OurTupelo

It all started with a question: Why didn’t Clarksdale, the Mississippi Delta city where “Sinners,” one of the biggest motion pictures in the world right now, is set, have a theater where local people could watch the movie that featured their hometown?

That question inspired an idea: What if Warner Brothers, the studio that produced the film, brought a special screening to the town?

That idea inspired action: A community activist posted an online petition for the major studio to screen the movie in Clarksdale. Within hours, thousands of people had signed.

That question, that idea and that action inspired Aallyah Wright, a journalist for the nonprofit newsroom Capital B and Clarksdale native, to write a story about it. Her story quickly went viral and captured the attention of Warner Brothers and “Sinners” director Ryan Coogler.

The rest, as we can say literally in this case, was history. That series of events brought about a few days that Clarksdale will never forget.

Last week, Coogler, the film’s composer Ludwig Göransson, actor Miles Canton and others who worked on the film attended a special screening at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium. Hundreds of locals packed the room, watched the film and stayed for a Q&A with the big names in attendance.

Fittingly, the moderator of the post-screening panel was Aallyah. She led a profound conversation that got Coogler and others talking very emotionally about Clarksdale and Mississippi. True to her life’s work, she focused the discussion on the ideas, concerns and experiences of people in the local community.

After Hollywood left town and things settled down, I caught up with Aallyah about how she was feeling about it all. I’m beyond proud to share that Aallyah is a former colleague and friend. Before she started changing lives across America as a journalist at Capital B, she was changing lives across Mississippi as a journalist at Mississippi Today.

Here’s our conversation, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Mississippi Today: I know things have been so crazy, but what have these past few days really been like for you?

 Aallyah: I think I’m still processing all of it. It just feels so wild that this has actually happened. I mean, it’s been super emotional for me, too, because folks have all of these misconceptions, perceptions and narratives they want to share about the people in Mississippi and the state as a whole. And we all know a lot of negative narratives don’t necessarily tell the holistic story of people there.

I just think it’s been super rewarding for Clarkdale to be in this spotlight, not just because of the movie but for people to see (the city) in all its glory and beauty. It’s been really important to me to amplify the people who have always been on the ground doing this work for years, some folks even decades. I think that it was just such a heartwarming moment that I couldn’t have imagined to happen in this way. And for me to be a part of that is just so profound, and I’m so proud. I’m just so happy that Mississippi is in the spotlight for something that’s so beautiful. Yeah. And pure and centered on the collective organizing of its people. So yeah, I love that.

Can you give me a sense of what this has been like for Clarksdale from your perspective as a native of the city? You know that place as well as anyone. What has all this meant for the city?

I  go back to Clarksdale often because my family is still there. Of course, I’m always doing reporting and stuff. But honestly, this time and trip home felt so different. There was this renewed sense of energy, purpose, hope and inspiration. I was emotional, I’m not gonna lie. It felt like the tide was changing, and I think it’s because a lot of the young folks are now stepping up in the spirit of our ancestors and people who were part of these instrumental movements. We all know young folks have been at the forefront of leading that charge, and I think that’s the connection with seeing that and why it was so meaningful for me.

Even though there were some negative comments and people saying that this wouldn’t work, it proved a lot of those folks wrong. Now people are just trying to figure out how to build on this momentum. Could we do a cultural festival every year? Could this become an annual thing? I know folks are figuring out how to do a Clarksdale Day event on Labor Day weekend. That can be really cool. People are having conversations about how to build up a creative arts economy there, especially around Blues tourism. How can we allow these folks who are the musicians and creators to benefit from this profitable economy? There are a lot of these different festivals, but a lot of that isn’t created by folks who actually live there. So I think there’s a lot of different questions people are asking in terms of what they can do to not only build on this momentum and sustain this arts and culture, but also create financial stability for folks.

