Gov. Tate Reeves has set the dates for four special elections in Mississippi this year.
Three of the four elections will be held to fill vacancies in the state legislature, while the other will occur to fill the tax collector’s seat in Pearl River County.
The special elections for Senate District 24 (Leflore, Panola, and Tallahatchie counties), Senate District 26 (Hinds and Madison counties), and House District 26 (Bolivar, Coahoma, and Sunflower counties) will be held on Nov. 4. The qualifying deadline for these elections is Aug. 21.
Senate District 24 was occupied by David Jordan, a Democrat who announced his retirement after 33 years helping guide policy in the state capitol. Senate District 26 will need a new officeholder after longtime occupant John Horhn unseated Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and became the top official in the capital city. House District 26 was occupied by Orlando Paden, who became the mayor of Clarksdale.
The special election for tax collector in Pearl River County will also be held on Nov. 4. This special election will be conducted only in the Picayune Southside 1 and Picayune 2 precincts. The results will be added to the totals from the county’s other 25 precincts.
This comes after a circuit judge ruled in December 2023 that two votes were illegally cast in a runoff election that found Sandy Kane Smith losing to Jo Lynn Houston by just three votes. In the meantime, Gary Beech has acted as the county’s tax collector.
