2023 Mississippi State Senate election explained

Election Name:	2023 Mississippi State Senate election
Country:	Mississippi
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2019 Mississippi State Senate election
Previous Year:	2019
Election Date:	November 7, 2023
Next Election:	2027 Mississippi State Senate election
Next Year:	2027
Seats For Election:	All 52 seats in the Mississippi State Senate
Majority Seats:	27
Leader1:	Dean Kirby
Party1:	Mississippi Republican Party
Leader Since1:	January 7, 2020
Leaders Seat1:	30th district
Seats Before1:	36
Seats1:	36
Leader2:	Derrick Simmons
Party2:	Mississippi Democratic Party
Leader Since2:	July 31, 2017
Leaders Seat2:	12th district
Seats Before2:	16
Seats2:	16
Map Size:	250px
President
Before Election:	Delbert Hosemann
Before Party:	Mississippi Republican Party
After Party:	Mississippi Republican Party

The 2023 Mississippi State Senate election was held on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, to elect all 52 members of the Mississippi State Senate to four-year terms. It was held concurrently with elections for all statewide offices and the Mississippi House of Representatives. Primary elections took place on August 8.^[1]

Background

In the 2019 Mississippi Legislature elections, Republicans expanded their majorities in both chambers to 75 in the House and 36 in the Senate.^{[2] [3]} Going into the 2023 elections, Republicans held a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate, though not in the House.

The 2023 election was the first election held under new district maps following redistricting as a result of the 2020 census.^[4]

Retirements

Five incumbents did not seek re-election.^[5]

Democrats

1. District 11: Robert L. Jackson retired.
2. District 21: Barbara Blackmon retired.

Republicans

1. District 35: Chris Caughman retired.
2. District 37: Melanie Sojourner retired.
3. District 42: Chris McDaniel retired to run for lieutenant governor.

Incumbents defeated

In primary election

One incumbent senator, a Republican, was defeated in the August 8 primary election.^[6]

Republicans

1. District 46: Philip Moran lost renomination to Philman A. Ladner.

In general election

One incumbent senator, an independent, was defeated in the November 7 general election.^[7]

Independents

1. District 38: Kelvin Butler lost re-election to Gary Brumfield.

Overview

↓

36	16
Republican	Democratic

Of the 52 seats up for election, 39 had a single candidate running for office. Of these, 12 only had a Democrat running while the remaining 27 only had a Republican running. The remaining 13 were contested by combinations of Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and Independent candidates.^[8]

Parties	Candidates	Votes	Seats
align=center		align=center	%	align=center	Before	align=center	After	align=center	+/-
	Republican	align=right	40	align=right		align=right		align=right	36	align=right	36	align=right
	Democratic	align=right	20	align=right		align=right		align=right	16	align=right	16	align=right
	Independent	align=right	5	align=right		align=right		align=right	0	align=right	0	align=right
	Libertarian	align=right	5	align=right		align=right		align=right	0	align=right	0	align=right
	Green	align=right	1	align=right		align=right		align=right	0	align=right	0	align=right
	Write-ins	align=right	–	align=right		align=right		align=right	0	align=right	0	align=right
align=center colspan="2"	Total	align=center	72	align=center		align=center	100.00%	align=center	52	align=center	52	align=center

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
align=left	270toWin^[9]		November 2, 2023
align=left	Elections Daily^[10]		November 2, 2023