There’s a lot of good things happening in Clarksdale. They just renovated J’s Grocery, the only Black-owned supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood. People should check out Griot Arts. They’re working to renovate the Paramount Theater, which was once a segregated theater in downtown Clarksdale. So there’s a lot of different things that are happening, and people are just trying to figure out what partnerships and collaborations need to happen to create that financial stability, job security and creative arts economy piece.

I want to ask you about those negative comments. Of course there are naysayers who have questioned why anyone spent time on this for Mississippi’s sake. A lot of people love hating on Mississippi, they’ve loved hating on Clarksdale and the Delta these past few days. What do you say to them now, after helping do this amazing thing for the city and the state and helping get the spotlight on this place?

 To be honest with you, I don’t care about the naysayers. I care about the people of Clarksdale, the people of the Delta, the people of Mississippi, and whether or not they trust me to tell the authentic lived experiences and the authentic truths of what’s happening in these communities.

One thing that I would do is challenge folks outside of Mississippi to come to Mississippi, explore the history, talk to the people, sit in these places where these things are happening. A lot of times people will go online who have never even set foot in Mississippi and are taking from these narratives or histories that are steeped in the 1930s or like pre-Civil Rights Movement and think that Mississippi has not progressed in any sense. People have a lot of ignorant comments, and Mississippi is in the news often for very bad and valid reasons. But every single place has its challenges. Mississippi is not the only place with these things that are going on. Mississippi is just always in the spotlight for it because of a very troubling and dark history, right? But again, I challenge people to actually talk to folks there, to actually go there and actually see the progress that Mississippi has made outside of these clickbait headlines that they’re always reading.

So much of the conversation these past few days has been focused on what more needs to be done for communities like Clarksdale. These places are contributing so much to the world, and they’re not getting a ton of support in return. At Capital B, you’ve covered this far beyond just Clarksdale or Mississippi. From your perspective, what needs to be done?

That’s a tough question to answer.  I can say definitively that I feel like everyone has a part to play. Whether you’re a journalist, a schoolteacher in the Mississippi Delta or elsewhere, a local business owner, you work at a chamber of commerce or tourism office, maybe you’re in the state legislature or even work in the federal government, everyone has a part to play to ensure these places have the resources and access they need to thrive.

Too often people feel like regular, everyday people can’t make change or they can’t make some sort of impact. But I’d just like to suggest people to think about the simple things that you can do to support your community. Sometimes it’s just going to the local coffee shop, like in Clarksdale, for example, going to Meraki to purchase some coffee that goes back into the youth nonprofit of Griot Arts. That’s something very simple that you could do to support the work that they’re doing with workforce development. Or maybe it’s just showing up to a community event to learn about what Higher Purpose Hub is doing for economic development and entrepreneurs in the Mississippi Delta.

So it’s how can folks just simply think about what they can do to support what’s going on in their community? How can you vote folks into office who you think could make some important changes? We know that when it comes to folks showing out and going to the polls, it’s not always high voter turnout, so how can you activate people to go to the polls? You know what I mean? All of these things have to work together if we want these places to continue to thrive and not continue to die out. And so without trying to point the blame at any particular person, industry or institution, I just think that we all have a part to play in moving the needle forward.

With this major thing still so fresh on your mind, what would you tell young journalists or really anyone about the potential and power of the work we do?

 Some folks put emphasis on the awards, the accolades and the impact, which could mean a lot of different things. But it’s really important to keep your ear to the ground and be in community with the community. The reason this came about was because of the relationships I’ve cultivated with the people of Clarksdale, not just being a native of Clarkdale. It’s listening and being observant and utilizing my power to amplify voices often overlooked or dismissed. I always have the mindset of community first. I would just charge young folks, people who really want to make a difference, just do that. Learn all that. You can learn so much about the people, the place by just listening and being present. A lot of the work that I’ve done is just showing up at community meetings and going to events and reaching out to folks to have a coffee in person or virtual, just doing all of the things that don’t necessarily manifest in a story right away, but really pouring into folks and cultivating those relationships. You’ll get the impact, you’ll get the awards because it’ll show in the reporting that you do when you do a lot of that groundwork.

