10:53 PM

Horhn wins: Mayoral election supports ‘Jackson is ready’ for longtime senator to lead

John Horhn, a longtime state senator, is the next mayor of Mississippi’s capital and will inherit a city with crumbling infrastructure, declining population, low economic mobility among residents and untold promise. 

The Democratic nominee received 67% of the unofficial vote Tuesday against five opponents, including a police officer who ran as a Republican and four independents – a businessman with ties to south Jackson anti-violence efforts, a 27-year old musician and frequent city council public commenter, a child care development specialist and a conservative talk radio host who publicly dropped out of the race but still appeared on the ballot.

Read the full story here.

10:32 PM

‘What a nutty finish’: Foote leads by 10 votes in tight Jackson council race

With mail-in absentee ballots still uncounted, incumbent Ashby Foote is claiming the victory in the hotly contested Ward 1 council race, even as he leads independent Grace Greene by just 10 votes. 

“I’m gonna say we won, but I mean obviously it’ll probably be contested, I mean it could be contested by the other candidates, and that’s their right to do when you have a really tight vote,” he said. “But for the time being it appears that I won.” 

Read the full story here.

9:43 PM

“Jackson is ready!” Smiles, cheers and tears at Mayor elect Horhn’s election night party

Cheers erupted from the crowd as Southern Komfort Brass Band ushered in Mayor-elect John Horhn at his packed election night party at The Plant in the Fondren Warehouse District. Horhn, 70, clinched the mayoral seat with more than 16,000 votes, close to 10,000 votes over independent candidate Rodney DePriest.  This is his fourth time running for mayor of the City of Jackson.

“Let me say thank you, thank you to each and every one of you, the unexpected helpers who believed in our vision, who worked on this campaign, and who stood by us every step of the way,” Horhn said in his acceptance speech. His family stood behind him, beaming as he spoke to the crowd. “This moment is as much yours as it is mine.” 

“Our city deserves better than we’ve been getting,” he continued. “We deserve better thriving businesses, streets that are safe, infrastructure that works, communities that are well kept, and opportunities that lift every single neighborhood in this great city.” 

Horhn said that his team is working on a Jackson comprehensive plan that lays the groundwork for goals his administration hopes to accomplish in the next 3, 5, and 10 years.

“Talk is cheap. It is now time for action,” he said.

Horhn also spoke to his opponents, asking them to join him in working to make Jackson better for all residents. 

“Now is a time for unity, and I hope you will join us as we begin to put in the work,” he said. “Together, we will build Jackson into a forward thinking city, that puts its citizens first and collaborates with our county, state and federal partners to strengthen Jackson as the capital city of the great state of Mississippi. As Jackson goes, so will go the state of Mississippi.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. Jackson is ready. Jackson is ready. I’m ready. Now let’s get to work.” 

9:21 PM

Parkinson wins Ward 7 council race, per unofficial results

Kevin Parkinson, a former principal of Midtown Public Charter, has secured the Ward 7 council seat to replace outgoing councilwoman Virgi Lindsay after narrowly leading in the Democratic primary and winning the runoff earlier this year. 

With 1,605 votes, Parkinson defeated independent Ron Aldridge, a Fondren lawyer and business owner, who took home 1,119 votes, according to Tuesday night’s unofficial results. Republican Taylor Turcotte received 121 votes. 

“We feel incredibly blessed and incredibly grateful for everyone who turned out to vote,” Parkinson wrote in a text. “A large team of volunteers and supporters have worked very hard to get us to this point, and I’m so honored to be a part of this movement for a safer, stronger, more prosperous Jackson.”

8:38 PM

DePriest says Jackson in need of ‘business acumen’

Bill Washington, a Flora-based political consultant who managed Rodney DePriest’s independent run for mayor of Jackson, said that when he started talking to folks about the white businessman’s campaign, they encouraged him not to put DePriest’s face on signs. 

That’s how little they believed a white man could get elected mayor of Jackson. But Washington, who is Black, pushed back on that. 

