by Molly Minta, Mississippi Today
May 29, 2025

Jasmine Barnes has been following the headlines about dysfunction in Jackson’s City Hall since college, taking notes on government meeting minutes and financial records. 

The auditor at the Mississippi Department of Transportation had wanted to run for city council for years, but she started seriously considering it after purchasing her first family home in Northpointe, a northeast Jackson neighborhood, in 2019. 

It seemed to her like the city could use her accounting expertise, but she was uncertain if a young Black woman could be a viable candidate in Ward 1, an area long known as Jackson’s “white Republican bastion.”  

“I knew that if you’re gonna run against a white Republican in a ward like this, you’re gonna have to have your A-game,” she said. 

In an attempt to convince Barnes, her campaign manager and friend sent out a poll in late December, asking frequent voters in the ward if they were satisfied with the incumbent Ashby Foote, the founder of a financial services company who was elected to the council in 2014 as a Republican and has not faced a serious challenger since. 

Over half of respondents said they would consider somebody else, Barnes said. 

Now, as Ward 1 residents start voting for the June 3 general election, Barnes and fellow challenger, independent Grace Greene, are creating stiff competition for Foote who is also running as an independent. 

The hotly contested race reflects what political observers and ward residents have known for years now: Northeast Jackson is not quite the “white Republican bastion” it once was. 

In 2024, Ward 1 was recorded as having 1,000 more Black residents than white, a ratio of nearly 50% to 45%, after redistricting prompted by the 2020 census. That same year, the ward voted overwhelmingly for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump during the presidential election.

To be sure, Ward 1 is still the city’s whitest ward, home to influential Republican donors who live in some of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the state. And these voters carry greater weight in municipal races, where turnout is lower, a trend that historically favors the affluent and conservative. In this year’s Democratic primary, Ward 1 recorded the highest voter turnout in the city – 30% versus 23% citywide – leading some pundits to cry Republican interference.

Jackson’s demographics by U.S. Census block group

Hover over each dot to learn more.

Ward 1 is economically diverse, with some of Jackson’s biggest mansions as well as several apartment complexes. 

But many of the ward’s civically engaged residents, regardless of race, political party or the nexis of the two, are united by shared interests, such as preserving property values in an area that has not suffered as much as other parts of the city from population loss, crime or divestment but where there is financially more at stake. 

“I’m gonna go back to: We need help,” Madeline Cannon, a Ward 1 resident for nearly 60 years, said as she was leaving a candidate forum at the Briarwood Presbyterian Church last week. “Right now, I’m looking for a leader. I am a Democrat. I’ve been a Democrat all my life. But we’re just looking for a leader.” 

For residents, their relationships with their council person matters much more, Cannon said, than political party. 

Greene said she recently experienced this firsthand at a meet-and-greet at the Country Club of Jackson hosted by a friend who is involved with the neighborhood association. Greene was prepared for residents to ask her questions about Rodney DePriest, a white businessman who is running as an independent candidate for mayor. 

Instead, Greene said nearly everyone wanted to know if she knew Horhn, who had just secured the Democratic nomination. 

“Then some of the people who were coming up to me, introducing themselves to me were like, ‘We’ve already spoken to John Horhn about this, we’re doing this … or we worked with John for years about this or he’s been supportive about this in the Senate, whatever business or philanthropic thing these people had worked on, and it was very obvious they had good relationships with him and a respect for him,” she said, “and like, in their minds, it was almost settled, even though we had a general election.” 

When Jackson adopted a mayor-council form of government and created the city’s seven wards 40 years ago, Ward 1 voters elected a Democrat. But ever since 1993, when insurance agency president Derwood Boyles stepped down, Ward 1 has been represented by a Republican. 

Political scientist Steve Rozman, a retired Tougaloo College professor who lived in north Jackson for years, has a few possible explanations for why northeast Jackson became and has remained the whitest, wealthiest and most conservative part of the city.

Jackson was developed as a segregated city, and Rozman speculated the city’s desirable land was close to the Pearl River. Indeed, one of Jackson’s most premier neighborhoods, Eastover, was developed in 1949 by Leland Speed Sr., a former mayor of Jackson, on a horse farm on low-lying land near the river. 

“Whites set up on the land that they regarded as best in the area,” he said. “A lot of the Black neighborhoods historically have not been near the Pearl River. With the municipal water system, maybe it was advantageous under more primitive conditions to be near water.” 

As the 20th century wore on, factors like redlining, higher property values and significant opposition from racist white people would have kept Black Jacksonians from purchasing homes in the city’s northeast until the 1990s and 2000s, Rozman said. 

Today, northeast Jackson is home to large apartment complexes near County Line Road and I-55 as well as a growing Hispanic population, a diversity that Barnes said people don’t often acknowledge. Instead, folks still tend to associate northeast Jackson with its tennis courts, private schools and gated neighborhoods. 

“I don’t know if it’s like a perception thing,” she said. 

In reality, the ward’s demographics represent a marked shift from 1992, when Ward 1 was 92% white, according to the Northside Sun. 