Last question for you. I know it wasn’t just one or two people who made all this happen, but it was a coalition of a lot of different people doing a lot of different things. I want to make space for you to shout out those people if you’re willing.

Oh yeah, for sure.  I would shout out Dave Houston and Jaleesa Collins, who were two of the Clarksdale natives who basically threw out the idea like, “Hey, we should have a screening.” Tyler Yarbrough, of course, who then jumped on that and did this open letter to invite the casting crew down. You have folks like Yasmine Malone who’s been part of the planning committee. Jasmine Williams of ‘Sipp Talk Media and her team. You have folks like Justin Hardiman, the phenomenal photographer out of Jackson, Mississippi. A lot of Clarksdale folks like Mark Webb, who’s a pastor, and Christopher Coleman, who works for the city. Tim Lampkin, who was also a part of the planning, with Higher Purpose Hub. Rebekah Pleasant-Patterson with Griot Arts, Storyworks Theater. Mayor Chuck Espy was a huge help in making this happen. There was a huge steering committee of folks that made sure, from idea to execution, that this was able to happen. So many people ended up sponsoring the events. 

Honestly, I also want to shout out Ryan Coogler, the cast, the crew and Warner Brothers because they didn’t have to decide to act on this thing that we did. They could have just seen it and moved on, but they really appreciated the invitation and really wanted to come down and then just learn and soak up the history and be in community with Clarksdale, the Delta and all of those who came. I gotta say that if I missed anybody, charge it to my head and not my heart. Those are just the top people that come to mind.

Former state Sen. Philip Moran and his son Alan have each been arrested and charged with orchestrating a scheme to cover up a crime, according to the Sun Herald.

A grand jury indicted Philip Moran, 64, and Alan Moran, 37, each on one count of bribery of a witness and one count of conspiracy.

The arrests come six months after police arrested two teens for bribing a witness in a stalking case against Alan Moran, a former Diamondhead councilman.

The teens were acting at the direction of the Morans, police say.

Waveland police worked with FBI agents to identify the Morans as being involved in an offer to pay $20,000 to a teen employee at Lowe’s to drop his stalking case against Alan Moran. The Morans allegedly recruited the teens to offer the money to the teen Moran had been stalking.

The arrests come one week before Alan Moran’s June 6 scheduled release from the Hancock County jail. Alan Moran has been serving a sentence for violating his probation in another case as a result of his stalking arrest.

That case is related to his misdemeanor conviction of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for buying beer for a teen on Valentine’s Day in 2022. In the same case, he was convicted of child exploitation for enticing a teen to come to him for sex.

Attorney Donald Rafferty, who is representing Alan Moran, said Friday that his client is innocent and “looks forward to our day in court.”

Attorney H. H. Tracy Klein in Hattiesburg is representing Philip Moran. Philip Moran’s total bond on the charges is $35,000.

Organizers of the Medgar Evers at 100 Weekend have announced that Ambassador Attallah Shabazz, Bettie Dahmer and Reena Evers-Everette will headline a June 26 conversation titled “Daddys’ Daughters.”

The session unites the daughters of civil rights martyrs Malcolm X, Vernon Dahmer and Medgar Evers, for “a rare and intimate dialogue rooted in love, memory, and legacy,” organizers said.

The women will speak during a VIP Reception at 6 p.m. June 26 at the Jackson Convention Complex, 105 E. Pascagoula St. in Jackson. The conversation will mark the opening of the Medgar Evers’ 100th celebration.

“The panelists will share personal stories that illuminate the joys and heartbreaks of growing up in the homes of men who gave everything for justice,” organizers said. “They will reflect on the fierce love that shaped their childhoods, the losses that redefined their lives, and the legacies they now carry forward through their own work and voices.”