“We want folks to know who you are,” he said he told DePriest. “We aren’t hiding.” 

At DePriest’s election watch party at the ICE House – the venue where outgoing mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba held his watch party during the Democratic primary runoff – Washington said that he met DePriest last year at the request of Ronnie Crudup Jr. and initially encouraged him to run for the Ward 1 city council seat. 

But DePriest said that’s not what God asked him to do. 

“And I said well I can’t argue with that,” Washington said. “But I think we need to talk more about the dynamics and the cost of running a real campaign for mayor of the city of Jackson.”  

As of the last filing date before the general election, DePriest raised just shy of $90,000 in support of his run, though he had in-kind donations of more than $17,000 for marketing, video and branding, DePriest said. In comparison, state Sen. John Horhn raised $350,000, not counting what he raised in 2024 during a nearly year-long campaign. 

Washington said he and DePriest also discussed the businessman’s decision to run as an independent in a heavily Democratic city. 

“But his thing was, the D is way over here and the R is way over there, so we’re gonna stand in the middle,” Washington said. 

Just after 8:30 p.m., the ballot count showed DePriest recieved 28% of the vote compared to Horhn’s 67%, with all precincts reporting. As jazz renditions of popular songs played, DePriest said that he would never diminish Horhn’s contributions to the city of Jackson but that if elected, he planned to approach the job of mayor with his business background in mind. 

“I’m the old contractor, so I bring a construction and business approach to most everything I do,” Depriest said. “And I think Jackson is in need of some business acumen.”

8:03 PM

Servis supporters looking for a “fighter”

“You ready to make history, sir?” a guest at Zach Servis’ election night watch party asked. 

“Yes, I am,” the independent candidate for mayor responded. 

More than a dozen people have begun to gather at Duling Hall in support of Servis, including Starkette Stewart. 

Stewart said that she voted for Servis because he’s “young, energetic, kind, well-informed, knowledgeable, a disruptor and Christian.” The longtime Jacksonian was looking for a candidate who stood on their principles, and for her, that was Servis. 

“I think he has a clear vision for the city of Jackson,” Stewart said. “He’s planning to bring back jobs, which is what we need, tackle crime, handle youth problems and the problems we have down at City Hall with the city government … He’s a fighter.” 

Pertis Williams echoes her sentiments. For him, he wanted a candidate that was young to bring fresh energy to City Hall. 

“Some of the candidates are good people, but are they going to fight for Jackson?” Williams said. “Are they going to compromise, or will they fight?”

With 45% reporting, Servis trails behind with 2.92% of the vote. 

6:42 PM

Voting ‘pretty smooth’ in Ward 5 but council candidates anticipating low turnout

Independent Ward 5 council candidate Ray McCants said he’s spent Election Day visiting polling locations and encouraging people to vote. He faces off with incumbent Vernon Hartley, a Democrat first elected to office in 2021. McCants cast his ballot earlier today and said it was a “quick, fast, easy, inviting and a smooth process.”

McCants said that by 4:00 p.m., his polling location, Blackburn Middle School, had seen 175 voters, compared to the April 1 Primary, where 274 ballots were cast. He estimated a total of 1,200 votes coming in tonight from Ward 5’s 15 precincts.

“Based on the poll managers, some locations are feeling low,” he said. “We have a couple of locations that may be doing better than normal, but for the most part, everyone feels like it’s been low or standard.”

Hartley also said he’s concerned about low turnout in his ward. He voted at Pearl Street A.M.E. Church and said he was number 200. 

“The (poll worker) there said it’s normally about 400, so they’re halfway down,” Hartley said. 

He hopes that by the time polls close, those numbers will rise.

“Today is the voter’s day,” Hartley said. “They got to get out and do what they do.”

If elected, McCants said he hopes to bring a new energy and unity within the city council, Jackson government and the state as a whole. 

And if he loses the election tonight? 

“I want the same,” he said.