Results by district

District	^[11]	Incumbent				Candidates^[12]	Result
		Member	Party	First elected	Running
1		Michael McLendon		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Michael McLendon (Republican)		Republican hold
2		David Parker		Republican	2012	Yes	nowrap	David Parker (Republican) 56.62% Pam McKelvy (Democratic) 43.38%		Republican hold
3		Kathy Chism		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Kathy Chism (Republican)		Republican hold
4		Rita Potts Parks		Republican	2011	Yes	nowrap	Rita Potts Parks (Republican) 76.66% Jon Newcomb (independent) 23.34%		Republican hold
5		Daniel Sparks		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Daniel Sparks (Republican)		Republican hold
6		Chad McMahan		Republican	2015	Yes	nowrap	Chad McMahan (Republican)		Republican hold
7		Hob Bryan		Democratic	1983	Yes	nowrap	Hob Bryan (Democratic) 54.89% Robert Mitchell (Republican) 43.35% Lesley Smith (Libertarian) 1.76%		Democratic hold
8		Benjamin Suber		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Benjamin Suber (Republican)		Republican hold
9		Nicole Akins Boyd		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Nicole Akins Boyd (Republican)		Republican hold
10		Neil Whaley		Republican	2017	Yes	nowrap	Neil Whaley (Republican) 60.8% Andre DeBerry (Democratic) 39.2%		Republican hold
11				Democratic	2003	No	nowrap	Reginald Jackson (Democratic)		Democratic hold
12		Derrick Simmons		Democratic	2011	Yes	nowrap	Derrick Simmons (Democratic)		Democratic hold
13		Sarita Simmons		Democratic	2019	Yes	nowrap	Sarita Simmons (Democratic)		Democratic hold
14		Lydia Chassaniol		Republican	2007	Yes	nowrap	Lydia Chassaniol (Republican)		Republican hold
15		Bart Williams		Republican	2020	Yes	nowrap	Bart Williams (Republican)		Republican hold
16		Angela Turner-Ford		Democratic	2013	Yes	nowrap	Angela Turner-Ford (Democratic)		Democratic hold
17		Charles Younger		Republican	2014	Yes	nowrap	Charles Younger (Republican)		Republican hold
18		Jenifer Branning		Republican	2015	Yes	nowrap	Jenifer Branning (Republican)		Republican hold
19		Kevin Blackwell		Republican	2015	Yes	nowrap	Kevin Blackwell (Republican) 65.71% Sandy Kerr (Democratic) 34.29%		Republican hold
20		Josh Harkins		Republican	2011	Yes	nowrap	Josh Harkins (Republican)		Republican hold
21		Barbara Blackmon		Democratic	2015	No	nowrap	Bradford Blackmon (Democratic)		Democratic hold
22		Joseph C. Thomas		Democratic	2019	Yes	nowrap	Joseph C. Thomas (Democratic) 57.58% Chastity May Magyar (Republican) 42.42%		Democratic hold
23		Briggs Hopson		Republican	2007	Yes	nowrap	Briggs Hopson (Republican)		Republican hold
24		David Lee Jordan		Democratic	1993	Yes	nowrap	David Lee Jordan (Democratic) 53.90% Marty Evans Jr. (Republican) 35.05% Curressia M. Brown (independent) 11.05%		Democratic hold
25		J. Walter Michel		Republican	2016	Yes	nowrap	J. Walter Michel (Republican)		Republican hold
26		John Horhn		Democratic	1993	Yes	nowrap	John Horhn (Democratic)		Democratic hold
27		Hillman Terome Frazier		Democratic	1993	Yes	nowrap	Hillman Terome Frazier (Democratic)		Democratic hold
28		Sollie Norwood		Democratic	2013	Yes	nowrap	Sollie Norwood (Democratic)		Democratic hold
29		David Blount		Democratic	2007	Yes	nowrap	David Blount (Democratic) 77.7% Michael Carson (Republican) 22.3%		Democratic hold
30		Dean Kirby		Republican	1991	Yes	nowrap	Dean Kirby (Republican)		Republican hold
31		Tyler McCaughn		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Tyler McCaughn (Republican)		Republican hold
32		Rod Hickman		Democratic	2021	Yes	nowrap	Rod Hickman (Democratic)		Democratic hold
33		Jeff Tate		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Jeff Tate (Republican)		Republican hold
34		Juan Barnett		Democratic	2015	Yes	nowrap	Juan Barnett (Democratic)		Democratic hold
35		Chris Caughman		Republican	2015	No	nowrap	Andy Berry (Republican)		Republican hold
36		None (new seat)				nowrap	Brian Rhodes (Republican)		Republican gain
37	Albert Butler		Democratic	2010	Yes	Albert Butler (Democratic)		Democratic hold
	Melanie Sojourner		Republican	2019	No		Republican loss
38		Kelvin Butler		Independent	2021	Yes	nowrap	Gary Brumfield (Democratic) 50.50% Kelvin Butler (independent) 39.21% Willye R. Powell (independent) 7.75% Trischell LaRice Veal (Libertarian) 2.53%		Democratic gain
39		Jason Barrett		Republican	2020	Yes	nowrap	Jason Barrett (Republican)		Republican hold
40		Angela Burks Hill		Republican	2011	Yes	nowrap	Angela Burks Hill (Republican) 80.81% Thomas Lehr (Democratic) 19.19%		Republican hold
41		Joey Fillingane		Republican	2007	Yes	nowrap	Joey Fillingane (Republican)		Republican hold
42		Chris McDaniel		Republican	2007	No	nowrap	Robin Robinson (Republican)		Republican hold
43		Dennis DeBar		Republican	2015	Yes	nowrap	Dennis DeBar (Republican)		Republican hold
44		John A. Polk		Republican	2011	Yes	nowrap	John A. Polk (Republican)		Republican hold
45		Chris Johnson		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Chris Johnson (Republican)		Republican hold
46		Philip Moran		Republican	2011	Lost renomination	nowrap	Philman A. Ladner (Republican)		Republican hold
47		Mike Seymour		Republican	2015	Yes	nowrap	Mike Seymour (Republican) 86.09% George "Tony" Uram (independent) 13.91%		Republican hold
48		Mike Thompson		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Mike Thompson (Republican) 71.1% Mathew Adams (Libertarian) 28.9%		Republican hold
49		Joel Carter		Republican	2017	Yes	nowrap	Joel Carter (Republican) 69.91% Glen A. Lewis (Libertarian) 30.09%		Republican hold
50		Scott DeLano		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Scott DeLano (Republican)		Republican hold
51		Jeremy England		Republican	2019	Yes	nowrap	Jeremy England (Republican) 75.9% Lynn M. Bowker (Libertarian) 13.8% Artis R. Burney (Green) 10.3%		Republican hold
52		Brice Wiggins		Republican	2011	Yes	nowrap	Brice Wiggins (Republican)		Republican hold