Evers-Everette, executive director of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute, said, “This conversation is a tribute to Malcolm X, Vernon Dahmer, and my father, Medgar Evers — not just as giants in the fight for justice, but as devoted fathers who poured love into our lives. To sit beside these two courageous women in Mississippi, where our families’ stories are so deeply rooted, is both an honor and a moment of healing. We come together not only to remember, but to continue their unfinished work.”

Shabazz, an ambassador at large for Belize, is a writer, diplomat and human rights advocate. She is the eldest daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz. 

Dahmer, daughter of Vernon and Ellie Dahmer, is an advocate for civil rights education. She regularly speaks to students to try and keep her father’s story alive for the next generation.

Evers-Everette has served as executive director of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute since 2012. She is the daughter of Medgar and Myrlie Evers.

The Medgar Evers’ 100th will take place from June 26-29 to commemorate the 100th birthday of the civil rights pioneer.

“Through keynotes, panels, performances, and spiritual gatherings, the weekend will celebrate his life and legacy while inspiring new visions for justice, democracy, and freedom across the South and the nation,” organizers said.

Jackson residents are returning to the polls a third time this year for the June 3 general election to elect a new mayor and council members.

With no runoff possibility, this will be the final voting day in the 2025 municipal elections, what one political analyst described a “last call” for voters this season.

After defeating Mayor Chokwe Lumumba in the primary, Democratic nominee for mayor and state Sen. John Horhn faces a Republican and four independent challengers on the ballot. In Wards 1, 2, 3, and 5, the incumbent faces at least one challenger and in Ward 7, three new candidates are vying for the council seat.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. View campaign finance details for the candidates here and their bios and platforms using the following links:

Follow along for live updates throughout the day and evening.

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.

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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.

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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.”

House Speaker Jason White removed Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes, a Republican from Picayune, as chairwoman of the House Drug Policy Committee last week, a rare move from a speaker two years into his first term as leader of the House. 

Hobgood-Wilkes said in a statement to Mississippi Today that she was removed as chairwoman over her advocacy for reforming pharmacy benefit manager practices in the state, a topic hotly debated by lawmakers earlier this year during their regular session. 

The Pearl River County lawmaker said the speaker’s decision to remove her as leader of the committee was “deeply hurtful,” because it wasn’t because of her objective performance as a legislator, but rather because she continued to speak up for her beliefs.

“I fought to lower drug costs for Mississippians and to support our independent pharmacists against the powerful PBMs working to drive them out of business,” Hobgood-Wilkes said. “I didn’t run for office to build my ego or pad my pocketbook. I ran because I love Pearl River County, and I love Mississippi.”

White, a Republican from West, did not respond to a request for comment. He replaced Hobgood-Wilkes as leader of the committee with Rep. Beth Luther Waldo, a freshman Republican from Pontotoc. 

Both chambers of the Legislature, earlier this year, introduced plans that sought to protect patients and independent pharmacists, who have warned that if legislators do not pass a law to regulate PBMs, which serve as middlemen in the pharmaceutical industry, some local pharmacies may be forced to close. They say that the companies’ low payments and unfair business practices have left them struggling to break even.

House Bill 1123, authored by the speaker, originally focused on the transparency aspect of PBMs. The Senate then beefed up the bill by adding provisions barring the companies from steering patients to affiliate pharmacies and prohibiting spread pricing – the practice of paying insurers more for drugs than pharmacists. 

Independent pharmacists, who flocked to the Capitol to advocate for reform during the session, widely supported the Senate’s version of the bill. Hobgood-Wilkes also continued to speak out in favor of stronger PBM legislation, even though White and other House leaders urged for a more middle-of-the-road approach.

Despite the legislative wrangling, a Democratic lawmaker defeated the bill by challenging it for violating procedural rules. 

It’s rare for a speaker or lieutenant governor to remove a legislator as a committee chair in the middle of a four-year term, unless there’s a vacancy or questionable behavior by the lawmaker. It’s even more notable that White, only halfway through his first term as speaker, appears to be punishing a fellow Republican over policy beliefs instead of conduct.

