LaKeisha Crye, one of the lesser-known Democratic candidates for mayor this year, walked into the Jackson City Clerk’s office 10 minutes before 5pm Tuesday to deliver her campaign finance report. 

This act is one of the most tangible ways candidates can demonstrate transparency and integrity around their candidacies. 

While City Clerk Angela Harris was busy gathering the other submitted reports for this reporter, who sat waiting on a wooden bench under fluorescent lights, another clerk assisted Crye, a mental health nurse practitioner who had just come from work. 

Crye asked for a stamped copy for her own recordkeeping and peace of mind.

“Coming up there to file my campaign report, that was important for me to do, and it was important for me to submit it timely,” she later told Mississippi Today. “The two people that entrusted me with their donations, it was important to me to document that and to make sure that the public also had accessibility to that.”

Not so for eight of her competitors in the Democratic primary for mayor, including incumbent Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, or 23 others running in contested primaries April 1 who failed to submit their pre-election campaign finance reports on the Tuesday deadline. 

Several said they either forgot, were unaware of the deadline, or were still collecting information to file accurate reports and many filed their reports late Wednesday. 

Crye was one of only four mayoral candidates and six council candidates (including one independent who was not required to file) who submitted the documents as required by law before Harris left for the day, according to records obtained from the City Clerk’s office.

In addition to Crye, mayoral candidates John Horhn, Delano Funches, Socrates Garrett filed pre-election campaign finance reports Tuesday, with Horhn’s squeaking in just after 5pm while Harris, the clerk, was still on site. The next day, other Democratic mayoral candidates Marcus Wallace filed with the clerk and Tim Henderson emailed his report to the Secretary of State.

Only candidates running in contested primaries were required to file the pre-election report; independent candidates who won’t appear on the ballot until the General Election don’t have to file until closer to June. Even if a candidate has not raised or spent funds, they must still file a report.

READ MORE: Click here for more information about all of Jackson’s municipal candidates.

Politicians often treat Mississippi’s campaign finance rules, which ideally exist to inform voters of the special interests at play in local government, as more of a recommendation than the law. That’s partly because the laws are poorly enforced, especially on a local level, and penalties like fines and jail time are almost never levied against violators.

The laissez faire attitude towards these reports discounts the stakes involved. 

Mayor Lumumba, after all, is facing federal felony charges in part because of campaign contributions and the manner in which he received them. He pleaded not guilty.

Last year, Lumumba was accused of taking a bribe of $50,000 in campaign donations from a group of supposed developers bidding on a project downtown, but who were actually undercover FBI agents. As part of the alleged scheme, the money would come not directly from the out-of-state developers, but would be passed through and split up between five local contributors – which prosecutors alleged was meant to conceal the bribe. The indictment also accuses Lumumba of writing $14,500 worth of checks to himself from his campaign account.

Lumumba filed his annual campaign finance report covering this time period, which appeared to contain the five $10,000 contributions mentioned by prosecutors, on the Jan. 31 deadline. The report also reflects he paid himself from the campaign several times in 2024 – $8,000 worth of payments labeled as travel, cell phone expenses, expenses for a Chicago fundraiser and water distribution – but not on the dates or for the amounts mentioned in the indictment.

The annual campaign finance report shows Lumumba raised $114,000 in 2024 and ended the year with $28,000 even in cash on hand. Though having spent $42,920.90, according to his report, he should have ended with nearly $71,000 left over. The campaign did not respond to a question about this Thursday.

As for Lumumba’s contributors and disbursements in recent months leading up to the April 1 primary, he did not file by Wednesday and the information was not available by the time this story was published. Lumumba’s campaign coordinator Nsombi Lambright-Haynes, also director of the nonprofit OneVoice, said Thursday that the campaign was working on having the pre-election report completed that day.

The other Democratic mayoral candidates who did not file by Wednesday are David Archie, James Hopkins, Albert Wilson, Kourtney Christopher Paige and James “Blue” Butler, according to records obtained by the city clerk at the end of the day Wednesday.

“When you think about the trust that has left the city of Jackson related to many reasons with campaign finance reports being one of them,” Crye said. “As a candidate for mayor here in the city of Jackson, I’m already working on restoring trust and that was one of the ways in which I wanted to do that yesterday by filing my campaign report on time.”

Horhn, a four-time mayoral candidate and state senator of 32 years, reported taking in just over $100,000 from a myriad of local powerbrokers so far in 2025, spending $51,000 of that leaving him with about $50,000 cash-on-hand. 

