https://washingtonsun.com/mississippi Mississippi en-US Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:40:10 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/states-voter-id-agenda-trump Adora Brown Trump’s efforts to push more election security legislation on the federal level is prompting a discussion about the role states should play. Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:40:10 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/states-voter-id-agenda-trump Some states are pushing to advance President Donald Trump’s voting restrictions agenda, even as Republicans in Congress have stalled in delivering on his request ahead of the midterms.

At least 15 different states have passed legislation tightening ballot access since the start of the second Trump administration. They range from Louisiana, where the governor signed a bill in May that will mandate annual checks of voter registration rolls against the administration’s revamped Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, to a law passed in Florida that will require residents to use an updated state ID with a citizenship marker to vote by 2027.

South Dakota passed the South Dakota SAVE Act this year as an emergency measure that requires proof of citizenship to register to vote before the primaries. Republicans in the state were motivated to pass it after they found nearly 300 noncitizens on its voter rolls a year and a half ago.

“It’s elevated their concerns to make sure that we only have citizens registering to vote,” South Dakota state Sen. John Carley, a Republican, said about voters in his state. “This allows us on a state level, in the midst of them kind of dithering in Congress, to get that done. The states can certainly enact it.”

These measures are moves toward the core of Trump’s SAVE America Act: proof of citizenship in order to vote.

That agenda has been bolstered by recent drama in New Jersey. Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, revealed that 6,600 noncitizens were registered to vote from June 2023 to June 2024 in the state due to a software glitch — and approximately 400 of them cast a ballot in that time.

“There certainly seems to be an effort to try to sort of weaponize this news to further the federal administration's disenfranchisement agenda,” Liza Weisberg, a supervising attorney for the ACLU of New Jersey, told NOTUS. “I don't think that this news, the events out of New Jersey, justify the kinds of really aggressive anti-voter legislation that is being pushed.”

Trump’s efforts to push more election security legislation on the federal level has prompted a discussion about whether those efforts could be better addressed by the states. Many Republican state lawmakers have decided that there’s some role for them to play.

“We try to be proactive, we try to be forward thinking, and not wait until Election Day for the bad thing to happen. But we can look at improving our own code or see what the trends are around the country, and then try to adapt accordingly,” Cord Byrd, Florida’s secretary of state, told NOTUS.

In Congress, some Republicans have supported Trump’s embrace of voting restrictions as a priority. In April, the House passed the SAVE Act, which, among other provisions, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, require that voters’ eligibility be checked against the SAVE system and would eliminate mail-in and online voter registration.

The Senate has debated for months about Trump’s preferred SAVE America Act, which is similar to the SAVE Act but additionally requires ID to request a mail-in ballot or vote at the polls. The bill lacks the votes for Republicans to pass it without getting rid of the filibuster.

“The SAVE America Act isn’t going away,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee, the bill’s sponsor, said in a social media post in July. “Nor are the American people, no matter how much Democrats try to import new voters for themselves.”

Several Republicans told NOTUS that federalizing those requirements would likely be a step too far for the legislators hoping to assuage voters’ concerns this election year and would prefer the states address it.

“The idea of requiring photo ID, I agree with that. But as far as federalizing the entire elections system, look, that's our secretary of state's job. That's Mississippi's job to make sure that we have secure elections. I don’t think that needs to be a federalized system,” Mississippi state Sen. Jeremy England told NOTUS.

There is little evidence that noncitizen voting is widespread across the country.

But many voters appear to favor the idea of implementing additional identification requirements. A Pew Research poll from last year found that 83% of respondents across the political spectrum believed everyone should be required to show government-issued photo ID to vote. At least 13 states and Washington, D.C., do not require photo ID to vote at the polls on Election Day, according to the Voting Rights Lab.

As the midterms near, Democrats are worried about just how far the president will go to exert control over elections. In an interview on Tuesday with the conservative commentator Wayne Allyn Root, the president declined to rule out declaring a national security emergency to enforce proof of citizenship and limit mail-in voting.

“Let me just say that stranger things have happened,” Trump said. “I’ll leave it at that.”
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/courts/supreme-court-mail-in-ballots-election-day-watson Adora Brown, Angie Orellana Hernandez The ruling is a blow to Republican efforts to curb mail-in voting. Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:22:50 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/courts/supreme-court-mail-in-ballots-election-day-watson The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that states are allowed a grace period for collecting mail-in ballots, quashing a lawsuit that would have restricted voting by mail.

In 15 states and the District of Columbia, a ballot is valid if election officials receive it up to five days after Election Day. The 5-4 ruling in Watson v. Republican National Committee permits states to count late-arriving mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a justice appointed by President Donald Trump who sided with the majority, wrote in her opinion that the question before the Supreme Court was “a narrow one about timing.” She wrote that federal laws dictate “the day when the electorate must make its choice” but do not set a deadline for when the ballots should be received.