Back then, Ward 1 was one of three majority white wards in the city, along with wards 4 and 6 in southwestern Jackson. But by 2000, before the city had even received the final Census tally, Ward 1’s councilperson, Ben Allen, was telling his constituents that would no longer be possible. 

“It would be very difficult for us to get three white wards, unless some fancy gerrymandering goes on,” Allen told the Northside Sun. 

Come 2002, redistricting dropped Ward 1’s white population to 76%, according to newspaper archives. The balance would shift again in 2010, to 55.9% white and 39.7% Black.

With the exception of a few closely contested special elections, the ward has remained a Republican stronghold this century, as Democrats often failed to field any candidates. But when they did, the race could be close: In 2014, Foote was elected by a little over 100 votes against construction attorney Dorsey Carson. It was technically a nonpartisan special election, and Carson, a Democrat, reportedly “strayed from discussing his political affiliation,” while Foote emphasized his conservative values. 

Now the sole Republican on the council, Foote said when it came time for him to participate in drawing new ward lines last year, he didn’t do so with his reelection chances in mind in part because the process did not affect his constituency’s racial balance. 

Of the couple thousand voters that Ward 1 had to give up, Foote said they were about 50-50 Black-white.

Instead, Foote said his goal was to keep the shape and cohesiveness of Ward 1 “in a way that made logical sense and not get gerrymandered into something that looks like a lizard or whatever.”

The distant cousin of author Shelby Foote moved to Jackson in 1980. In 1999, he bought a home with his wife on Calnita Place, close to Jackson Academy — a feature Foote said he didn’t appreciate at the time because his children attended other schools, but has since come to see as protecting his property values. 

Plus, the cul de sac was good for his dog, Skip, a Jack Russell mix. 

“Your dog’s life expectancy goes up,” Foote said jokingly.  

As she has canvassed the ward, Barnes said she’s loved walking through the neighborhoods close to Jackson Academy. 

“I was like, man, this is a really cool community, and I just kind of love that aspect of kids walking by themselves because they feel safe enough to do that,” she said. 

That’s not the only similarity between Democrat and Republican in the Ward 1 race. When Barnes reads news articles about the city, she often ends up finding herself asking the same questions as Foote about financial transparency and accountability. 

“Jackson is in a vulnerable position, but we’re not a vulnerable city,” she said. “We have a lot that we can do internally to build our credibility, build our leverage first, and then we can go out and seek other resources.” 

Foote noted that if he were to lose reelection, the lack of a Republican on Jackson’s city council would not impact the issues of the day. 

“It’s not really about Republican values or Democrat values,” he said. “It’s really about let’s get the roads fixed, let’s make sure we have running water, let’s make sure the garbage is picked up, and let’s make sure we do it in a cost efficient manner.”

At the same time, Foote has touted in campaign materials that he is endorsed by the Hinds County Republican Party. He said his first run for office was financed by a generous donation from Billy Mounger, an architect of the state’s GOP who was good friends with Foote’s father. 

Greene, an entrepreneur who has worked as a doula, an online reseller, and an economic developer in Peru, said she chose to run as an independent so that residents of Ward 1, regardless of their political affiliation, will know she supports them. 

Greene moved to the ward in 2020 with her family after looking at homes in Belhaven, Fondren and LOHO, the neighborhood just outside of Eastover. They landed on a home in Heatherwood in part because it had an attached garage, a feature the older homes in Fondren lack. 

Plus, she wanted to raise her kids, who are enrolled in Jackson Public Schools, in a diverse environment, a decision she has talked about with other white residents during the campaign. 

“There was somebody in the neighborhood who knew me from childhood and he made a comment about the changing demographics of the neighborhood. He said how initially he thought it was going to be a negative thing, but it just turned out to not be a negative thing. I just told him, I said, ‘Well that was a positive to us when we moved here,’” she said during an interview at her office in Highland Village. 

Greene also noted that everyone in the ward is impacted by the city’s actions, regardless of whether they live in an apartment or a gated community. For instance, she said she had two kids in diapers with no trash pick up for 18 days in 2023. 

“That was a leveler across the city, cause no matter where you lived, no one had trash pickup, and we all had to figure out what to do with this,” she said. “And the fact that there was truly, really no explanation to the citizens as to why this was happening? There was no response when we reached out about it.” 

Another leveler? When it’s the state versus Jackson, that includes the Republicans who live here, too. 

Foote shared a story about the controversy surrounding the Smith-Wills Stadium. At one point, frustrated by what he characterized as a lack of transparency from the city administration around a deal to forgive $500,000 in past-due rent from the stadium’s vendor, Foote said he asked Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office for an opinion on whether the vote the council took to do so was legal.

