Mississippi Congressional Districts: Map, 2026 Ruling, and Redistricting

Mississippi has four congressional districts, each sending one member to the U.S. House of Representatives. Three are held by Republicans; the 2nd District, a majority-Black seat covering the Delta and most of Jackson, has elected Democrat Bennie Thompson since 1993. That balance has held for roughly four decades, but a 2026 Supreme Court ruling has prompted state Republican officials to call for redrawing the map and eliminating the majority-Black seat.

The Four Districts and Who Represents Them

The current map, used since the 2022 cycle, contains no competitive seats.¹

1st District — Northeast Mississippi. Represented by Republican Trent Kelly, who won a special election in June 2015. The district covers 20 counties in the northeast corner of the state, including DeSoto, Lee, and Lowndes. Kelly chairs the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee on the House Armed Services Committee and serves as vice chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.²³

2nd District — Mississippi Delta and Jackson. Represented by Democrat Bennie G. Thompson, first elected in a 1993 special election and now serving his 17th term.⁴ Thompson is the sole Democrat in Mississippi’s federal congressional delegation. The district is 64% Black and covers the Mississippi Delta along with most of Jackson, the state capital.⁵

3rd District — Central and Eastern Mississippi. Represented by Republican Michael Guest.⁶

4th District — South Mississippi and the Gulf Coast. Represented by Republican Mike Ezell, in his second term. The district runs along the Gulf Coast and includes major military installations such as Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi and Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.⁷⁸

Why the 2nd District Exists

Mississippi has the highest percentage of Black residents of any state, roughly 38%, but only one of its four congressional seats is drawn as a majority-minority district. That seat exists because a 1982 amendment to the Voting Rights Act strengthened protections against the dilution of minority voting power, and a federal court order in 1986 required Mississippi to redraw its congressional lines. The resulting 2nd District elected Mike Espy in 1986 and has sent a Black Democrat to Congress ever since.⁵

What the Supreme Court Changed in 2026

On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court decided Louisiana v. Callais, a 6-3 ruling written by Justice Samuel Alito that reshaped how Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can be used against congressional maps.⁹ The case arose from Louisiana’s creation of a second majority-Black district, which the Court struck down as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

The ruling did not formally overturn the Thornburg v. Gingles test used to evaluate vote-dilution claims, but it added requirements that legal scholars say make those claims far harder, possibly impossible, to win. Plaintiffs must now show that racially polarized voting is driven by race rather than partisan affiliation, using a statistical analysis that “controls for party.” Any alternative map a plaintiff proposes must also satisfy all of a state’s “legitimate districting objectives,” which the Court held now includes partisan goals such as target vote margins for incumbents.¹⁰

Analysts at Harvard’s Kennedy School said the practical effect is that, because race and party are so tightly correlated in the South, states can use partisan affiliation as a proxy for race and avoid Section 2 liability.¹¹ Justice Elena Kagan wrote in dissent that the decision renders Section 2 “all but a dead letter.”⁵

The Republican Push to Redraw the Map

Within days of the Callais ruling, several Mississippi Republican officials called publicly for eliminating the 2nd District as a majority-Black seat. State Auditor Shad White, considered a likely candidate for governor in 2027, wrote on social media that the ruling “likely opens the door to redrawing Mississippi’s congressional districts” and that the state “might no longer have a district drawn to protect Bennie Thompson.” State Senator Kevin Blackwell said it was “time to erase Bennie Thompson’s district.” State Senator Mike McLendon called for “a 4R-0D congressional map for Mississippi.”⁵¹²

Governor Tate Reeves has expressed support for redrawing the districts and said he is working with the Trump administration on the process. He has also acknowledged it would be “difficult” to complete redistricting in time for the 2026 midterms, noting that nullifying primary results could set a national precedent. Reeves cancelled a special legislative session that had been convened for judicial redistricting and said he expects lawmakers to redraw congressional, state legislative, and state Supreme Court lines “between now and the 2027 statewide election cycle.”¹³

Civil rights organizations and Democratic officials have pushed back. Mississippi Democratic Party chairman Cheikh Taylor called the effort “egregious.”¹² The Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and Mississippi Votes warned that the Callais ruling enables states to dilute Black voting power and called it a “dangerous step backward.”¹⁴ The Mississippi Center for Justice organized a rally for May 20, 2026, and residents have held additional marches across the state.¹⁵

As of mid-2026, the Mississippi legislature has not taken formal action to redraw congressional maps. Both chambers have formed study committees, but legislative leaders have not publicly endorsed eliminating the majority-Black seat, and any redistricting would require the governor to call a special session with the topic on the agenda.¹⁵¹² If new maps are drawn, the most likely timeline for them to take effect is the 2028 cycle or later.

What Happens in the 2026 Elections

The 2026 midterms are proceeding under the existing map. Mississippi’s March 10, 2026, primaries produced no surprises. Trent Kelly ran unopposed on the Republican ballot in the 1st District, Michael Guest was unopposed in the 3rd, and Mike Ezell defeated a challenger in the 4th with roughly 84% of the vote.¹⁶ In the 2nd District, Bennie Thompson won the Democratic primary.¹⁷ Republicans Ron Eller and Kevin Wilson are competing for the general election, scheduled for November 3, 2026.¹⁸ The 2nd District’s Democratic lean and Thompson’s incumbency make it likely to stay in Democratic hands under the current boundaries.

Why Mississippi Has Only Four Seats

Mississippi once carried more weight in the House. The state had eight congressional seats from 1910 through the 1920s, then declined to seven after the 1930 census, six after 1950, five after 1960, and four after the 2000 census.¹⁹ The loss of the fifth seat took effect with the 108th Congress in January 2003, when Mississippi was one of eight states to lose a seat following the 2000 reapportionment.²⁰ The state kept its four seats after the 2010 and 2020 censuses, though its population declined by 0.2% in the most recent count. If that trend holds, projections suggest the delegation could shrink to three after the 2030 census.²¹

1
CNN. Mississippi Redistricting Map
2
Office of Congressman Trent Kelly. Biography
3
Office of Congressman Trent Kelly. District
4
Office of Congressman Bennie G. Thompson. Home
5
Mississippi Free Press. Mississippi Official Calls to Eliminate State’s Only Majority-Black House District After Voting Rights Ruling
6
Office of Congressman Michael Guest. Home
7
Office of Congressman Mike Ezell. Home
8
Office of Congressman Mike Ezell. Our District
9
U.S. Supreme Court. Louisiana v. Callais, No. 24-109
10
SCOTUSblog. How Callais Broke the Voting Rights Act and Weaponized the Equal Protection Clause
11
Harvard Kennedy School. What Louisiana v. Callais Means for the Voting Rights Act
12
News From the States. Some Republicans Call for Mississippi to Gerrymander Out State’s Only Majority-Black Congressional District
13
Mississippi Today. Judicial Redistricting Mississippi Session
14
MPB Online. Mississippi Redistricting Fight Shifts After Supreme Court Ruling
15
MPB Online. Calls for Redistricting Continue After Governor Tate Reeves Cancels Special Legislative Session
16
Mississippi Secretary of State. Republican Primary 2026 Results
17
WAPT. Rep. Bennie Thompson Seeking Reelection, Mississippi Primary
18
Mississippi Secretary of State. Candidate Qualifying
19
U.S. Census Bureau. Apportionment Data
20
Congressional Research Service. RS20768
21
Mississippi History Now. Census and Redistricting