Mississippi legislators officially kicked off the redistricting process with a Monday, Aug. 3, meeting in Jackson.
Most of the 20 lawmakers charged with redrawing the state’s voting district maps convened on Aug. 3 for the first meeting of the joint redistricting committee, which contains 16 Republicans and four Democrats. The group elected a chair, vice chair and secretary, and it approved the fall hearing schedule.
Lawmakers will hold eight public hearings across the state in August and September before they begin working on the redrawn maps. Every hearing will begin at 6 p.m., and the proposed schedule is as follows:
Aug. 18: Itawamba Community College — Tupelo
Aug. 27: Northwest Mississippi Community College — Senatobia
Sept. 1: Delta State University — Cleveland
Sept. 8: Alcorn State University — Natchez
Sept. 10: Venue TBD — Meridian
Sept. 17: University of Southern Mississippi — Hattiesburg
Sept. 22: Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College — Gulfport
Sept. 24: New Capitol — Jackson
Redistricting is typically a lengthy process, and legislators have indicated that this iteration will be the same way.
“It’s basically a clean slate, from what I understand,” said Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, who has been one of the most outspoken legislators regarding redistricting. “There’s probably easy ways to do this, and then there’s the other way when you have a blank slate, which is to start from ground zero.”
Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, tucks paperwork into his jacket after a joint redistricting committee meeting at the State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026.
England confirmed that the group’s priorities are the state legislative and Supreme Court district maps ahead of the 2027 general elections. The three Supreme Court districts also determine the state’s public service and transportation commissioners.
The committee may look at congressional districts, England said, but he added that he doesn’t “think there’s any hurry” because successful candidates in the upcoming midterm elections will secure their seats for two more years.
Lawmakers will likely treat the three majority-Black districts added in 2025 as a starting point for the redistricting process, but England said they are looking across Mississippi.
“We’re really hitting all the corners of the state to try to find out,” England said. “It’s going to be a very important task, a difficult task. It’s one that, with the national news media … was of a lot of interest, even though it’s kind of died down nationally. But the Callais decision changed the landscape.”
Gov. Tate Reeves has signaled that a special session on redistricting is likely to take place before the end of the year.
More on Callais: How did US Supreme Court decisions this year impact Mississippi?
Bea Anhuci is the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She has covered Mississippi politics since the start of 2026. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: See where redistricting hearings will be in Mississippi
