OAN Staff Lillian Mann
11:22 AM – Thursday, May 14, 2026
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced that he will cancel a planned special session to consider new voting maps for the state’s three Supreme Court voting districts, despite other Republican-led states already moving ahead with redistricting efforts.
Reeves (R-Miss.) announced the cancelation on Wednesday during an appearance with SuperTalk radio, saying that it would be too difficult for the state to redraw the congressional districts in the Republicans favor before midterm elections, which will take place in November.
Reeves’ decision follows a historical Supreme Court ruling last month which reportedly found Louisiana’s congressional district map to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The ruling from the Supreme Court weakened key parts of the federal Voting Rights Act, which bans voting practices that discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority group.
In a post on X after the news broke, Reeves wrote, “Just to clarify, I said I expect lawmakers to redraw congressional lines between now and the 2027 elections. I also expect them to redraw legislative and Supreme Court lines between now and the 2027 elections!”
Reeves, however, emphasized that he will redraw voting maps in the future.
Mississippi held its congressional primary elections in March, before the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling, which significantly narrowed a crucial protection of the Voting Rights Act and prompted several Republican-led states to begin redrawing their electoral maps.
An immediate redrawing of Mississippi’s congressional districts aiming to abolish Democrat seats, however, would mean potentially invalidating its primary results and cause Republican areas to be more competitive by adding more Democrat voters, according to The Guardian.
Furthermore, redrawing the maps this month—more than two months after the state’s party primary election—could have set a precedent for other states to invalidate their primary results, potentially putting Republican congressional seats at risk, The Guardian said.
Reeves said he had been anticipating a ruling like this from the conservative-majority Supreme Court in Washington.
“Understand something — that maybe while it may be in the best interest of individual politicians in Mississippi to talk about congressional redistricting, what happens in Mississippi doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” he said.
Reeves also noted efforts made to eventually unseat the state’s only Democrat member, Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).
“What I will tell you is the tenure of Congressman Bennie Thompson, reigning terror on the 2nd Congressional District is over. It is not a question of if, it is a question of when,” Reeves said.
Thompson, however, said on Monday that he will “fight against any effort to redraw my congressional district.”
Congressional district maps were redrawn ahead of the Supreme Court’s Louisiana decision by Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina. The efforts made could impact the elections of at least four Black Democrat members of the House of Representatives.
The governor did not name anyone directly, but said that certain officials considering a statewide run in 2027 have recently elevated redrawing congressional districts as a key issue on social media. He suggested, however, that they do not fully grasp the complexity involved.
“This is going to be the silly season in Mississippi politics,” Reeves said.
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