On September 8, the Rankin County Democrats hosted a booth at Pelahatchie’s Muscadine Festival. This is the third year the Rankin Dems have participated in the Muscadine Festival, and we had a great time! We registered voters and helped spread the word about our Monthly Breakfasts. Strengthening our party from the roots up means getting out into our communities and interacting with voters, and we had a very successful day.
Here are a few photos of the event:
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Continuing the the opposition to the proposed Mississippi House redistricting plan, the Mississippi Democratic Party 3rd District Executive Committee has spoken out against the plan.
3rd District Executive Committee Letter
Committee chair Dorsey Carson authored the letter on behalf of the committee. Carson, a former candidate for the Mississippi House, discussed not only the gerrymandering and statistical dilution of minority voting strength, but also shares comments made by Redistricting Committee Chair Rep. Bill Denny.
During that campaign, I had many constituents within our House District report to me that Rep. Denny was touting that, through his seniority on the House Redistricting Committee, he would decrease the number of minority voters within our House District… My wife was a witness to this at a garden club meeting where Rep. Denny announced to the group that, if I were elected, “Watkins Drive” (a majority African American area) would become part of our district.
Rep. Denny’s comments make it clear that the dilution of minority voting strength is not merely a coincidental side effect, but a deliberate goal of his proposed map. We agree with Dorsey Carson that “These proposed maps would set Mississippi on a dangerous course of returning to racial polarization”, and encourage all Mississippi voters to stand with us in opposition to these maps.
Following the Rankin County Democrats’ letter to the Department of Justice opposing the proposed Mississippi House redistricting plan, the City of Morton and Rep. Tom Miles (D-75) have decided to speak out in opposition as well.
The city of Morton has asked the Department of Justice to reject the redistricting plan for the Mississippi House of Representatives.
The Scott County Times reports that the board of aldermen acted this past week at the request of state Rep. Tom Miles, a Democrat from Forest.
Miles has protested how the House districts were drawn because it cuts Scott County in half and pushes the district he now represents into Republican suburbs of Rankin County.
A ruling from the Department of Justice on the proposed redistricting plan is expected by mid-September. Again, the Rankin County Democrats encourage all citizens to contact the Department of Justice to oppose the new map.
On July 24, Rankin County Democrats chairman Ryan Brown submitted a letter to the Department of Justice in opposition of the proposed redistricting map drawn by the Mississippi Legislature in 2012.
DOJ Letter from Chairman Ryan Brown
Between the 2000 Census and the 2010 Census, the population of Rankin County, Mississippi, grew by approximately 26,290 persons, or 22%, to a total population of 141,617. Given that the average size of a seat in the Mississippi House of Representatives is approximately 24,322 persons, it is clear that Rankin County should have received a new seat in the House of Representatives situated wholly within the county.
Rankin County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Mississippi, and all of our districts in the proposed map contain significantly more voters than the recommended size. Additionally, the proposed map dilutes minority voting strength in each district, denying minority voters the opportunity for representation.
The proposed map must be approved by the Department of Justice before it can go into effect. The Department of Justice is expected to issue its ruling by mid-September.
In late August, a panel of federal judges threw out Texas’s proposed plan, which was found to excessively dilute minority voting strength.
The Rankin County Democrats encourage all voters in our county to submit letters to the Department of Justice asking them to discard the proposed plan.