Another notable time a speaker relegated a House member to the sidelines was when former House Speaker Philip Gunn in 2019 appointed Rep. Doug McLeod, a Republican from Lucedale, to only one committee after he was arrested on charges of domestic violence. The former South Mississippi lawmaker was found not guilty of the charges.

White has also tweaked committee assignments for around a dozen Republicans and two Democrats, according to Rep. Robert Johnson III, the House Democratic leader from Natchez. 

White changed the committee assignments for Johnson and Rep. Daryl Porter, a Democrat from Summit. The two Democrats said they believed changing the committee makeup was to account for two new House members who were recently sworn into office and not a punishment from the leadership. 

Out of six candidates on the mayoral ticket in Jackson’s June 3 general election, the one who takes home the most votes will be elected to office, even if he or she does not win a majority of the ballots cast. 

That’s because unlike primary elections in Mississippi, local general elections generally do not feature runoffs. This fact might surprise some Jackson voters, since the race that typically generates the most excitement each election season – the Democratic primary for mayor – often results in a lively runoff between the top-two vote-getters. 

“Everybody needs to be aware that Tuesday is the last call for drinks in municipal races,” said Brandon Jones, the director of political campaigns at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “If you’re planning on voting in a municipal election this cycle, this is your shot.” 

In Mississippi primaries, when no candidate receives at least 50% plus one vote, the election advances a few weeks later to a runoff in which the two candidates who finished with the most votes go head-to-head. Mississippi does hold runoffs in general elections for statewide races – such as for governor – but not municipal.

In fact, runoffs are unusual in the United States, and especially rare in general elections. Mississippi is one of just seven states to require primary candidates to win a majority of the votes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Even fewer states – including Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi – hold runoffs for general elections, but in Mississippi, that requirement does not apply to municipal elections.

Most of the states requiring winners to secure a majority of votes are Southern due in part to Jim Crow, when white officials deployed runoffs to prevent Black candidates from winning, said Byron D’Andra Orey, a political science professor at Jackson State University. 

“Whites would split the vote and African Americans might end up winning, so when they did the runoff, all of the whites came together who split the vote and they were able to defeat the Black candidate,” he said. 

This Tuesday, Jackson voters will choose between the winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries – state Sen. John Horhn and police officer Kenny Gee, respectively –  plus four independent candidates, businessman Rodney DePriest, musical artist Zach Servis, child care operator Lillie Stewart-Robinson and radio host Kim Wade. (Wade recently announced he was dropping out of the race but his name will still appear on the ballot).

With the ballot split six ways, it’s theoretically possible for one of these candidates to win  by a plurality – the greatest number of votes – despite not securing over 50% of the vote. 

But the chances of that hurting the Black Democratic candidate – which historically wins the mayor’s race in the majority Black city – are low, Orey said. 

While he speculated that white Jacksonians may be motivated to vote for Hohrn’s white challengers, particularly DePriest, Orey said these voters likely won’t have the numbers to influence the election. 

“In the past, it’s always been the case that it was just a landslide,” he said. 

Jones said he’s seen a proliferation of independent candidates winning mayoral elections in the southeast, but that scenario depends on the unique politics and voting format of a city – and Jackson doesn’t quite have the conditions for a historic outcome like that. 

“I just don’t know of a format for voting that is going to prevent John Horhn from getting elected mayor of Jackson,” Jones said. “When you win by a plurality, that would still require someone to have more votes.” 

The only scenario in which Jones could see another candidate securing more votes and winning, he said, was if an independent candidate had a significant amount of Democratic support — and a Republican candidate was popular. 

“That’s just not the case here,” Jones said. 

Orey said he is curious to see how the lack of a runoff could impact the city’s council races, particularly the contested race in Ward 1, given that turnout among Black Jacksonians typically falls for the general. 