“The Constitution requires the ‘Day on which [the electors] shall give their Votes’ to be ‘the same throughout the United States,’” Barrett wrote. “But it says nothing about the day for receipt, and, of course, 18th-century modes of transmission did not offer same-day delivery. The Constitution therefore envisions a system in which receipt is necessarily divorced from voting, and it sets the crucial, uniform day as the day of voting, leaving receipt to happen down the line."

In his dissent, conservative Justice Samuel Alito argued that the majority’s ruling “leaves open opportunities for voter fraud that may further undermine Americans’ faith in the integrity of this country’s elections.”

“By allowing States to continue receiving new ballots during these drawn-out processes, today’s decision will only exacerbate voters’ distrust,” Alito wrote.

Voter fraud happens rarely in the U.S., but conservatives have long argued otherwise.

The state of Mississippi changed its election laws in 2020 to accept mail-in ballots within five days of the election. But the state’s Republican Party and the RNC sued in 2024, claiming the state’s law conflicted with the federal law that sets Election Day. Mississippi argued that the election is not hinged on which day ballots are received.

The Trump administration filed an amicus brief in support of the RNC, writing that “federal law designates a single day for federal elections.”

Trump has rallied against mail-in voting, claiming without evidence that it’s riddled by fraud. The most recent version of the SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of citizenship to vote by mail, with no instructions as to how states should collect that information.

Older adults, people with disabilities, rural Americans and service members stationed overseas often utilize mail-in voting, but it’s a common practice in general — nearly one in three Americans voted by mail in the last election.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/congress/republicans-armed-services-congress-virginia-redistricting-pentagon-leadership Joe Gould Redistricting in Virginia could shake up which Republican leads Pentagon oversight on the Hill. Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:02:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/congress/republicans-armed-services-congress-virginia-redistricting-pentagon-leadership The question of who will be the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee next year won’t be resolved until after the midterm elections. But the campaigning is already underway.

At stake is the panel’s top GOP slot — a powerful perch that helps shape defense policy, oversees the Pentagon and influences the party’s national security agenda.

Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers’ term as the lead Republican on the committee expires in January. Reps. Trent Kelly of Mississippi and Rob Wittman of Virginia are vying to replace him — and the showdown is heating up.

Armed Services leadership races are typically quiet, internal matters before they are decided by the House Republican Steering Committee. But the contest burst into the open this week when Wittman — the panel’s vice chair and Rogers’ preferred successor — was dealt a possibly politically fatal setback. Virginia voters on Tuesday cleared a path for a new electoral map that would drastically reshape his red-leaning district.

Then Kelly confirmed this week that he is running to be the GOP committee lead, and Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies on the Hill, told Politico he is considering it, too. Wittman, whose aspirations to follow Rogers haven’t been a secret, is one of multiple parties who have sued to derail the redistricting measure. The day after the election, a judge in one case blocked the state from certifying the results. The Virginia Supreme Court will take up some of the issues Monday.

The outcome of the court fights could upend how national security policy is decided on Capitol Hill.

If Republicans lose control of the House after November’s elections, the committee’s unique, bipartisan traditions still make the ranking member influential, and that leverage could grow if Democrats hold just a slim majority.

If Democrats do take the House, they are expected to confront Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth on a range of national security controversies — and the top Republican on the House Armed Service Committee can decide how obstructive or how cooperative his side will be.

The National Defense Authorization Act, produced reliably by the House and Senate armed services committees for decades, is one of the few pieces of major bipartisan legislation. While it does not dedicate funding, it's one of Congress’ most consequential must-pass bills, setting policy and shaping everything from weapons programs to service member pay.

The differences between Wittman’s and Kelly’s approaches are mostly stylistic.

Wittman is known as a deeply studious, affable and press-friendly lawmaker who has frequently worked across the aisle with the Seapower Subcommittee’s top Democrat, Rep. Joe Courtney, when Wittman chaired the subcommittee. Wittman is also seen as an advocate for naval readiness and shipbuilding programs.

“I’m still in the running,” Wittman said. “We're confident the Supreme Court is going to do its job and overturn this unconstitutional and illegal gerrymander. And nothing has changed for me.”

Kelly, a former National Guard major general, is known for his blunt decisiveness and as the vice chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He confirmed that he has been campaigning hard among Steering Committee members — “I’m not joking,” he promised — and outlined his resume. “Military service at a strategic level, Army War College [graduate],” he said. “Subcommittee ranking or chair on three of the HASC subcommittees — pretty much have a lot of extensive experience and obviously, understand the national security world.”

Defense insiders expect Rogers, the panel’s top Republican since 2021, to apply for a waiver to override the term limit and stay on as the top Republican if Wittman loses the redistricting fight, though Rogers declined to say whether he’d seek that path.

“I’m going to decide what I’m going to do after the November election,” he said, adding praise for Kelly and Wittman. “Both of them are great. I’m a big fan of both of those rascals.”

