Mississippi Today
New faces emerge as winners in sheriffs and DA races

Over 20 new sheriffs and three new district attorneys are expected to take office next year following last week’s primary elections, and that number could grow after runoff elections later this month and the November general election.
There are at least a dozen runoff sheriff elections scheduled for Aug. 29, according to a review of unofficial election results, and a dozen sheriff incumbents who ran without opponents who will face a challenger on Nov 7.
About half of the state’s incumbent sheriffs faced no challengers and are expected to be the only name on the ballot in the general election. The same is true for most of the state’s district attorneys and coroners.
Here is a look at wins and losses from the primary elections and what is to come for the runoffs and general election.
Sheriffs
Clay County: Sheriff Eddie Scott won the Democratic primary against challengers Chief Deputy Sheriff Ramirez Williams and law enforcement officer Cedric Sykes with 51% of the vote, according to unofficial election results.
Scott was the subject of a July investigation by Mississippi Today and the New York Times that details accusations that he used his office’s power to harass women who were detained at the jail or worked for the sheriff’s office, coerce some into sex and retaliate against those who alleged abuse or criticsized him.
In an interview with Mississippi Today, Scott denied the allegations.
Last month, he said he would be vindicated and that voters would see through the allegations to re-elect him.
DeSoto County: Thomas Tuggle will become the county’s first Black sheriff since Reconstruction. He ran against County Supervisor Michael Lee in the GOP primary to replace Sheriff Bill Rasco, who will retire after 15 years.
Tuggle, a Republican, is a Marine Corps veteran and worked in local and state law enforcement, including as director of the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officer Training Academy. Lee is also a former law enforcement officer.
Hinds County: Incumbent Tyree Jones won about 70% of the vote in a second faceoff against former interim sheriff Marshand Crisler, who is under federal indictment on bribery charges.
Jones will face Independent candidate Reginald Thompson, who has worked for the sheriff’s office and the Bolton Police Department.
Lauderdale County: Chief Deputy Sheriff Ward Calhoun and Lauderdale County Justice Court Judge Ricky Roberts faced off in the GOP primary to succeed longtime Sheriff William “Billy” Sollie.
Calhoun will face Gerald Reon Johnson, a Democrat who has worked as an auxiliary officer with the Meridian Police Department and operated a private security agency.
District Attorney
5th Circuit Court District: Assistant District Attorney William Adam Hopper won the GOP primary against fellow ADA Rosaline Jordan.
Instead of waiting until January to take office, Hopper will step into the role this week after Gov. Tate Reeves appointed him to serve the remainder of Doug Evans’ term.
Evans retired in June instead of finishing out his term. He ran for 5th Circuit Court judge last year, but lost in a runoff election to then-Winona Municipal Court Judge Alan “Devo” Lancaster.
Hopper worked with Evans on the Curtis Flowers case. Flowers faced six prosecutions by Evans and his team of assistant district attorneys for the 1997 killings of four people at the Tardy Furniture Store in Winona. Four of those convictions included the death penalty, but they were overturned by state and federal courts.
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Flowers’ conviction, saying Evans barred Black jurors in the case. A year later the state dropped charges against Flowers after he spent 23 years in prison.
6th Circuit Court District (Adams, Amite, Franklin and Wilkinson counties): Incumbent District Attorney Shameca Collins is seeking a second term, and will face Independent Tim Cotton, a Natchez attorney, in the general election.