See also

• 2023 United States state legislative elections
• 2023 Mississippi House of Representatives election

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2023 Elections Calendar. December 28, 2022. Mississippi Secretary of State. February 1, 2023.
2. Web site: Mississippi House of Representatives elections, 2019. Ballotpedia. July 4, 2023.
3. Web site: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2019. Ballotpedia. July 4, 2023.
4. Web site: Redistricting in Mississippi after the 2020 census . February 1, 2023. . en.
5. Web site: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2023. Ballotpedia. August 13, 2023.
6. News: Legislative elections: Jason White on path for speakership, first Black Republican elected since 1800s, few incumbents lose . August 9, 2023. August 13, 2023. Harrison. Bobby. Mississippi Today.
7. News: Brumfield Wins Senate Race. November 8, 2023. Enterprise-Journal. December 17, 2023.
8. Web site: 2023 General Election Results. November 7, 2023. March 15, 2024.
9. Web site: 2023–24 State House Elections Map. October 20, 2022. September 6, 2023.
10. Web site: Election Ratings. November 2, 2023. November 2, 2023.
11. Web site: MS 2022 State Senate. Dave's Redistricting. February 2, 2023.
12. Web site: 2023 Candidate Qualifying List. June 20, 2023. Mississippi Secretary of State. June 23, 2023.