The House GOP Steering Committee typically chooses committee leaders based on not only seniority, expertise and leadership, but also fundraising ability on behalf of the National Republican Congressional Committee. But Trump could attempt to put his finger on the scale in favor of a less senior candidate, Jackson.

Jackson, who chairs the panel’s Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee, is a retired Navy rear admiral who formed a connection with Trump during his service as a White House physician. He’s seen as a more conservative and partisan figure than any of the other candidates.

“Trump wants somebody like that on every committee because they’re all going to investigate him,” said one defense lobbyist granted anonymity to speak candidly.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/capitol-gains/mississippi-congressional-delegation-wealth-assets-debts-money Violet Jira, Torrence Banks Republican Rep. Michael Guest is worth millions, while Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson’s wealth has grown significantly since he’s been in Congress. Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:37:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/capitol-gains/mississippi-congressional-delegation-wealth-assets-debts-money As Congress debates how to make daily life more affordable for everyday Americans, most of Mississippi’s congressional delegation is much wealthier than the average Mississippian, a NOTUS analysis of congressional personal financial records indicates.

This includes two congressmen — Democrat Bennie Thompson and Republican Michael Guest — whose median net worths are in the millions. Mississippi members’ wealth is being driven primarily by financial assets, such as individual stocks, and business interests.

Guest’s median net worth sits at $9.7 million, NOTUS found, making him many, many times wealthier than the average Mississippian, as the state’s median household income is $56,447, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Guest — a member of Congress since 2019 — is chairman of the House Ethics Committee, which in part enforces the House’s code of conduct and laws including the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act. He holds a few individual stocks in companies such as Meta and Exxon Mobil, but most of his wealth is held in municipal bonds for localities and institutions throughout Mississippi, plus pooled investment securities.

Guest himself violated the STOCK Act in 2021 after failing to disclose several energy-related stock trades on time, according to Business Insider.

Thompson, meanwhile, had a median net worth of $3.3 million in 2024.

That’s up from $2.5 million in 2023 and about $682,000 in 2021, congressional financial records show.

Thompson has served in Congress since 1993, making him the delegation’s most senior member and one of Congress’ longest-serving members. Thompson chaired the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 riots and is the ranking member on the Committee on Homeland Security.

But NOTUS identified errors in Thompson’s disclosures.

In 2022, the congressman reported earning between $1 million and $5 million on each of two property transactions.
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/hDelw/1/In one of the reported transactions, Thompson disclosed being compensated at least $1 million by Entergy, Mississippi’s preeminent power company, for access to his land in Jackson, Mississippi. But Thompson’s previous and current financial disclosures say that the two plots of land together are worth $50,000 at most.

Yasmine Brown, Thompson’s communications director, told NOTUS that he granted Entergy an easement — the legal right to use his land — and that “the reported dollar amount on the easement granted was an error in the reporting process.” Entergy spokeswoman Leyla Goodsell, with Thompson’s permission, confirmed that the transaction took place and that Thompson was only compensated $2,000.

“This amount was consistent with market values for similar right-of-way needs at that time,” she said.

In the second transaction, Thompson reported selling a plot of land in Mound Bayou, Mississippi — worth $15,000 at most per previous disclosures — to a church for $1 million to $5 million. Land records confirm that Thompson’s spouse transferred ownership of the land to a church in 2022.

Thompson’s office confirmed the discrepancy but did not offer details as to how the error occurred or the actual value of the transaction.

Thompson personally signed and certified the erroneous disclosure.

House ethics disclosures are mandated to promote transparency, increase confidence in government integrity and deter conflicts of interest — members of Congress have a responsibility to ensure the documents are accurate. Thompson’s office did not respond when asked if they had been in contact with the House Ethics Committee to resolve the errors.

Following NOTUS’ inquiries, Thompson filed an amended disclosure with Congress on April 21 which states that both transactions were valued from $1,000 to $15,000.

Thompson owns land throughout the region he represents through BLB Enterprises, a company formed by his spouse to hold rental investment properties. In addition to land ownership, he holds wealth in multiple fixed index annuities purchased in 2023 and 2024, which together make up a significant portion of his reported assets.

When lawmakers fill out their annual financial disclosures, they report the value of their assets and liabilities in ranges, including open-ended ranges such as “over $50,000,000.” As such, it is impossible to pinpoint an exact net worth.

So to estimate members’ net worths, NOTUS used those ranges to calculate the minimum and maximum possible values of their total reported assets and liabilities. NOTUS subtracted each lawmaker’s maximum liabilities from their minimum assets to determine what their net worth could be on the high end, then subtracted minimum liabilities from maximum assets to set the low end. The midpoint between those two numbers is what we’re reporting as each lawmaker’s estimated median net worth.

The data is invaluable but imperfect. Lawmakers, for example, do not have to report the value of their personal residence, vehicles or personal property such as art that does not generate income. They are also allowed to report the value of pensions and intellectual property as “undetermined.” (Read more about how NOTUS calculated net worth and what’s included and not included here.)

