State reference

How does government work in Mississippi?

Mississippi’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

174

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Constitution of the State of Mississippi source
In effect since: 1890 source

What may surprise you here

Mississippi elects its state officials and legislators in the year before each presidential election, so state elections fall in odd years. source
Mississippi’s constitution still describes a citizen initiative process, but it has not been valid since 2021. source
A 2020 amendment removed the rule that winning governor or statewide office required the most votes in a majority of state House districts. source

Legislature

Name: Mississippi Legislature source
Senate: seats: 52 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 122 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 4 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: Mississippi Constitution, Article 4, Sections 33 to 35.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: Cannot be elected governor more than twice source
Next regular election: 2027 source
Lieutenant governor: separate election source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: elected source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Mississippi Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: Mississippi Court of Appeals source
Main trial court: Circuit Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: nonpartisan election source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 82 source
Cities and towns: Most municipal elections are held in the year after a presidential election, not in the same years as state elections. source
Schools: The Census Bureau counts 150 independent school district governments in Mississippi. source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State source
Who runs elections locally: County election commissions and municipal election commissions, with circuit clerks as county registrars source
Primary type: open source
Regular governor elections fall in: odd source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Tate Reeves Republican, in office since January 14, 2020. source

US senators for Mississippi
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Cindy Hyde-Smith	Republican	Class 2	April 9, 2018	January 3, 2027
Roger F. Wicker	Republican	Class 1	December 31, 2007	January 3, 2031

Members of the House for Mississippi
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Trent Kelly	Republican	June 9, 2015
District 2	Bennie G. Thompson	Democratic	April 13, 1993
District 3	Michael Guest	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 4	Mike Ezell	Republican	January 3, 2023

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 1