Thursday’s plan was approved by a joint redistricting commission made up of Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, Republican Lt. Governor and other legislators. Delbert Hosemann. The Senate will likely take up the House plan next week. It will be sent to the Governor if it passes. Tate Reeves can either sign it into law, or veto it. Republicans have a supermajority both in the House and Senate. This means they can pass key legislation such as redrawn districts and other legislation without needing a single Democratic vote. House Democrats opposed the plan and said that it created a larger district than incumbent 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, or anyone, could adequately represent. The proposed district would shift a large part of southwest Mississippi from 3rd to the 2nd District. The House Democratic Leader from Natchez, Rep. Robert Johnson offered an alternative plan. This plan would have moved all the Hinds County, as well as a small portion of southern Madison County, from the 3rd District to the 2nd, but would have left Southwest Mississippi in the 3rd. Johnson and the Democrats offered an alternative plan but it was rejected by party lines. The Republican leadership offered a plan that was approved by party lines. (The story continues below the proposed map. You can find the current map of the state’s congressional districts at bottom of this story. Johnson stated that the Republican leadership’s plan “certainly” is not compact. It covers nearly half of the state’s land mass and is nearly 300 miles in length. It’s almost impossible for one congressman in the district to represent it.” The district covers 40 of the state’s 82 counties, and 40% of the state’s land mass. Jason White, R-West, House Pro Tem, is on the Redistricting Committee. He presented the proposal to Congress. White said that redrawing congressional districts was more difficult due to the loss of 65,000 residents in the 2nd District. This district includes most of Delta and parts of the Jackson metropolitan area. All three other districts saw slight population growths, with the exception of the 4th District, which includes parts of the Gulf Coast, increasing at almost 5%. White stated that Johnson’s plan split Madison County, which White did not want. White, on the other hand, said that it was sensible to split Hinds because it is the largest county in the state and home to Jackson, which is also the capital of the state. White stated that he believes it was good for Jackson and Hinds County to have two different representatives. Johnson stated that Guest is not representing Jackson and Hinds County’s interests since he voted against bills providing funds for the capital city’s infrastructure needs. White said it was sensible to include southwest Mississippi in the 2nd District. This is because there are “communities of interests” along the Mississippi River, which is one of the mandates of the courts when drawing districts. Johnson countered that southwest Mississippi, where Johnson lives, is dependent on oil, timber, and cattle, and the 3rd District was comprised of areas in metro Hinds County, the soybean, cotton crops, and other crops from the Delta. READ MORE: Redistricting Committee allegedly violated public meetings laws. Thompson, the only Democratic and Black congressman in Mississippi, had supported moving all of Hinds to his 2nd District. The move was opposed by Guest from the 3rd district. Johnson’s plan is almost identical to the one proposed by the NAACP state chapter. Both the House Republican leadership’s plan and Johnson’s plan maintained the 2nd District, which has an African American population greater than 60%. Federal law currently prohibits the reduction of the African American population. The House approved the plan to move Adams, Amite and Franklin counties from southwest Mississippi to District 2. DeSoto is a Republican-heavy suburb in Memphis, northwest Mississippi that is not included in the District 2 plan. To adhere to the population shifts determined by the decennial census (based on both state and federal laws), the state must redistrict every ten years. The Legislature could not agree on a U.S House redistricting strategy after the 2010 and 2000 censuses. Federal courts were left to draw the districts. The leaders of the legislative branch have pledged to prevent that from happening this year. Redistricting is the first piece to be addressed in the 2022 session, which met earlier this week. Because elections are scheduled later in the year, and candidates have until March 1st to apply for congressional seats, the reason why the congressional plan must be acted on immediately. Since their elections are not until 2023, legislators will likely adopt a plan for redrawing their 174 House and Senate district later in the session.