State Sen. Jenifer Branning wins a Mississippi Supreme Court seat
State Sen. Jenifer Branning has won a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court, defeating Justice Jim Kitchens
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.State Sen. Jenifer Branning has won a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court, defeating Justice Jim Kitchens.
The Associated Press on Friday declared the race for Branning as counties reported official results from the Nov. 26 runoff election.
Kitchens and Branning advanced to the runoff as leaders among five candidates in the Nov. 5 general election. They ran in District 1, also known as the Central District, which stretches from the Delta region through the Jackson metro area and over to the Alabama border.
Mississippi judicial candidates run without party labels. But Democratic areas largely supported Kitchens, and Republican ones supported Branning.
Branning was endorsed by the state Republican Party. She calls herself a “constitutional conservative” and says she opposes “liberal, activists judges” and “the radical left.”
Kitchens was seeking a third term and is the more senior of the court’s two presiding justices, which had put him next in line to serve as chief justice. He was endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Action Fund, which calls itself “a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond.”
In September, Kitchens sided with a man on death row for a murder conviction in which a key witness recanted her testimony. In 2018, Kitchens dissented in a pair of death row cases dealing with the use of the drug midazolam in state executions.