Candidates qualify in 2 redrawn Mississippi Senate districts

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Candidates are qualifying for two Mississippi state Senate districts that lawmakers redrew after a federal judge ruled that one of them diluted black voting power.

The moves come even as Republican state officials are asking all the judges on a federal appeals court to reconsider the ruling of a three-judge panel upholding the original judge’s order.

Six Democrats and one Republican qualified in Senate District 13. One of those Democrats, John Marshall Alexander, had qualified previously as an independent, but filed as a Democrat on Friday. Leah Rupp, spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, says the office interprets the move as Alexander intending to withdraw his independent candidacy.

Six Democrats, two Republicans and two independents qualified in Senate District 22.

The incumbents in both districts are seeking higher office.

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