Lawmakers are required to report what stocks they own among their assets.

Mississippi’s agrarian economy is reflected in the disclosures of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who reported owning a cattle farm. The Republican senator reported generating between $1,001 and $2,500 from her Brookhaven farm, where she raises cattle and sells beef.

Hyde-Smith’s median net worth is about $932,000. In addition to the value of her farm, her largest asset, she holds individual stock in the telecommunications company CenturyLink — now known as Lumen — with the rest of her wealth in annuities, IRAs and mutual funds.
Cindy Hyde-Smith AP-24088614569860 (6712x4475, AR: 1.50)Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican who first came to Congress as a member of the House in 1994 and is the state’s senior senator, holds individual stocks in Walmart, Merck and Renasant Corp. He has previously faced criticism for his corporate securities ownership in Walmart because the company falls under his jurisdiction on the Senate Commerce Committee.

Wicker reported that stock in the company, held by his spouse, jumped in value, from between $15,001 and $50,000 in the report covering 2019, to between $50,001 and $100,00 in his most recent filing. Wicker, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, reported that his liabilities exceed his assets. Rep. Mike Ezell joins Wicker as the only other lawmaker in the delegation to have a median net worth in the red.
Roger Wicker AP-25247024746200 (4500x3000, AR: 1.50)Rep. Trent Kelly, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, has a median net worth of about $350,000, buoyed by a rental home and his retirement plans.

Mississippi consistently ranks as one of the poorest U.S. states, but it is also among those with the lowest cost of living.

Mississippi is also frequently cited as having severe wealth disparities. Despite its lower-than-average median household income, the state is home to 47,279 millionaire households, or about 4.2% of all households in the state, according to Kipliner.

NOTUS reached out to the offices of Wicker, Hyde-Smith, Kelly, Ezell and Guest, and none responded to requests for comment.

This article has been updated to reflect that Rep. Bennie Thompson filed an amended personal financial disclosure on April 21 in response to NOTUS' questions about apparent errors.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/mississippi/bennie-thompson-fire-synagogue Torrence Banks Thompson said that the synagogue received federal funds for security purposes. Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:50:19 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/mississippi/bennie-thompson-fire-synagogue Rep. Bennie Thompson said that politics could have played a role in the fire set at a synagogue in his district.

“With this kind of vitriol that’s going on in the country, some people take that to heart and try to weaponize it to the point of threatening people, threatening churches, burning synagogues and other things,” Thompson told NOTUS in an interview Monday. “And so we have to be careful. And so that's why, any situation like this is unfortunate.”

Local authorities said that a fire ripped through Beth Israel Congregation, located in Jackson, Mississippi, and was reported at 3 a.m. Saturday. The synagogue’s library and administrative offices were left completely charred, with several Torahs also burned. No one was hurt during the incident.

A suspect, 19-year-old Stephen Spencer Pittman, faces charges in the U.S. Southern District of Mississippi in connection with the fire. Security video obtained from Mississippi Today showed a hooded figure pouring liquid on the wall and couch inside the synagogue’s lobby.

The congregation, founded in 1860 and the largest in the state, was the site of a Ku Klux Klan bombing in 1967. The synagogue sits between Thompson’s and Republican Rep. Michael Guest’s districts, and they both have constituents in the congregation.

Guest told NOTUS in a statement that he was “deeply saddened” by the attack.

“Our community is deeply troubled by this attack, and we have seen a widespread outpouring of support for the Beth Israel congregation. Mississippians will not be intimidated by these actions, and we will continue to support the right of all Americans to worship freely. This type of senseless violence must end.”

Jackson Mayor John A. Horhn did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ request for comment. Horhn posted a comment on Facebook calling the incident “Morally wrong, un-American, and completely incompatible.”

“Acts of antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” Horhn said. “Jackson stands with Beth Israel and the Jewish community, and we’ll do everything we can to support them and hold accountable anyone who tries to spread fear and hate here.”

Thompson, the top ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security, said that this synagogue previously received federal funds, made available from the committee, “to protect houses of worship.”

“There are a number of people who call from all around the country who want to be part of the restoration of the synagogue. And so I think you'll see a lot of movement,” Thompson told NOTUS. “You'll have Protestant Catholic as well as people of the Jewish faith joining hands in support of saying that we're a better country than that.”

Thompson added that he has not yet spoken with Guest about the attack but does believe it’s an issue the two of them will be able to work on together.

“It’s just something that should not have happened,” Thompson said. “Is there something we can do collectively to push back on it? And if there is, what are some of those things?”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/postal-service-mail-in-ballots-change Manuela Silva The change could particularly impact rural, elderly and out-of-state voters, in addition to voters with disabilities. Mon, 12 Jan 2026 20:17:24 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/postal-service-mail-in-ballots-change A change by the U.S. Postal Service could make it harder for voters to return mail-in ballots on time, potentially invalidating ballots in races critical to who controls Congress next year.

