ones.
The Republican Party of the state supports Branning. She identifies as a constitutional conservative and claims to be against the radical left, liberal judges, and activists.
Kitchens is next in line to become chief justice because he is the more senior of the Court’s two presiding justices. The Action Fund of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which bills itself as a racial justice catalyst in the South and beyond, supports him.
Kitchens supported a man on death row in September when a key witness renounced her testimony in a murder case. Kitchens dissented in a number of death row cases involving the use of the medication midazolam during state executions in 2018.
Appeals Court
District 5, which includes the Gulf Coast, is where the Court of Appeals runoff is located in the southeast part of the state.
In a three-way race, Amy St. Pe and Jennifer Schloegel progressed to the runoff when St. Pe received 35% of the vote on November 5 and Schloegel received 33%. Judge Joel Smith, who did not run for reelection, will be replaced by the winner of the runoff.
In Gautier, St. Pe serves as a municipal judge. In the counties of Hancock, Harrison, and Stone, Schloegel serves as a chancery court judge.
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