This doesn’t account for the roughly $65,000 he reported having in cash on hand at the end of 2024, after raising $78,000 that year and spending about $22,000. If his contribution and disbursement reporting is correct in both reports, he should have about $115,000 cash on hand leading up to the final days before the primary, which he could use if he makes it into the runoff.

In response to Mississippi Today’s request for comment about the figures, Horhn’s campaign said in a statement, “We acknowledge recent questions regarding our campaign finance reporting. We are conducting a thorough review and will file any necessary amendments to ensure full compliance.”

Funches, a local attorney, also reported receiving around $100,000 for his campaign since mid-2024, but more than $90,000 of that came from himself, starting with a $30,000 personal contribution back in June of last year. He reported spending $107,000 for a negative balance of about $7,000. 

Because his campaign collected funds in 2024, Funches was required to file an annual report on Jan. 31, but his campaign treasurer, Terilyn Hopkins, said she was turned away from the clerk when she tried to file it.

“They didn’t even look at it. They said, ‘Oh, this is not due today. It’s not due until March the 25th. So we brought it back with us,’” Hopkins said. “Which means that they have somebody down there that’s not scrutinizing the information before they make a determination.”

Harris refuted this statement, saying, “We don’t refuse nobody trying to turn anything in.”

Socrates Garrett, an eclectic businessman and longtime city contractor, came next with about $29,000 in contributions – more than half of which came from himself or his businesses – and roughly $26,000 in disbursements.

Crye has not solicited donations, but after she launched her campaign, her 85-year-old neighbor, a retired doctor, sent his wife to her house with a $10,000 check. Crye ran into another supporter, who she’d met once at a PTSA meeting, at Target, where the woman handed her a $100 bill for her campaign. Crye reported both the check and cash donations, as well as an in-kind donation of office space, on her report.

Mississippi Today attempted to contact the candidates who did not file by text Tuesday for a response to this story, in turn prompting many of them to file. Several said they were either unaware of or forgot about the deadline or were waiting on information from donors or invoices of disbursements in order to complete accurate reports. 

“I’m working at a fever pitch to submit it today,” Henderson, a U.S. Space Force consultant, texted Mississippi Today Wednesday morning. 

He later emailed his report, as he did his 2024 annual report, to the Secretary of State, which is the repository for campaign finance reports, but is not where municipal candidates typically file. The copy he sent Mississippi Today did not contain a cover sheet, so no total contributions, disbursements or cash-on-hand amounts were available. 

The clerk’s practice is to stamp the reports it receives, then send a copy to the Secretary of State. While there’s some confusion about whether, by law, candidates can file with either the clerk or the state office, the Secretary of State told Mississippi Today that municipal candidates must file with their local clerk, and did not include Henderson’s report among the list of candidates whose reports they possessed.

Democratic mayoral candidate Marcus Wallace, a construction company owner and former mayor of Edwards, said he mixed up the deadline dates, and filed Wednesday. His campaign has received $195,000 – $140,000 from himself and much of the rest unitemized – which he used to purchase a $75,000 bus with a $12,000 wrap.

Another Democratic mayoral candidate David Archie, a consultant and former county supervisor, said he would “get it done soon,” but did not Wednesday. 

In addition to 12 Democratic mayoral candidates, there are three running in the primary as Republicans. Republican mayoral candidate Wilfred Beal said Wednesday he didn’t know he had to file a report because when he went to City Hall to file the earlier report in January, he said the clerk told him he “wasn’t required until next year.”

His two Republican opponents are Kenneth Gee, who filed a report full of zeros Wednesday, and Ponto Downing, who did not file and could not be reached.

Twenty-five council candidates are running in contested Democratic primaries and just five filed reports on Tuesday. When reached, several of the council candidates were surprised to learn about the deadline and asked Mississippi Today to explain the process for filing. One asked for the name of the city clerk.

Three incumbent council members facing primary challengers – Ward 2 Councilwoman Tina Clay, Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell and Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley – did not file reports Tuesday.

When reached Wednesday, Grizzell and Hartley said Harris did not remind them about the deadline as she usually does, and both filed shortly afterward. Ward 2 Councilwoman Tina Clay, an insurance agent, thanked Mississippi Today for its message but did not file by Wednesday.

Harris said she only sends emails to remind the council members to file in non-election years.

Grizzell, a consultant, reported raising and spending about $15,000 and Hartley, a retired environmental administrator, reported raising $1,900 and spending about $1,100. 