In recent months, the postal service has cut back the number of mail pickups from post offices. That means that rural regions more than 50 miles away from regional processing centers now have one pickup a day, as opposed to two. That change means votes across fourteen states, Guam, Puerto Rico, D.C. and the Virgin Islands could no longer be counted if they’re postmarked after Election Day, even if they were mailed that afternoon. And in states with mail-in voting options — including Texas, Nevada and Virginia — the change could play a critical role in the upcoming midterm elections.

“In the voting context, to make this change a few months before a midterm election, and actually very shortly before some of the primary elections for those midterms, is a very curious decision considering the president's assault on free and fair elections in other contexts,” said Dan Vicuña, senior policy director for voting and fair representation at Common Cause.

Rural, elderly, out-of-state voters and voters with disabilities are among those most likely to be affected by reduced pickups, and often voted by mail in the 2024 election.

“It's our job to push this administration to not forget rural voters, to not forget our senior voters. I think about people that might have to drive up to 50 miles to get to a postal post office box or post office building — they don't have the ability,” Illinois Rep. Nikki Budzinski, a Democrat and the co-founder of the Congressional Postal Service Caucus, told NOTUS.

The change is part of the Postal Service “Regional Transportation Optimization” initiative, which is aimed at reducing costs and “improving operational efficiency.” As part of the overhaul, the Postal Service reduced the daily trips it makes to pick up mail from post offices more than 50 miles from regional processing and distribution centers, which is where many postmarks are administered.

The Postal Service told NOTUS in an email that its RTO effort “is based upon a standard rule that applies equally to customers throughout all delivery areas — urban and rural. The majority of mail and package volume, including volume destined to rural communities, originates in ZIP codes within 50 miles of an RPDC. This means that mail and package volume will be processed more quickly, since our operating schedules no longer need to wait for volume to arrive from outlying areas.”

“If voters follow our long-standing recommendations, there should be no concern. For domestic, nonmilitary voters who choose to use the mail to return a completed ballot, our general recommendation is that, as a common-sense measure, they should mail their completed ballot before Election Day, and at least one week before the deadline by which their completed ballot must be received by their local election official,” Cathy K. Purcell, a spokesperson for the USPS, said in the email.

But some rural voter advocates say that when it comes to making sure votes are not only mailed, but postmarked and counted, it’s not going to be that simple. The new policy, they say, could end up disenfranchising thousands.

“This rule is going to make a lot of people not have their ballot counted, and that’s really unfair,” Michael Chameides, policy director for the Rural Democracy Initiative, told NOTUS.

“I want them to feel confident that their vote is going to be counted and they shouldn't be burdened with understanding the complexity of the post office in order to figure out how to make sure that they're getting their ballot in on time,” Chameides said.

The Postal Service has said customers can still walk into the post office and request postmarks there. But some advocates and state officials have pointed out that for many voters, that might not be an accessible option.

“Working people don't have that time, and seniors might not have that ability,” said Budzinski, whose district has a significant rural population.

Donald Kersey, chief of staff for the West Virginia secretary of state, made a similar point. Elderly or out-of-state voters “might not have that luxury” of being able to go to a post office to ask for a postmark, he told NOTUS.

“So even though they may be eligible to vote absentee in West Virginia, they may rely on their delivery person to pick that ballot up the day before the election, in their mailbox from their house, or even on Election Day, and hope that they're good to go, and that may not be the case any longer,” he said. “So our secretary of state's office has to make sure that we're educating the public — we’re doing that now.”

For Tom Lopach, the CEO of the Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information, the changes at USPS are part of broader policy moves making it more difficult to vote.

“In practice, mail was postmarked on date of receipt, and when you slow that down by half or even slow it down by a day, in an environment where legislatures and state governments are tightening the dates around voting activities, an end result will be that eligible Americans will not have their votes counted,” Lopach told NOTUS.

And more upheaval could be coming: The Supreme Court is set to decide this term on the legality of periods that allow for votes to be counted if they are received after Election Day if they have an Election Day postmark.

The case stems from Mississippi’s mail-in ballot law, which was put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law allows ballots to be received and counted by poll workers up to five days after the election, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. In the lawsuit, the Republican National Committee argues that states like Mississippi do not have the right to set voting deadlines.

The court ruling will have an outsized impact on the eight states with all-mail elections, meaning that all registered voters are sent a ballot in the mail they can use to vote.

California, one of the states with all-mail elections, urged voters to return ballots early in last November’s elections, following the USPS changes. The office of the California secretary of state told NOTUS that ahead of future elections, they hoped voters would also take advantage of other avenues for voting.

“Our office will continue to inform voters they have options for voting, including returning their completed and signed vote-by-mail ballots by dropping them off at a secure designated drop box, polling location, vote center, or county elections office, or casting their vote in person,” the office said over email. “We will amplify messaging to voters who plan to submit their completed and signed vote-by-mail ballots through the United States Postal Service to help them understand they need to submit their vote-by-mail ballot early if returning it through the Postal Service.”

