Mississippi Today
Supreme Court removes Mandy Gunasekara from Public Service Commission race

A majority of justices on the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Mandy Gunasekara is not a certified Republican candidate for Northern District Public Service Commissioner and removed her from the August Republican primary ballot.
Justice Leslie King, writing for the majority, found that a lower court’s determination that Gunasekara did not meet the necessary citizenship requirements to run for the office was correct.
Six of the nine justices of the court unanimously voted to decertify Gunasekara, and the three justices from north Mississippi — Bobby Chamberlain, Josiah Coleman and Jimmy Maxwell – did not participate in the decision. No justice dissented.
At issue is a requirement in the state constitution and state law that candidates running for the three-member utilities regulatory board must be a citizen of the state at least five years before the date of Mississippi’s general election in November.
Gunasekara hails from the rural southwestern town of Decatur, but she worked in Washington, D.C., for several years, including a stint as chief of staff of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Donald Trump administration. She currently lives in Oxford.
Public records show that Gunasekara voted in Washington on Nov. 6, 2018. Mississippi’s general election this year is on Nov. 7, meaning she had a 24-hour window from her 2018 vote to become a Mississippi citizen.
“The record shows that on Nov. 7, 2018, Gunasekara owned a house in D.C., where her husband and children resided, and on which she received a homestead deduction,” King wrote. “Gunasekara paid income taxes in D.C. She had a full time job in D.C., had a D.C. driver’s license, and was registered to vote in D.C. Gunasekara renewed her car tag in D.C. at the end of October 2018.”
She and her attorney, former state GOP Director Spencer Ritchie, argued that her intent to move back to Decatur in 2018 should be the strongest factor in determining her citizenship. But the state’s highest court disagreed.
“I’m a fighter and a constitutional conservative,” Gunasekara said in a statement. “I’m assessing all my legal options. The Mississippi Supreme Court acknowledged the potential unconstitutionality of this provision, yet found a convenient, procedural mechanism to avoid a decision on the merits. I believe the voters of Mississippi deserve a ruling on the merits.”
She has used all legal avenues available to her in state court, but she will likely seek further relief through the federal courts.
Gunasekara raised several constitutional issues in her briefs, including the belief that a “durational citizenship” requirement violates the 14th Amendment. She said in a statement to Mississippi Today that “relief would be sought through the United States Supreme Court.”
The race is now whittled down to two candidates: state Rep. Chris Brown of Nettleton and city of Tupelo administrator Tanner Newman.
Newman in a statement said that the court’s ruling changes little for his campaign and that he hoped all voters across north Mississippi support his bid for public office.
“Let there be no doubt – Mandy Gunasekara has a bright future in public service ahead of her,” Newman said. “I welcome all of Mandy’s supporters to find a home on Team Newman.”
Brown in a statement thanked Mandy for her work in the Trump administration and her campaign for the PSC. “While she may not be on the ballot in 2023, I plan to keep her America First fight alive.”
Brandon Presley, the current commissioner, is running for governor. There is no Democratic candidate in the race, so the winner of the August GOP primary will become the new commissioner for north Mississippi.
Gunasekara’s disqualification for the PSC stems from a peculiar string of events. Matthew Barton, a candidate running for DeSoto County district attorney, filed the residency challenge with the state GOP’s executive committee, which voted to keep Gunasekara on the ballot. Barton appealed the party’s ruling to circuit court, and Judge Lamar Pickard decided that she did not meet the residency requirement.
Barton’s attorney, Sean Akins, in a statement called the court’s ruling a “victory for free and fair elections where the true winners are the voters.”
“This suit was never about Ms. Gunasekara’s character but about whether she met the Constitutional requirements to run for that office,” Akins said. “While her heart may have been in Mississippi, her citizenship was in Washington, D.C.”
The Republican primary for the north Mississippi PSC race will take place on August 8.
Editor’s note on 5/11/23: This story was updated to include a quote from the attorney representing Matthew Barton.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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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.
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