Mississippi Democrats won two closely watched special elections for State Senate on Tuesday, according to unofficial results and Republican and Democratic officials, breaking the Republican supermajority and bringing more Black voices to Jackson, the state capital .
The special elections — which were held in an off year, when no statewide races were on the ballot — were forced by court-ordered redistricting to give Black voters more representation in state government.
The Democrats’ gains may barely make a difference in their power, since Republicans control the governor’s office and both chambers of the legislature. Still, they might boost the party’s efforts to rebuild in the South at a time when the Supreme Court seems poised to roll back a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that allows lawmakers to use race as a factor in drawing voting maps, creating districts where racial and ethnic minorities are a voting majority.
Those so-called majority-minority districts, in state legislatures and in Congress have practically been the only ones held by Democrats in the South.
On Tuesday, Democrats claimed victory in a newly drawn Senate district anchored by the city of Hattiesburg. Johnny DuPree, a former Democratic nominee for governor and former four-term Hattiesburg mayor, defeated Anna Rush, a Republican lawyer.
Democrats also claimed victory in a new Senate district in a suburban district just south of Memphis. Theresa Gillespie Isom, a retired nurse, bested Charlie Hoots, a local Republican alderman.
Both Democrats are Black. Both Republicans are white.
In a statement, Mike Hurst, chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party, called the Democrats’ victories “disappointing, but not totally unexpected, as Republicans were the underdogs in these gerrymandered districts.” He added that the party would be “redoubling our efforts to learn from these races and come back even stronger.”
As a result, Republicans now hold a 34-18 advantage in the Senate — just shy of the two-thirds necessary for a supermajority. (Democrats also appeared to flip a House seat in a district that was also redrawn to give Black voters more say.)
Mississippi’s N.A.A.C.P. chapter sued the state in 2022, arguing that state officials had illegally diluted the strength of Black residents, who make up almost 40 percent of the population, the highest percentage in the country.
In April, a three-member panel of federal judges, all appointed by former President George W. Bush, unanimously agreed. They ordered the legislature to redraw the maps and then hold special elections.
David W. Chen is a Times reporter focused on state legislatures, state level policymaking and the political forces behind them.
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