In Massachusetts, voters can request mail-in ballots using a vote-by-mail application. Debra O’Malley, the spokesperson for the Massachusetts secretary of state, told NOTUS that the USPS changes concern her the most for out-of-state and rural voters, and communities with more elderly voters.

“We have kind of built in some wiggle room, because we understand that the post office is not perfect, and certainly has been slower in more recent years,” O’Malley said. “So the post office recommends mailing your ballot at least a week before the deadline. We recommend mailing your ballot at least a week before Election Day.”
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/primary-challenge-bennie-thompson Torrence Banks Evan Turnage is challenging the House Democrat, who has served in the chamber since 1993. Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:00:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/primary-challenge-bennie-thompson A former top lawyer for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday that he will challenge longtime Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi for his seat.

Evan Turnage, 33, joins the growing trend of younger Democrats looking to unseat longtime Congress members. They’re jumping into races spanning California, Georgia and Tennessee, arguing that it is time for new leadership in the party.

“We need change right now,” Turnage said in an exclusive interview with NOTUS. “It's no longer enough to just be against Donald Trump, or to say you're a Democrat or Republican. The people want to see a fighter for change right now.”

Turnage said that many members of the House have seen legislation they’ve wrote “sent over to the Senate and die.” He believes one of his biggest advantages if he wins the seat would be the relationships he built in the Senate.

“I'm the only person in this race who can walk right into Senate leadership and let Sen. Schumer know what he should be prioritizing for Mississippi, because I've had that sort of relationship with Chuck for years,” he said.

Turnage said that his main case against Thompson is that his hometown of Jackson, which falls in Thompson’s district, is still in the same state of poverty as it was when Thompson began representing the district  in 1993.

“When I was born, this was the poorest district in the poorest state in the country,” Turnage said. “Benny Thompson was first elected when I was one year old. And today it is still the poorest district in the poorest state in the country. What do we have to show for that?”

Jackson, a majority-Black city, has the highest population in the state but has historically ranked as one of the most impoverished cities in the country.

Thompson, who is best known for his work as chair of the Jan 6th Select Committee, currently serves as the top-ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

In a statement, Thompson expressed confidence in his ability to win the Democratic primary.

"Elections were created to give people the ability to make a choice,” Thompson said. “I am confident that my record on behalf of the people of Mississippi’s Second Congressional District will speak for itself. I will continue to run my campaign the way I always have. I trust the voters of the district to make their choice."

In his 2020 and 2022 primaries, he received more than 90% of the vote. In 2024, Thompson ran unopposed in the primary and easily won the general election.

Turnage, meanwhile, served as senior counsel for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office briefly, from Jan. 2023 to March 2023, before becoming Schumer’s chief counsel. Turnage left Schumer’s office in September 2025, and moved back to Jackson to focus on civic engagement work.

Turnage said that part of his campaign platform will include his “Come Home Agenda,” which will focus on finding ways to keep young people in the state rather than having them move away for college or for a job.

“It boils down to developing a set of federal incentives to keep our young people here in Mississippi, to incentivize them to come back, so that we can actually live productive lives of dignity with our families,” Turnage, who moved away to study in 2010 and returned at age 33, said.

While he is running for a safely Democratic seat, Turnage advises Democrats looking to be competitive in red districts to “start with acknowledging the reality” that Americans face.

“I think a mistake that the Democratic Party made in the last few years was trying to sell a vision of America that just wasn't true,” Turnage said. “People were trying to be told that the economy was doing great, that jobs were up, the stock market was up, that things were on the up and up. But that just did not match people's economic realities.”

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Editor's Note: This story was updated with comment from Rep. Bennie Thompson.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/democrats/mail-in-ballot-case-mississippi-supreme-court Torrence Banks A legal fight over Mississippi’s mail-in ballot deadline is just one of several high-profile voting cases playing out in the courts. Tue, 25 Nov 2025 15:14:48 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/democrats/mail-in-ballot-case-mississippi-supreme-court The future of Mississippi’s mail-in ballots is in the Supreme Court’s hands. Democrats in the state and across the South, who have spent decades fighting the strictest voting laws in the country, are watching very closely, worried this case could trigger more limitations on voting.

The Supreme Court announced this month that it would take up a case centered around Mississippi’s mail-in ballot law. The law, established in 2020 out of concern for an influx of mail-in ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic, currently requires election workers to count mail-in ballots received five days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

In their lawsuit, the Republican National Committee, alongside the state’s Republican and Libertarian parties, are claiming that individual states don’t have the right to set vote counting deadlines — only Congress does.

The case could have national implications. In the South, advocates are particularly concerned that a ruling against Mississippi’s existing law would reel back modest gains made in recent years to create broader ballot access.