Ward 1 Democratic candidate Jessica Carter, a regional director for a progressive advocacy group, said she filed her report on the deadline day by emailing it to the Secretary of State but was informed she needed to file with the city clerk and got it in on Wednesday. She’s raised and spent about $3,000.

Her opponent Stephen Thompson, who also filed a day late, made one donation of $850 to his campaign. The other Ward 1 Democratic candidates, Jasmine Barnes and Rhoda Barnes, did not file Wednesday.

“I’m disappointed in being a little behind but I would rather take the risk of being a day or two late with solid information vs missing,” texted Ward 1 candidate Jasmine Barnes, a certified public accountant. She emailed her report to the clerk Thursday.

When Mississippi Today visited the clerk’s office Wednesday, Clay’s only challenger in the Ward 2 Democratic primary, Marcus Cheatham, was standing at the glass partition in the clerk’s office, wrangling with Harris about what all the reporting entailed.

“I have to do all this?” he lamented, his cellphone up to his ear with an ongoing phone call. He was referring to the antiquated hardcopy campaign finance form, which contains fields for each donor that most candidates fill out in writing, and was relieved when the clerk told him he could attach a spreadsheet. He said he emailed his report to the clerk Wednesday night.

Ward 3 does not have a contested primary. 

Grizzell’s only primary opponent in the Ward 4 Democratic primary, Malcolm May, did not file by the end of Wednesday and could not be reached.

One of Hartley’s primary opponents, Ward 5 Democratic candidate Charles Alexander, filed his report on time to record that he’s raised $0 and spent $15. The third candidate in that race, ReJohnna Brown-Mitchell, did not file Wednesday.

Of the nine Democratic candidates running in the primary for Ward 6, a seat left open by outgoing councilman Aaron Banks, just one filed his report on time. That candidate, Emon Thompson, owner of a local IT company, has raised and spent $13,000.

Another candidate in that race, Jackson fire fighter Jonathan Cottrell, filed Wednesday after hearing from Mississippi Today and responding, “Let me get there.” He’s raised $1,250 and spent $2,025.

Similarly, Ward 6 candidate Daniel LaPatrick Walker, a water treatment engineer, said Mississippi Today brought the campaign finance report deadline to his attention. He went down to the clerk’s office just before close Wednesday in hopes of obtaining a blank form.

Walker told Mississippi Today he wishes the clerk offered an electronic filing option for the reports. “It would make it a lot smoother for candidates,” he said. 

The clerk did not have reports Wednesday from the other candidates in Ward 6, Lee Bernard, Lashia Brown-Thomas, Brad Davis, Antonio Porter, Lee Scott and George Monroe, though Monroe told Mississippi Today he had completed it late Wednesday. Scott and Bernard said they would file Thursday.

Candidates in Ward 7 appear to be more up on the campaign finance rules. Three of the five council candidates in the democratic primary filed on deadline day, with a fourth filing one day late.

Two vying for the seat left open by outgoing Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay are fundraising especially big, Kevin Parkinson and Quint Withers. Turner Martin also filed his report on time.

Kevin Parkinson, manager at a Pennsylvania-based education nonprofit has raised $33,000, his biggest donor of $4,000 being an education equity Political Action Committee. He hired political consulting firm Chism Strategies to assist with the campaign.

Quint Withers, an oil company accountant, has pulled $25,000, with the largest $5,000 donations coming from a Jackson individual listed as retired.

Turner Martin, manager of the city’s art center, has raised about $1,700.

Bruce Burton, who filed Wednesday, reported $0. Corinthian Sanders did not officially file, but he had attempted to email his report to the clerk days before the deadline.

“Now far as them checking it, processing paperwork or responding is another thing,” Sanders said in a message to Mississippi Today.

Independent Ron Aldridge, who filed a report though he was not required, has raised more than $7,000 and spent about $1,800.

Tom Hood, director of the Mississippi Ethics Commission, spoke with Mississippi Today Thursday about the confusion surrounding reporting requirements, processes, and the lack of teeth to hold nonfilers accountable.

“The cause is the law,” Hood said. “The law is so screwed up, nobody knows what it means, nobody knows what to do with it. It’s just a total scrap heap. Only the Legislature can fix it and they had multiple opportunities this year and all those bills died.”

Hood said the public should not automatically equate campaign finance mishaps for malfeasance. “Most of the stuff that a lot of people think is corruption is really just incompetence,” Hood said.

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