“There’s so much racially polarized voting, and one could play with the idea that turnout is typically low and it’s low amongst Blacks,” he said. “But it could be low amongst whites, because when you’re in a majority jurisdiction, you tend to think of yourself as a permanent loser.” 

The nonprofit charged with administering federal family planning money in Mississippi is laying off half of its staff two months after the federal government withheld its grant. 

Despite complying with the demands of the federal investigation that prompted the funding freeze, Converge leaders have heard nothing about the status of their case and say they must continue operating as if the money won’t come through. That means laying off 10 members of their staff, as well as stopping funding streams to the dozens of clinics around the state that rely on the grant to offer preventive reproductive health services to low-income Mississippians.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told Mississippi Today on May 14 that the agency was reviewing the submitted documents to assess compliance with the law and the president’s executive orders. When asked for an update Monday, the department declined to comment.

Title X, a federal program that has been providing money for family planning services to states for over 50 years, flows through Converge to 91 clinics around the state. On March 31, HHS told Converge it was withholding $4.5 million intended for Mississippi’s Title X program indefinitely pending an investigation into the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices. 

Seven states, including Mississippi, had Title X funds completely withheld, while another sixteen had their funds partially withheld. An estimated 834,000 people nationwide would be affected if the funds are never disbursed, Guttmacher estimates.  

In 2024, Title X funded 30,000 visits in Mississippi, the organization’s head told Mississippi Today. 

Since they received the letter, Converge leaders sent in the documents they were asked for, met with members of Congress, fundraised, and furloughed half their staff with the hopes of reinstating those employees if the federal funding came through before June 1. But now that it has not, the organization was forced to institute permanent layoffs.

“I thought that it would not come to this,” said Jamie Bardwell, co-executive director of Converge. “Because the accusations were so bizarre, we naively thought that all we had to do was show what we’re doing and we could get the money unfrozen. And I think that that was wishful thinking.”

Bardwell said Monday she has not heard from HHS since submitting all the requested documentation. 

The nonprofit is relying on fundraising to offer services like telehealth availability and pop-up clinics in the meantime.  

“I think often about the fact that we all feel so helpless right now, like, everything seems to be crumbling,” she said. “And the idea that we can do something, as individuals and as an organization, to help people in these dire moments, feels so good. And we’re going to channel that for Converge to create something that is useful for people, even though we never imagined this is how we’d need to do it.”

The next pop-up clinic will take place July 26 at the Jackson Medical Mall and will include physical exams, testing for sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy tests and preconception counseling, and prescriptions for birth control. All services will be available on a sliding scale. 

The team will have reproductive health kits available that include emergency contraception, condoms, a pregnancy test and feminine hygiene products. They will also be giving out free three-month supplies of Opill – the first over-the-counter birth control pill. 

In addition, staff will be available to help people enroll in the Medicaid family planning waiver, which allows low-income individuals to access Medicaid for family planning purposes. 

Bardwell is hopeful Converge will find new ways to offer services, but knows it will be difficult for the organization to operate on the same level it has been without the $4.5 million it was receiving annually from the federal government.

“Mississippians are nothing if not creative and problem solvers, so I feel confident that we can meet this moment, but it will be very challenging,” Bardwell said.

As always, college baseball becomes front page news as the calendar turns to June in the Magnolia State.

Ole Miss and Southern Miss baseball teams both will play later today for the right to host NCAA Super Regionals this weekend. Meanwhile, late Sunday night Mississippi State announced the hiring of Virginia’s legendary baseball coach Brian O’Connor in an effort to get the Bulldogs back to Omaha and the College World Series.

Ole Miss and Southern Miss dug themselves deep holes last Friday night by losing in the first rounds of the Oxford and Hattiesburg regionals. Both try to complete the rigorous climb out of those holes tonight.

