Government of Mississippi facts for kids
.svg)
|
|
| Part of | United States of America |
|---|---|
| Constitution | Constitution of Mississippi |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | Legislature |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Meeting place | Mississippi State Capitol |
| Upper house | |
| Name | Senate |
| Presiding officer | Delbert Hosemann, President |
| Lower house | |
| Name | House of Representatives |
| Presiding officer | Jason White, Speaker |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of State and Government | |
| Title | Governor |
| Currently | Tate Reeves |
| Appointer | Election |
| Cabinet | |
| Leader | Governor |
| Deputy leader | Lieutenant Governor |
| Headquarters | Mississippi State Capitol |
| Judicial branch | |
| Courts | Courts of Mississippi |
| Supreme Court of Mississippi | |
| Chief judge | Michael K. Randolph |
| Seat | Jackson |
The Government of Mississippi is the government of the U.S. state of Mississippi. Power in Mississippi's government is distributed by the state's Constitution between the executive and legislative branches. The state's current governor is Tate Reeves. The Mississippi Legislature consists of the House of Representatives and Senate. Mississippi is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd numbered years (others being Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Virginia). Mississippi holds elections for these offices every four years in the years preceding Presidential election years.
Executive branch
The executive branch of Mississippi state government is composed of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state auditor, state treasurer, commissioner of agriculture and commerce, commissioner of insurance, the three-person Mississippi Public Service Commission, and the three-person Mississippi Transportation Commission. The leaders of these offices are popularly elected to four-year terms. All can be re-elected continuously with the exception of the governor and lieutenant governor, who can only serve two terms consecutively.
The current governor is Tate Reeves, the current lieutenant governor is Delbert Hosemann, the current Secretary of State is Michael Watson, the current Attorney General is Lynn Fitch, the current Auditor is Shad White, the current Treasurer is David McRae, the current Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce is Andy Gipson, and the current Commissioner of Insurance is Mike Chaney. All of these statewide officeholders are Republicans.
Legislative branch
Legislative authority resides in the Mississippi Legislature, which is the state legislature. The Legislature is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives. The lieutenant governor presides over the Senate, while the House of Representatives selects their own Speaker. The state constitution permits the legislature to establish by law the number of senators and representatives, up to a maximum of 52 senators and 122 representatives. Current state law sets the number of senators at 52 and representatives at 122. The term of office for senators and representatives is four years, with no term limits.
Judicial branch
Supreme judicial authority rests with the state Supreme Court, which has statewide authority. In addition, there is a statewide Court of Appeals, as well as Circuit Courts, Chancery Courts and Justice Courts, which have more limited geographical jurisdiction. The nine judges of the Supreme Court are elected from three districts (three judges per district) by the state's citizens in non-partisan elections to eight-year staggered terms. The ten judges of the Court of Appeals are elected from five districts (two judges per district) for eight-year staggered terms. Judges for the smaller courts are elected to four-year terms by the state's citizens who live within that court's jurisdiction.
State politics
During disfranchisement and majority-white dominance of the Democratic Party and state politics, nearly all races were effectively decided in the Democratic primary, from which blacks were excluded by the "white primary" and other voter registration tricks. Although civil rights groups mounted legal challenges, Mississippi's constitution was upheld for some time. From 1877 to 1959, the Republicans fielded a gubernatorial candidate only twice. It was not until after the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 that federal enforcement led to African Americans' being able to register and vote in numbers related to their population in the state. In the first half of the 20th century, many left the oppressive conditions here in the Great Migration to the North and Midwest.
In 1991, Kirk Fordice became the first Republican to win the governorship since the end of Reconstruction. In 1995, Fordice became the first governor to be reelected to a second term since the adoption of the 1890 constitution. Democrat Ronnie Musgrove won a close election over U.S. Congressman Mike Parker to become governor in 1999. Musgrove's term was marked by increased concerns over the state budget and a failed referendum on redesigning the state flag which Musgrove had supported. In 2003, Republican Haley Barbour defeated Musgrove in his bid for reelection. Barbour's governorship was dominated by recovery efforts for Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the state's largest disasters since the 1927 Mississippi River floods.
In 2011, Hattiesburg mayor Johnny DuPree became the first African-American to be nominated as a Democrat for governor. Republican lieutenant governor Phil Bryant went on to defeat DuPree in the general election with 61% of the vote. In doing so, Bryant became the first Republican to succeed an outgoing Republican governor. Bryant was reelected with 67% of the vote in 2015, the highest percentage ever received by a Republican candidate for governor in Mississippi.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, Republicans have done similarly well in other statewide offices. Eddie Briggs became the first Republican lieutenant governor when he was elected alongside Kirk Fordice in 1991. This led to the awkward arrangement where Briggs was able to appoint Republican chairmen to committees in the State Senate despite Democrats holding the majority. He lost reelection in 1995. Republicans won a majority of statewide offices for the first time in 2007. Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood of Houston was the last Democrat in statewide office, when he retired in 2020, Republicans were elected to the attorney general position for the first time since Reconstruction. As a result, 2020 marked the first time since Reconstruction that Republicans held every statewide office in the state.
Despite increasing Republican successes in statewide races beginning in the 1980s, Democrats continued to maintain large advantages in the state legislature into the 21st Century. Democrats held supermajorities in both the State House and State Senate following the 1999 elections. Republicans narrowly captured the State Senate and the State House in 2011. Following the 2015 elections, Republicans captured a supermajority in the State House thanks to party switches but actually lost seats in the State Senate. Since 2011, the Democratic caucuses in the state legislature have become majority African-American.
County government
Mississippi has 82 counties and presents the closest face of government to citizens. Members of the county Boards of Supervisors are elected from single-member districts, and several other county officials, such as sheriff, are elected at-large. At a time when the state was predominately rural, counties were divided into "beats," with each supervisor responsible for road and bridge maintenance in his beat. This arrangement was useful when areas were lightly settled and communication was difficult, but it persisted in most of the state until 1988. The counties serve both legislative and executive functions; the decentralization into beats with few controls on individual supervisors led to problems with wasteful purchasing, inefficient government and, in some cases, corruption. Unitary and centralized county government is considered more efficient for conducting county business.
During the 1980s, some 57 of Mississippi's 410 county supervisors, from 26 of the state's 82 counties, were charged by the federal government with corruption. The FBI had carried out a lengthy investigation and a sting called Operation Pretense to gain evidence in these cases. Reform led to an overhaul of the counties' purchasing systems.
