Four seats on the Mississippi Supreme Court were on the ballots across the state Tuesday, with two of those seats being contested. Of the races with challengers, one incumbent went down while another is being forced to a runoff.
In the southern portion of the state, Justice Dawn Beam lost to David Sullivan by over nine points with the race being called Thursday afternoon. Sullivan, the son of late presiding Supreme Court Justice Michael Sullivan, ran a campaign focused on his experience in three levels of the legal system. A former prosecutor, Sullivan is a Gulfport-based attorney who also serves as a municipal judge in neighboring D’Iberville.
He will be sworn in the second position in District 2 come January. While Supreme Court candidates are restricted from expounding on how they would rule on hypothetical cases, he vouched that opinions from his side of the gavel will be impartial and fair.
“There’s no way to know exactly what issues we’ll face as a court, but I feel like my well-balanced approach puts me in the best position to make a decision on any issue that comes in front of the court,” Sullivan said before the election.
Beam, a Gov. Phil Bryant appointee who won a full term in 2016, was a chancery judge and prosecutor in the Pine Belt region before finding a role on the Supreme Court. She is also the only woman currently serving on the high court, which does cause fears in some about a demographic void. However, there is another woman who may end up finding herself on the bench.
Jenifer Branning, a Republican state senator and attorney from Neshoba County, was one of four people looking to beat out Justice Jim Kitchens for the third position in District 1. She finished Tuesday ahead of the incumbent in the polls but was unable to surpass the 50% threshold, forcing an expected runoff.
Kitchens, 81, has run a campaign based on his track record through two terms on the Supreme Court. Other experience includes 40 years of private practice and nine years as a district attorney for Copiah, Lincoln, Pike, and Walthall counties.
“My platform is honesty, integrity, [and] dependability. I intend to continue doing just as I’ve been doing for almost 16 years on the Supreme Court,” Kitchens said. “I work hard. Nobody has ever said that I’m not doing a good job. Nobody has said that I’m not qualified. My experience, I know, is one of my greatest assets.”
Branning, 45, has used interviews, stump speeches, and commercials to attack Kitchens’ age while touting herself as a “constitutional conservative,” raising questions about the nonpartisan status candidates are supposed to carry.
“People are getting on board with the concept of wanting a new generation of constitutional conservative leadership on the court. That’s basically what I’m about,” Branning said going into Tuesday’s election, asserting she would still be impartial if elected. “Certainly, we tell people we feel like Mississippians need justices that are fair and impartial and will simply call balls and strikes on the bench. And that’s what I’m running to do.”
Ceola James, Byron Carter, and Abby Robinson were the other three candidates in the race. Branning and Kitchens will match up in a runoff on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