4:57 PM

Over 800 absentee ballots cast in general election

Jackson Municipal Clerk Angela Harris said over 800 in-person absentee ballots have been cast in the weeks leading up to the general election. 

Harris said she did not have information to quantify how that figure compares to past elections, but during the April 1 primary, the clerk told reporters she had collected over 800 then as well.

The last day Jacksonians could vote absentee in person was May 31, but all mail-in absentee ballots must be postmarked by today and will be collected and counted for up to five business days.

4:49 PM

Independent mayoral candidate, child care specialist, prepares for victory

Independent candidate for mayor Lillie Stewart-Robinson, a child development worker, voted around 1 p.m. at her precinct, the Fire Station of Medgar Evers Boulevard in Ward 4.

“People were excited coming in and voting — young and old,” Stewart-Robinson said.

She said about 200 people had voted there by midday, which would appear to be on track with the roughly 400 people who voted there in the primary.

“We’ve been working over these months, and got the word out over these months. And it was just good to see everybody — my neighbors, my former students, parents … It was like a reuinion,” she said.

Reached by phone just before 5 p.m., Stewart-Robinson had a message for Jacksonians: “Please go out and vote. It’s not too late.”

She said she plans to hold a victory celebration this evening at her church. Asked what’s next if she’s unsuccessful, Stewart-Robinson responded, “I can’t make myself believe that.”

4:27 PM

Ward 1 council candidates feed poll workers, watchers

Independent Ward 1 council candidate Grace Greene and her family were eating sprinkled donuts and an apple fritter to celebrate voting when Ashby Foote walked into Daylight Donuts around 9 a.m.  

“He had his big ‘Foote’ hat on – you can’t miss him – and his zipper tactical vest and his sunglasses,” said Greene, an entrepreneur who runs an online reselling business. “My husband was like he looks pretty intense, like he’s running military ops.” 

The Ward 1 incumbent councilman was picking up glazed donuts to bring to poll workers at precincts throughout the northeast Jackson ward, something he says he’s done the past several elections. He gets 10 boxes: Nine for the workers at each precinct and an extra box just in case.

“It lightens up their mood,” said Foote, who has been the lone Republican on the council since he was elected in 2014 but is running as an independent this year. 

Democratic candidate Jasmine Barnes, an auditor at the Mississippi Department of Transportation, also passed out food to her poll watchers who were sitting in front of the precincts. She said she brought them Chick-fil-a biscuits for breakfast and turkey legs for lunch. 

“I feel really good,” she said. “People have been (honking) at my poll workers or doing a thumbs up and even when I was out there, I’ve been out there waving and stuff like that.”

The race for the Ward 1 council seat is among the city’s most contested elections this year, with even seasoned politicos uncertain of the outcome. But all three candidates say the energy in the ward seems high, indicating the race may not see an especially low voter turnout. 

“There were lots of folks outside,” Foote said after surveying the ward’s precincts. “Campaign workers, tents set up, an explosion of new signs that had popped up overnight for the different candidates, and it all certainly had a presence of energy that was exciting to see.”

On his journey through the ward’s precincts, Foote encountered an 85-year-old woman at Willie Morris Library who was turned away because poll workers told her that she was registered to vote at McLeod Elementary School. 

Foote did not give her a donut. 

“They’re not for voters,” he said. “But she did follow me over to McLeod.”

3:15 PM

Project election outcomes with our interactive tool

Conventional wisdom holds that in Jackson, race, class and political party are linked. The city’s population is roughly 82% Black and 14% white, with Black Jacksonians historically backing Democrats. Other races make up the remaining 4%.

In our interactive tool, you can test your hypothesis of where each candidate’s votes will come from and view the election results based on their support.

2:45 PM

Jacksonians at Ward 1’s Christ United voting to ‘exhibit concern about the direction’ of the city

Cynthia McNamara votes in every election. She’s here at Christ United Church in Ward 1, where, by 2:45 p.m., 564 ballots had been cast. That’s a little more than half of the 1,030 who voted there in the April 1 primary with more than four hours left to vote.