7th Circuit Court District (Hinds County): Incumbent Jody Owens, also seeking a second term, will face a challenge from Independent Darla Palmer in November. Owens faced off against the Jackson attorney in the 2019 Democratic primary.
14th Circuit Court District (Lincoln, Pike and Walthall counties): Democrat Patrick Beasley and Republican Brandon Adams are seeking to succeed District Attorney Dewitt “Dee Bates,” who has been in office since 2003.
16th Circuit Court District (Clay, Oktibbeha, Lowndes and Noxubee counties): Assistant District Attorney J. Douglas “Jase” Dalrymple II won the GOP primary against ADA Chuck Easley. The current incumbent district attorney, Scott Colom, was the only candidate listed on the democratic primary ballot and will face Dalrymple in November.
Colom was nominated last year for a judgeship with the U.S. District Court of Northern Mississippi, but that confirmation has been held up by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
23rd Circuit Court District: This is the first elected, full term for a district attorney to represent DeSoto County, which was made into its own judicial district earlier this year.
Special prosecutor and private attorney Matthew Barton beat Robert ‘Bob’ Reid Morris III in the GOP primary with about 60% of the vote, according to unofficial results.
Gov. Reeves appointed then-assistant district attorney Morris to become district attorney
in September after the death of John Champion and prior to DeSoto becoming its own judicial district.
Barton said most of DeSoto’s crime problems are because of Memphis and he said the office would bring harsher penalties for people from there who commit crimes in the county, according to his campaign website.
“Stop Memphis. Save Desoto” he said in a post announcing his primary win.
Lauderdale County Coroner: For the first time in decades, the country won’t have a coroner with the last name “Cobler.” Clayton Cobler is the current coroner, and his father, Marl Cobler, also served in that role before him. Clayon Cobler has served for 20 years in that position; his father for 24.
Two GOP candidates, Stella McMahan and Kenneth Graham, are headed to a runoff, local media reported from unofficial election results. The winner will face Democrat Rita Jackson in the general election.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=277076
Mississippi Today
1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed
April 26, 1964

Civil rights activists started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white regular delegation to the Democratic National Convention.
The regulars had already adopted this resolution: “We oppose, condemn and deplore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … We believe in separation of the races in all phases of our society. It is our belief that the separation of the races is necessary for the peace and tranquility of all the people of Mississippi, and the continuing good relationship which has existed over the years.”
In reality, Black Mississippians had been victims of intimidation, harassment and violence for daring to try and vote as well as laws passed to disenfranchise them. As a result, by 1964, only 6% of Black Mississippians were permitted to vote. A year earlier, activists had run a mock election in which thousands of Black Mississippians showed they would vote if given an opportunity.
In August 1964, the Freedom Party decided to challenge the all-white delegation, saying they had been illegally elected in a segregated process and had no intention of supporting President Lyndon B. Johnson in the November election.
The prediction proved true, with white Mississippi Democrats overwhelmingly supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. While the activists fell short of replacing the regulars, their courageous stand led to changes in both parties.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday
Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.
“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”
The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.



“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”
The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.
“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”
NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.




This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says
Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed.
They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them.
Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother.
“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.”
Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023.
Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board.
The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition.
A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities.
Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board.
In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties.
The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more.
From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths.
“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said.
Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.
A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents.
Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed.
In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.
Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records.
Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson.
Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.
He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media.
Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary.
Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents.
At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.
“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed6 days ago
Jim talks with Rep. Robert Andrade about his investigation into the Hope Florida Foundation
-
News from the South - Alabama News Feed5 days ago
Prayer Vigil Held for Ronald Dumas Jr., Family Continues to Pray for His Return | April 21, 2025 | N
-
Mississippi Today5 days ago
‘Trainwreck on the horizon’: The costly pains of Mississippi’s small water and sewer systems
-
News from the South - Texas News Feed5 days ago
Meteorologist Chita Craft is tracking a Severe Thunderstorm Warning that's in effect now
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed4 days ago
Trump touts manufacturing while undercutting state efforts to help factories
-
News from the South - Virginia News Feed5 days ago
Taking video of military bases using drones could be outlawed | Virginia
-
News from the South - Texas News Feed7 days ago
No. 3 Texas walks off No. 9 LSU again to capture crucial SEC softball series
-
News from the South - Florida News Feed4 days ago
Federal report due on Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina’s path to recognition as a tribal nation