“It's going to cost us some close elections in some places, and it's going to make it that much harder to make sure that every vote counts,” Rickey Cole, a Mississippi Democratic political consultant, said of the national impact of the Mississippi law being overturned.

“Anytime there's an effort to restrict the franchise or put up further impediments to the free and fair exercise of the right to vote and the right for their vote to be counted, I think those are solutions looking for a problem,” he added.

Sixteen states, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the District of Columbia allow for states to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked on time.

Mississippi and Texas are the only two Southern states that allow ballots to be received after Election Day, while Louisiana is the only state where mail-in ballots have to be received the day before the election.

Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson told NOTUS that overturning the state's law could affect military and overseas mail-in voting nationwide.

“That means that our men and women overseas, who are defending democracy in strange places. That means that people who are working overseas for whether they're American companies or international companies…that means their ballot in all probability, a certain percentage of them won't be counted,” Thompson said. “We’re a better country than that.”

That’s already the reality in Louisiana, where voting advocates say they are going to fight their state’s law that requires mail-in ballots to be received before Election Day.

“It's all a part of the powers that be to stifle for seniors and those that don't normally be able to get to the polls,” Michael McClanahan, president of the NAACP Louisiana State Conference, told NOTUS about his state’s law. “Those that are going out of the state, out of the country, it’s pure unadulterated voter suppression. And we shouldn’t have it in Louisiana, and we're gonna fight it.”

There have not been any legal challenges to that law yet.

But the case over Mississippi’s mail-in ballots is among several high-profile cases that could show the courts’ willingness to transform voting access in a more conservative direction.

In August, a federal appeals court upheld Texas’ voter ID requirement — a 2021 law that requires voters to provide their driver’s license number or partial Social Security number to vote by mail. In 2022, that law played a significant role in the state rejecting at least 18,000 mail-in ballots in that year’s primary.

In October, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case regarding the use of race in constructing Louisiana’s congressional map. Comments from the conservative justices on the court raised concern among Democrats about the possible gutting of the Voting Rights Act.

“I think people who are engaged in political activism have to play the ball the way it lies, and we'll find ways to adjust,” Cole told NOTUS, suggesting that Democrats and nonprofit organizations may have to create a fund for “expedited delivery” if the law is struck down,

Should the Supreme Court overturn Mississippi’s law, Democrats in the state warn it could trigger a snowball effect for other voting access laws.

“When you get away from the constitutional ability of states to do things that the Constitution gives them, you just don't know where that's going to lead,” said former Mississippi state Rep. Thomas Reynolds, a Democrat. “I mean, the court can do things. But generally, legislation is left to the legislators, rather than the courts ruling for them on particular issues that the Constitution says belong to the states.”

Republicans from the state, however, appear comfortable with a change.

“What I would like to see is that the ballots will be received on Election Day by the close of business Election Day,” Mississippi Republican Rep. Michael Guest told NOTUS. “I think that that would be the best course of action. I'm not sure if that's something that is actually being considered.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/mississippi/thom-tillis-mississippi-judicial-nominees Taylor Vance, Christa Dutton “It’s just a matter of using the leverage people use every day here,” the North Carolina senator said about his effort to get federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe. Wed, 12 Nov 2025 14:48:45 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/mississippi/thom-tillis-mississippi-judicial-nominees A North Carolina senator is holding up Mississippi’s nominations for federal judgeships and U.S. attorneys because he wants Sen. Roger Wicker to help an indigenous group in his state gain federal recognition as a tribe.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis told NOTUS that his block on four Mississippi nominees is due to negotiations with Wicker, Mississippi’s senior senator, over federal recognition of the Lumbee and other issues unrelated to the nominees themselves. Wicker serves as chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has enormous sway over the legislation in which the Lumbee Tribe would be recognized.

“Roger’s one of my favorite people here, and, you know, it’s just a matter of using the leverage people use every day here,” Tillis said.

Wicker’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Mississippi Today.

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The Lumbee is a group of indigenous people in North Carolina that has been seeking federal recognition as a tribe for over a century. But other federally recognized tribes have opposed the effort.

Tillis has been a vocal supporter of federal recognition for the Lumbee. He is not running for reelection in 2026, so next year will be his final opportunity to secure a bipartisan bill for the indigenous people.

President Donald Trump has also supported federal recognition for the Lumbee.

Most of North Carolina’s congressional delegation supports federal recognition of the Lumbee. Language granting them federal recognition was added to the House version of the Pentagon’s annual spending blueprint.

But language about the Lumbee was not included in the Senate’s version of the blueprint.

Tillis also said he is negotiating with Wicker over other issues, but he declined to say what the issues were.

In August, Trump nominated Robert Chamberlin and James Maxwell, both justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court, to vacant federal judgeships in northern Mississippi. Trump in July nominated Scott Leary and Baxter Kruger, his choices for U.S. attorney for the Northern and Southern districts of Mississippi, respectively.