“How you vote signifies how you want your life to be, what goods and services you want to function in your community, what are the goals of your government. Are they the same as yours? You need to align yourself with what you want your goals to be,” McNamara said.

Though she kept her vote private, she said she voted for someone who has a vision for what Jackson could be in the future. 

“It’s not a vision about how they can be enriched, how they can become more powerful, but how he can make our community better and thrive,” she said. “I want Jackson, Mississippi to thrive, and that’s what my vote meant to me today.” 

John May also voted at Christ United. He said that he hopes the next mayor will first tackle Jackson’s crumbling infrastructure. 

“If you take care of the infrastructure, I think you can do economic development, and it’ll get rid of crime and knock down some blighted properties.”

He stressed the importance of showing up for municipal elections and compared it to voting for the president.

“If you don’t participate in that, you’re not fully exhibiting any concern about the direction in which the city is going to go,” he said. “Quite frankly, you need good people if you want good government. You have to have good people if you want good government.”

2:31 PM

Ward 7 council candidates bemoan low turnout

Candidates in the contested Ward 7 council race to replace outgoing councilwoman Virgi Lindsay say turnout across the ward appears to be down from past elections this year, as voters may be experiencing election fatigue or perhaps are planning to vote later in the day. 

“That is certainly not good,” said Ward 7 candidate Kevin Parkinson, a former principal of Midtown Public Charter who is running as a Democrat. “I have heard rumors that we’ve had a large amount of absentee voting which I’m thrilled about. If that turns out to be true, I think that’s great, great, fantastic news, but if we see an overall decline in the number of people who vote, that’s certainly sad, and it means anything can happen.” 

In Jackson’s Democratic primary runoff on April 22, a little over 23,000 people cast a ballot, while more than 26,000 voted in the April 1 primary. 

Ron Aldridge, an independent who is a Fondren business owner and lawyer, speculated that Jacksonians may have felt those elections were more important than the general. 

“I think a lot of folks felt that they had solved, I guess you could say, part of the problem, a major part of the problem and were okay with how it came out otherwise,” he said. 

Parkinson said he has been driving around the ward, doorknocking, texting and calling voters to encourage them to vote but that when he voted this morning at Belhaven College, fewer than 10 other people had cast a ballot. 

“It will be very, very close,” he said, “I think it’s gonna be important for everyone to get out and get your voice heard.” 

For his part, Aldridge said he made a trip around lunchtime to three precincts in the southern part of the ward and did not observe many people voting. 

“I didn’t see a line anywhere,” he said. 

Aldridge said he planned to check on polls in Belhaven and Fondren later today when he brings his grandchildren – third-grade twins – to the polls. He added that he did not know how a low turnout might impact his chances at election.

“That’s one of those things in politics you can’t guess,” he said. “You just wait to see.”

1:30 PM

Steady trickle of voters at Ward 7 precinct

By 1:30 p.m., 217 ballots had been cast at Fondren Presbyterian Church in Ward 7. During the April 1 primary, 408 votes were cast, in a precinct with about 1,200 registered voters. 

Lessie Tripp said one issue that led her to voting for Democrat John Horhn is the quality of Jackson’s infrastructure. 

“It looks like it’s decaying to me,” Tripp said. “I hope we can get somebody that’s going to do something about it.” 

She urges voters to understand the power of one vote. 

“All votes count,” she said. “At least mine does because I come out and vote.”

Joy, who declined to provide her last name, said she’s voting for Horhn because he has the experience. 

“He worked for the Senate. He knows how to work between state and local,” Joy said. “He’s going to be a negotiator and not get everybody bent out of shape over issues. He can work with the Legislature. We need that.”

Joy, who has lived in Fondren since 1990, also said she’s also voting for independent candidate Ron Aldridge for council.

“He’s professional, strong, sensible and smart, and he will get the job done,” she said.

