McLendon to propose redistricting map to keep Hernando in one district
Hernando voters and city officials are concerned a redistricting proposal will divide their voice in the state Senate. The current state Senator representing them is working to not have that happen.
In the Senate Rules Committee is Joint Resolution 201, which would redraw 12 Senate districts in Mississippi, including Senate Districts 1, 2, and 19. Those are the districts currently represented by Sen. Michael McLendon (R-Hernando), Sen. Dr. David Parker (R-Olive Branch) and Sen. Kevin Blackwell (R-Southaven).
The redistricting is in response to the U.S. District Court decision in July 2024 that ordered the State Election Commissioners to redraw 2022 state legislative maps.
What concerns Hernando voters is that the proposed redistricting under the resolution would divide the city into different Senate districts in the effort to form a majority minority district, a requirement of the court ruling.
DeSoto County precincts that would be placed in a new District 1 would be: part of Endora, Hernando Central, part of Hernando East, Hernando West, and part of Nesbit West.
Another part of the Hernando East precinct would be moved into a new District 19.
Dividing the Hernando precincts currently represented solely by state Sen. Michael McLendon has Hernando aldermen concerned. The board, as part of its consent agenda at its last meeting, passed a resolution opposing any State redistricting plan that splits the voting precincts of Hernando West, Central, and East.
Aldermen Chad Wicker and Ben Piper discussed the issue during the most recent The Boardroom podcast, which was posted after the Board of Aldermen meeting. (Discussion starts at approximately 6:00 into the podcast)
”We would like to see those three precincts stay together, so that whoever the senator is in the future, they need to know the vast majority of Hernando needs to be spoken for,” Piper said. “I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request to keep Hernando whole.”
“They know our position,” Wicker added, saying that copies of the Hernando resolution were placed by McLendon on each senator’s desk and to Lt. Delbert Hosemann.
Wednesday, McLendon told DeSoto County News he is ready to offer an amendment map that would keep Hernando intact. The Republican said he had been shown maps four times previously that he objected to, so he went ahead and drafted his own proposal, noting he helped redraw Hernando precinct maps when he was an alderman.
McLendon said his plan would save money because it would keep seven counties from holding special elections as the court ruling requires, elections that would add an additional cost.
“My amendment map has only four senators running, none of the four paired to run against each other, and it keeps seven counties from having to hold elections which could average $100,000 per county, for a total of $700,000,” McLendon said. “It keeps the city of Hernando together in one district as well as the surrounding communities. It also satisfies the requirements of the lawsuit that the NAACP and the ACLU filed that requires DeSoto County to have two minority majority State Senate districts.”
As of Wednesday, no finalized plan had been shown from Senate leadership to other senators or made public, McLendon said. He said his amendment map will be offered if the map leaving committee “is not satisfactory for the best interest of the citizens of DeSoto County and District 1.”