Ole Miss will play Murray (Ky.) State at 5 p.m. in Oxford. Southern Miss will play Miami at 8 p.m. in Hattiesburg. Both games are sold out. Both will be televised. The Ole Miss game will be on the SEC Network and ESPN+. Both ESPN+ and ESPNU will televise Southern Miss-Miami.

After losing to Murray State 9-6 on Friday, the Rebels have won three straight games. They beat Western Kentucky 8-6 Saturday, before defeating Georgia Tech 11-9 and then Murray 19-8 on Sunday.

After losing to Columbia 11-4 on Friday, Southern Miss then came from behind to edge Alabama 6-5 on Saturday. The Golden Eagles then trounced Columbia 8-1 Sunday afternoon and then, despite losing two key infielders to injuries, pummeled Miami 17-6 Sunday night.

Should Ole Miss defeat Murray, the Rebels would face Duke in a Super Regional this weekend with the winner advancing to the College World Series.

Should Southern Miss defeat Miami, the Golden Eagles would host Louisville in a Super Regional with the winner advancing to Omaha.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State has hired a new coach quite familiar with Super Regionals and Omaha. O’Connor has taken Virginia to seven College World Series and his Cavaliers won the national championship in 2015. Already inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame, O’Connor, 54, has an overall coaching record of 917 victories, 388 defeats and two ties, a winning percentage of just over 70 percent.

MSU president Mark Keenum, in a press release, said: “At Mississippi State, we have a long tradition of success in baseball. The ‘M over S,’ the Maroon and White, and hosting postseason in Starkville is woven into the very fabric of who we are and what we expect of our baseball program. Brian O’Connor is an elite level coach that aligns perfectly with our elite level program. His past certainly speaks for itself, but his clear understanding of the evolution and future of college baseball is clear. We are in the pursuit of championships. I am thrilled for Coach O’Connor, our student-athletes and Bulldogs everywhere as this is a historic day for Mississippi State.”

Sometime within the last decade or so, setting the Mississippi state budget became a top-secret affair, closely guarded even against many of the lawmakers who are, ostensibly, tasked with setting it.

Why, rank-and-file legislators even have difficulty getting a spreadsheet that clearly shows what’s being proposed until just before they are expected to vote on the more than 100 bills — thousands of pages — that make up the multi-billion budget.

Budget info is on a need-to-know basis in the Mississippi Legislature, and unless you are one of a small handful of negotiators, you don’t need to know. And the public or press? Forget about it.

Shockingly, we’ve seen in recent years that mistakes get made in this hurried, harried and secret process. Big, multi-million dollar mistakes. Things get sneaked into budgets that clear headedness, deliberation and transparency would have prevented. Ditto for things that get left out.

Earlier this year, the Mississippi Legislature overhauled the entire state tax code by accident, because of typos not caught in the secretive, hurried process. Instead of deliberating and fixing the mistakes, the governor and legislative leaders rolled with it, because the typos were inadvertently close to what they wanted.

That’s a helluva footnote in the history of Mississippi governance and fiscal policy, one big, beautiful clerical error.

Mississippi budget secrecy hit another crescendo last week that had rank-and-file lawmakers on both side of the aisle angered. In a chaotic two-day special session scrum, lawmakers passed a $7.1 billion budget with nearly no deliberation and little adherence to proper parliamentary procedure.

Most lawmakers don’t know exactly what they passed in the budget last week.

The process already produced one major snafu: Lawmakers passed a $1.9 million line item in the Department of Health budget that, if signed into law would threaten the loss of more than a billion dollars of the state’s draw down of federal Medicaid dollars.

READ MORE: House passes bill that threatens Mississippi’s Medicaid funding, then skedaddles, leaves Senate holding bag

But because of the hurried, secretive budget process, the Senate was practically forced to pass the measure anyway, because the House had hurriedly passed all its budget bills in the wee hours of the morning then left the Capitol. Lawmakers said they secured a promise from the governor that he will line-item veto the mistake. They abdicated their purse string responsibility and passed the measure on to him.

