A runoff election for the state Supreme Court in Mississippi between state Sen. Jenifer Branning and incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens remains undecided as of Wednesday morning. Although Mississippi judicial candidates run without party labels, Branning had the endorsement of the Republican Party, while Kitchens had support from several Democratic Party donors but did not receive an official party endorsement. Branning, a state senator since 2016, currently leads Kitchens by 2,678 votes out of 120,610 votes counted as of Wednesday morning, a significant shift from her initial 518 vote lead just after midnight on Wednesday.
The outcome of the election is still uncertain, with more than 11,000 votes estimated to be yet to be counted by The Associated Press around midnight on Wednesday. In the initial Nov. 5 election, only 7% of votes were counted after election night. The runoff election results will likely be determined by the remaining absentee ballots that can be counted for five days following the election in Mississippi, as well as the affidavit ballots.
Branning and Kitchens are competing in District 1, also known as the Central District, which spans from the Delta region through the Jackson metro area to the Alabama border. Branning refers to herself as a “constitutional conservative” and opposes “liberal, activist judges” and “the radical left.” She has not held a judicial office before but has experience as a special prosecutor in Neshoba County and as a staff attorney in the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Division of Business Services and Regulations. Branning voted against changing the state flag to remove the Confederate battle emblem and supported mandatory and increased minimum sentences for crimes.
On the other hand, Kitchens has been practicing law for 41 years and has served on the Mississippi Supreme Court since 2008, previously working as a district attorney. He is endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Action Fund and supported by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. In past cases, Kitchens has taken a stance in favor of justice, including siding with a man on death row for a murder conviction after a key witness recanted her testimony.
In a separate runoff election in Mississippi, Amy St. Pe’ won an open seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals, succeeding Judge Joel Smith in the southeastern corner of the state, including the Gulf Coast. As the runoff election results continue to unfold, the future of the state Supreme Court and the Mississippi Court of Appeals remains in the balance.