None of the four nominees responded to requests for comment from Mississippi Today. Both Wicker and Mississippi’s other U.S. senator, Cindy Hyde-Smith, support the nominees, though neither is a member of the Judiciary Committee.

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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Mississippi Today.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/health-science/southern-lawmakers-infant-mortality-rates-health-care-cuts Torrence Banks Last month, the Mississippi State Department of Health declared a state of emergency following rising infant mortality rates. Tue, 14 Oct 2025 14:01:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/health-science/southern-lawmakers-infant-mortality-rates-health-care-cuts The infant mortality rate, a stat that tracks deaths of infants before their first birthdays, in many Southern states is higher than average for the U.S. — Mississippi’s health department even declared a state of emergency this year after the rate of infant deaths increased.

Lawmakers and medical experts say that health care spending cuts and restrictions on services could make things worse.

“These are states that historically have struggled both with infant mortality and maternal mortality,” Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock told NOTUS. “Medicaid is part of a safety net that impacts overall health. When that safety net is broken, things like infant mortality are impacted as well as chronic disease.”

Democrats warn that a confluence of factors could lead to fewer people accessing care, potentially with dire consequences. The reconciliation bill that became law this summer cuts $1.1 trillion in Medicaid. Enhanced subsidies in the Affordable Care Act will expire in December, resulting in increased premiums in 2026 for millions if not extended — something Democrats have demanded in exchange for their votes to reopen the government — and potentially lowering the rate of people getting care. The congressional budget office has estimated that by 2034, the number of people left uninsured could increase to 11.8 million.

States in the South would be disproportionately affected if the enhanced ACA subsidies aren’t extended. According to analysis from the Urban Institute, Louisiana would see the steepest decline in subsidized marketplace enrollment in the country.

Many of these states — including Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina — have traditionally had infant mortality rates on the higher end of the spectrum. Nationwide, the infant mortality was 5.61 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2023; in Mississippi, which has the worst rate of infant mortality, the rate was 8.94 deaths per 1,000 live births. That number climbed in 2024 to 9.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Dr. James Bauerband, a retired OBGYN based in Georgia, told NOTUS that the strain that Medicaid cuts have put on rural hospitals could cause the infant mortality rates in Southern states to increase.

“I understand you don't want to have to insure people that could get insurance on their own and want to incentivize getting a job and getting good insurance,” Bauerband said. “But, there has to be the safety nets, and I think that making sure Medicaid is well-funded is something they really ought to do.”

Alison Gemmill, an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently did a study analyzing the impact that the Dobbs Supreme Court case decision had on infant mortality in states and found that there were “higher than expected” mortality rates “in states after adoption of abortion bans.”

She said the Trump administration’s termination of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System could lead to a lower understanding of infant mortality. The monitoring system collected insights from moms before and after giving birth, asking questions regarding alcohol use and stress during pregnancy, among others.

“Those are all things that we can't capture in a birth certificate data source,” Gemmill said. “And that was a really important data for people like me to figure out what's going on with pregnancy health in the nation, in a state over time. And they completely canceled that program.”

“So now it's like we don't even have the data to inform strategies on how to improve rates of pre-term birth infant mortality,” she added.

Democrats believe these reforms have lasting consequences.

“Not enough mamas get prenatal care, partly because of cost, and partly because of access,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. “Finding places that can treat them can be a real challenge. The Medicaid cuts will impact infant mortality, both for the people who are cut out of health care access, and also for people who depend on rural hospitals and community health centers that can't survive the cuts and will close.”

Republicans have also raised concerns about infant mortality rates. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican whose state has more than 60 rural hospitals, told NOTUS that he wants to extend the funding for rural hospitals provided under the law from 2026 to 2030.   

If changes take effect after that time, cuts to Medicaid could cause infant mortality rates to go up, he said.

“I want to make sure that that doesn't happen,” he told NOTUS. “Under the president's reconciliation bill, there's increased funding for rural hospitals now for the next couple of years. … I want to see that extended.”

Some of the Republicans who voted against the reconciliation bill stopped short of saying its Medicaid cuts could affect infant mortality rates.

“We've had an infant mortality rate problem in this country for years,” Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who cited health care as her reason for voting against the reconciliation bill, told NOTUS. “This is not new, and it does warrant research to find out why we also have huge racial disparities in maternal mortality rates.”

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who also voted against the bill, called the country’s infant mortality rate “unacceptably high,” with root causes including poverty and substance abuse. However, he didn’t see the correlation between Medicaid cuts and infant mortality rates.

“I haven't seen any data,” Tillis said. “Maybe some people would say that. But they'd have to be statistically, not politically, motivated to catch my attention. I just haven't studied it.”

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt called on Democrats to support her legislation to help support women during the prenatal, postpartum and early childhood years of pregnancy. Britt told NOTUS that she will continue to work across the aisle to address it.

“That's something we've got to get to the bottom of … find out what is the root cause,” Britt said.

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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Mississippi Today.]]>