It wasn’t always like this.

Not that many years ago, the Legislature’s budget process was a more transparent, egalitarian affair. While final haggling and passage of the actual budget bills has always been a late-night, last minute hectic affair, the budget process was more considered and open.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee would hold weeks of public hearings on agencies budget requests and provide some scrutiny — again, in public hearings — on said agencies’ spending for the past year.

Lawmakers, even rank-and-file, spent much more of their time on budget deliberations and generally, budget proposals were not a state secret.

But what started as months of hearings and deliberations over time shrank to weeks, then, most recently, just a couple of days. Now, just a few agencies — the process of their selection is unclear — show up and give very and often superficial presentations to the JLBC.

The process has become more and more closed, secretive, or as one lawmaker put it recently, the “mushroom treatment” for most legislators — and certainly for the public.

Legislative leaders have vowed to open the budget process up, or at least slow it down. But so far, that appears to have been lip service. Rank-and-file members from both legislative chambers, and both sides of the aisle, are growing more frustrated with the process.

Politics are politics, and they can’t be removed from the legislative process. But a state budget shouldn’t be full of secrets and mushrooms and political strat-e-gery.

And huge mistakes.

Freshman Sen. Rod Hickman has penned an op-ed in which he summed things up nicely.

“On the day we returned to the Capitol, legislators were handed nearly 100 appropriations bills totaling over $7.8 billion in public spending — and were expected to vote on them immediately,” Hickman wrote. “No time for review. No chance for public input. No opportunity to amend. That is not governing — it’s rubber-stamping. And it disrespects both the legislative process and the people we serve.”

One day after concluding a raucous special session to pass a state budget, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Jason White told reporters they’re planning to focus on K-12 education policy next year during the 2026 session. 

Hosemann, the Republican leader of the Senate, said he wants to pass legislation to give public school teachers a pay raise and find a way to allow retired teachers to work in the classroom again. 

“Without an educated workforce, Mississippi’s momentum will not continue,” Hosemann said at a press conference on Friday. 

State law sets the salary for public school teachers based on how much college education they have received and how long they have taught. The last time the Legislature raised teacher salaries was during the 2022 session. 

White, a Republican from West, conducted a press conference Friday, but he excluded some media outlets including Mississippi Today. But according to a recording of the press conference in his Capitol office, White intends to push lawmakers, again, to consider school choice legislation and will form a study committee to conduct hearings on the issue during the summer. 

“Our sister states surrounding us here in the South all have basically open enrollment now,” White said. “Now, are we ready to go that far? Do we have the votes to go that far? I don’t know that. But it’s time we have a real conversation about what is best for kids and parents and not the status quo or what might upset somebody somewhere.” 

Full school choice policies typically give state dollars to families and allow them to use that money for their child’s K-12 education, regardless of whether they attend a public or private school. But it’s unclear if White would push for full school choice or a more moderate measure.

Earlier this year, the speaker pushed the House to vote for a bill that allows students in D and F-rated districts to transfer to another school, public or private. However, the bill died on a legislative deadline without a vote from the entire House. 

The House also passed a public-to-public “open enrollment” bill to allow students to transfer to a public school district located outside of the district they live. But a Senate committee killed the measure without bringing it up for a vote.

Mississippi currently has a very limited form of “open enrollment” that allows students to transfer from their home district to a nearby school district. However, the transfer requires the approval of both the home and receiving school districts. 

The House’s proposal would have prevented the home district from blocking the student’s transfer. 

Hosemann on Friday said he was personally in favor of both of those proposals, but he was unsure if a majority of the Senate would vote for the measures. 

Other priorities White outlined were: 

• Continuing to focus on improving the city of Jackson, especially the capital city’s water and sewer systems 
• Reforming the public employee retirement system 

Hosemann’s other priorities include: 

• Restructuring government agencies and their office space 
• Banning student cell phones in public K-12 schools 
• Free community college tuition