Judge upholds disqualification of Jackson mayor candidate. How many are running now?
And then there were 20.
On Tuesday, Jackson's field of mayoral candidates vying for the city's top public office got a little less crowded after a special judge upheld the disqualification of Democratic candidate Ali M. ShamsidDeen.
Retired Circuit Judge Forrest A. Johnson, who was specially appointed for ShamsidDeen's hearing last week, upheld the Jackson Democratic Executive Committee's decision to disqualify ShamsidDeen due to his not meeting residency requirements. The committee found, through housing and voting records, that ShamsidDeen had not lived in Jackson for two years.
Mississippi law requires municipal candidates to have lived in the city in which they are running "for at least two years prior to the general election," unless the municipality has a population less than 1,000. Jackson's population was 140,613 as of 2024.
In early February, ShamsidDeen, who once served as a Jackson judge, met before the committee at Jackson City Hall and attempted to argue that he had been living with his fiancee in Jackson after moving from Byram three years ago. He said his fiancee had deeded over the house in Jackson and brought with him utility bills in his name that he had been paying.
The committee reviewed ShamsidDeen's documents, but on Feb. 10 officially disqualified him from the race. ShamsidDeen then sued the committee on Feb. 14.
In his court appeal, which he filed on Feb. 14, ShamsidDeen cited Mississippi "House Bill 1896," which he said changed the residency requirement for municipal candidates from two years to one year.
After reviewing the Mississippi Legislature's records, the Clarion Ledger found that "House Bill 1896" did not exist and asked ShamsidDeen about that on Feb. 14. ShamsidDeen said his appeal had a typo and he meant to cite "House Bill 1596."
The Clarion Ledger again researched "House Bill 1596," which was filed during the Mississippi Legislature's 2024 session. HB 1596 did attempt to revise "the residency requirement for candidates for municipal, county or county district offices from two years to one year." That bill, however, died during the 2024 session and did not pass into law.
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ShamsidDeen was unaware that the bill had died, but said he was still pressing forward with his lawsuit against the committee. He challenged the committee's questioning of his candidacy and cited Mississippi Code 23-15-961, which states "any person desiring to contest the qualifications of another person as a candidate for nomination in a political party primary election shall file a petition specifically setting forth the grounds of the challenge within ten (10) days after the qualifying deadline for the office in question."
ShamsidDeen said no person put forward a petition to the committee challenging his candidacy. He said the committee has a "bias" toward him, and he will be making the argument during his trial. He also said he has been living in Jackson for the past three years, so he would meet the two-year residency requirement.
"A challenge has to come from another candidate. In order to have a hearing, the committee has to have someone who is putting forth the challenge," ShamsidDeen said on Feb. 14. "The committee in-and-of-itself cannot just summarily challenge a candidate, that's the rule. To this point, even as we speak right now, I have not received a petition filed by any other candidate questioning my residency. So, the committee doesn't have the standing to have a hearing when no one's challenging me."
But ShamsidDeen's arguments didn't hold up in court. Johnson upheld the committee's decision to disqualify him from running Tuesday morning in the Hinds County Courthouse.
ShamsidDeen is the second mayoral candidate to be disqualified. Last week, the Jackson Democratic Executive Committee also disqualified Keyshia Sanders due to her 2023 felony conviction. According to Mississippi law, convicted felons cannot run for or hold public office.
Sanders formally worked as Jackson's constituent services manager where she pleaded guilty to embezzling city grant funds. She is now serving a 5-year probation sentence and was ordered to pay back $54,000.
With ShamsidDeen and Sanders out of the mayor's race, that leaves a total of 20 candidates: 12 Democrats, three Republicans and five Independents.
Jackson homicides: Jackson State experts weigh in on Jackson murder rate the past 5 years. See the numbers
Party primaries are set for April 1 and the general election is June 3.
Based on Jackson's history, there is a strong likelihood that the city's next mayor will be decided during the Democratic primary. Jackson has not had a Republican mayor since at least 1949.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson mayor candidates down to 20 as ShamsidDeen loses legal battle
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Not That Kind of Introspection!
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