12:03 PM

Outgoing Mayor Lumumba: ‘I’m in a season of gratitude’

Outgoing Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, responding to a council discussion about salaries, encouraged the councilmembers to release any resentment they may have, because he “won’t be the subject of your consternation going forward.”

Lumumba, who failed to secure reelection against state Sen. John Horhn in the Democratic primary runoff, said he was in a “season of gratitude” and wanted the council to know that he was not leaving the post with “animosity.”

“When I go home at night, as nice of people that you are, I don’t think about you,” he said. “Really, you’re not on my mind. You’re not my type.” 

This comment prompted laughs and outgoing Ward 6 councilman Aaron Banks to ask Lumumba if he was serious.

11:48 AM

Crudups divided on candidate support

Indepedent mayoral candidate and businessman Rodney DePriest said he first met the lawmaker representing parts of south Jackson, Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr., after deciding a few years ago to take a more active role in solutions to violence across the city and joining the efforts of Young Life.

They meet as a group weekly at Jim Hill High School in south Jackson.

“From day one, even before the public knew I was running for mayor, Ronnie was part of the conversation and Ronnie’s a close friend,” DePriest said. “The first public event we had was the Martin Luther King Day Parade and Ronnie walked in that parade with me that day. So he’s been supportive throughout the campaign.”

Crudup Jr.’s political powerhouse father, Pastor Ronnie Crudup of New Horizon Church in south Jackson, has been a vocal supporter of Democratic mayoral candidate and state Sen. John Horhn. But on election eve, Crudup Jr. publicly endorsed his friend DePriest.

“I’m voting for Rodney tomorrow because he has the resume, plus work and management experience to do the job well,” Crudup Jr. posted on Facebook Monday evening. “I know that some may not agree with me, but I have no regrets in support of my friend.”

DePriest voted at Casey Elementary School around 9 a.m. Tuesday.

11:04 AM

Independent mayoral candidate addresses city council

Zach Servis, a musical artist running as an independent candidate for mayor, addressed the Jackson City Council during public comment this morning, celebrating what he described as “an opportunity to put eight years of corruption and mismanagement behind us.” 

Servis, who wore a black suit, was previously escorted from a city council meeting for wearing campaign material, leading Servis to tell the Clarion Ledger that he was planning to file a lawsuit. 

As he left, Servis shook hands with David Archie, a former candidate in the Democratic mayoral primary who recently joined the city’s constituent services office. 

10:30 AM

Sen. Horhn, Democratic nominee for mayor, votes in Ward 2

State Sen. John Horhn, who handily defeated outgoing Mayor Chokwe Lumumba in the April primary to become the Democratic nominee for mayor, voted at Aldersgate Methodist Church around 10:30 a.m.

The precinct in Horhn’s Ward 2 neighborhood had the highest turnout in the city in April, with 46% of registered voters participating in the primary election.

9:13 AM

Horhn campaign not witnessing irregularities

A spokesperson for Democratic mayoral candidate John Horhn’s campaign said that with poll watchers at several precincts across the city, no irregularities have been identified. Eric Walker said they checked the voting machines to ensure they had recorded zero votes at the beginning of Election Day.

“Everything seems to be running pretty smoothly,” he said.

Watchers are keeping an eye on the supply of ballots. In the last election, one precinct, Willie Morris Library in Ward 1, had a larger turnout than expected, ran out of ballots while residents were attempting to vote, and the clerk had to deliver more to the location.

7:15 AM

Republican candidate for mayor visits poll as it opens

Republican candidate for mayor Kenny Gee, a police officer, pulled up to his West Jackson polling location at Medgar Evers Library at 6:58 a.m. He said he was the fourth in line to vote at the precinct, which had a turnout rate of just under 20% in the primary election.

“I think Jackson needs help,” Gee said just after voting for himself and Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes Tuesday. “I think Sen. Horhn might pull the race off, just because he’s just well known, majority of the citizens know Sen. Horhn from being a senator. But overall, whoever is the mayor needs to be a two-term mayor because you can’t fix Jackson in four years.”