Even though Fitch is a fellow Republican, Foote said her office told him it would be a conflict of interest to opine on his question, since Fitch is representing the state in its fight to take the stadium. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post In Jackson’s 'white Republican bastion,' population changes shape council race appeared first on mississippitoday.org

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This article presents a primarily factual report on the evolving political and demographic landscape of Jackson’s Ward 1 council race. It highlights the shifting racial makeup and political affiliations without overtly endorsing any candidate or ideology. The framing, however, subtly emphasizes the significance of demographic changes and increasing Black voter presence, which often aligns with a center-left perspective focusing on representation and equity. The tone remains balanced by including voices across the political spectrum and stressing practical governance issues over partisan divides. Overall, the coverage leans slightly center-left through its attention to diversity and community impact.

by Mina Corpuz, Mississippi Today
May 28, 2025

Advocates who oppose the death penalty and are organizing to halt further executions in the state stood outside the Mississippi Supreme Court Wednesday to send a message to the justices and the attorney general: Stand down. 

They said Mississippi is headed down a deadly road with the scheduled June 25 execution of 79-year-old Richard Jordan, the state’s oldest and longest-serving death row inmate. In the past several years, Attorney General Lynn Fitch has also asked the court to set execution dates for Willie Manning, Robert Simon and Charles Crawford. 

“These folks on death row are humans, and we can’t continue to be human if we continue to have a fixation on snuffing them out,” said the Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual adviser to death row inmates across the country who has also communicated with those in Mississippi’s death row.

The Arkansas resident has witnessed nine executions since 2022, which is when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they could be allowed into the chamber if the inmate requested it. 

His work is based on meeting the death row inmates where they are and helping members of the public see that executions don’t have to be the answer. He said his faith is centered around the idea of helping “who is ostracized the most” as a way to serve God. 

Hood directly addressed justices of the Mississippi Supreme Court and elected officials like Fitch and Gov. Tate Reeves, saying they can support and approve executions, but they have never had to witness one or carry one out. 

He described the worst execution he witnessed, that of Kenneth Smith in Alabama, who struggled against the restraints and his veins looked like “a million ants under his skin.” That sentence was carried out using nitrogen gas – an execution method Mississippi has allowed if lethal injection is not available. 

For lethal injections, he saw how the drugs flowed in through a line into the person’s body and how their breathing began to labor. Jordan is a lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the drugs used for lethal injection. 

Mitzi Magleby, a Mississippi-based prison reform advocate, began to tear up when she shared how a looming execution weighs heavily on the death row inmates. It’s extremely depressing and it affects their mental health, but she said they try their best to keep their spirits up. 

She said to consider the person Jordan has become since entering prison nearly 50 years ago. He’s held a job for most of that time, he’s stayed out of trouble and has changed for the better. 

“We know his life is worth saving,” she said. 

Abraham Bonowitz, co-founder and executive director of Death Penalty Action, hosted a virtual version of the Wednesday press conference. He noted that Jordan is one of six people who have a scheduled execution in the month of June. 

Bonowitz talked about how Jordan is a Vietnam War veteran with three tours of duty, and with the recent passing of Memorial Day, he asked people to consider the effect of combat. 

Jordan returned from the war and didn’t receive the support and services, which Bonowitz said is an experience of other veterans, some of whom ended up in prison or worse. A 2015 Death Penalty Information Center report estimated that at least 300 veterans were on death row.   

Jordan asked the U.S. Supreme Court in March to hear his case and that petition for writ of certiorari is awaiting a decision. That petition centers around his access to a mental health expert separate from the prosecution to develop and present sentencing mitigation as an indigent defendant, which was established as a constitutional right through the U.S. Supreme Court’s Ake v. Oklahoma decision. 

The petition states he was not diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from his combat service in Vietnam, but instead incorrectly as having antisocial personality disorder. 

Hood said he’s built relationships not just with the death row inmates, but also their families and sometimes the family members of victims. He and Magleby said they consider the impact on families. 

“I think 50 years is torture for any family that’s been through this,” Hood said when asked about the family of Edwina Marter, the victim of Jordan’s crime. 

With death penalty cases, families are put through years worth of appeals and recurring news stories, which isn’t always the case for those sentenced to life without parole, Magley and Hood said. 

Death Penalty Action has started a petition to stop Jordan’s execution, and as of Wednesday it has received 840 signatures. It’s a similar petition that the organization uses to collect signatures for all pending executions, including other death row inmates whose executions have not yet been scheduled. 

Bonowitz said the plan is to deliver signatures of the petition to the governor and the organization is encouraging people to call his office asking for him to halt the execution. 

Members of churches and community groups can also take action by ringing bells at the time of the scheduled execution, which is through a project called For Whom the Bells Tolls. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Advocates for death row inmates challenge 'fixation with snuffing them out' appeared first on mississippitoday.org

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This article presents a perspective that is sympathetic to death row inmates and critical of the use of the death penalty, emphasizing humanizing narratives and concerns about mental health, veteran status, and lengthy incarceration. The tone and framing suggest an ideological leaning that questions capital punishment and advocates for prison reform, which aligns with a Center-Left viewpoint. However, the article mainly reports on the advocates’ positions and activities without overtly attacking opposing views or government officials, maintaining a largely factual and respectful presentation. The focus on reform and human rights influences the overall left-leaning tone.