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2025 Mississippi legislative session

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2025 Mississippi legislative session
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General information
Scheduled session start:    January 7, 2025

Scheduled session end:    April 3, 2025

Leadership
Senate President
Delbert Hosemann (R)

House Speaker
Jason White (R)
Majority Leader
Senate: N/A
House: N/A
Minority Leader
Senate: N/A
House: N/A

Elections
Next Election:    November 2, 2027

Last Election:    November 7, 2023

Previous legislative sessions
2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2025 legislative sessions


In 2025, the Mississippi State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 7 and adjourn on April 3.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2023 elections. Republicans won a 36-16 majority in the Senate and a 79-41 majority with two independents in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of the 2025 session, Mississippi was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session:
  • Republicans held a majority in the Mississippi state House and state Senate.
  • Mississippi was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas.
  • Mississippi's governor was Republican Tate Reeves.

    • Leadership in 2025

    See also: Leadership positions in state legislatures

    Mississippi State Senate

    • Senate president: Delbert Hosemann (R)
    • Majority leader: N/A
    • Minority leader: N/A

    Mississippi House of Representatives

    • Speaker of the House: Jason White (R)
    • Majority leader: N/A
    • Minority leader: N/A

    Partisan control in 2025

    See also: State government trifectas

    Mississippi was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2025 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Mississippi was also one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Mississippi State Legislature in the 2025 legislative session.

    Mississippi State Senate

    Party As of January 2025
         Democratic Party 16
         Republican Party 36
    Total 52

    Mississippi House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2025
         Democratic Party 41
         Republican Party 78
         Independent 2
         Vacant 1
    Total 122

    Regular session

    The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2025 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2025. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Legislation trackers

    See also: Legislation Trackers

    Ballotpedia’s legislation trackers are your go-to resource for staying on top of key legislative topics. We capture any bill introduced on the topic across all of the 50 state legislatures, and we track the movement of the bill every step of the way. We provide real-time updates and translate legislative legalese into easily understandable language. As of the 2025 session, Ballotpedia provided tracking on the following topics. Click on the links below to view related bills from the 2025 session:

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Mississippi state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, there were 92 standing committees in Mississippi's state government, including three joint legislative committees, 43 state Senate committees, and 46 state House committees.

    Joint legislative committees

    Senate committees

    House committees

    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Mississippi Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XV of the Mississippi Constitution and Laws governing the initiative process in Mississippi

    Note on Mississippi:

    Mississippi has an initiated constitutional amendment process, including a signature distribution requirement based on five congressional districts. However, the requirements cannot be met, according to the Mississippi Supreme Court, because the state has four congressional districts following reapportionment in 2001. As a result, the process remains part of the state constitution but cannot be carried out in practice.[1]


    Mississippi Constitution
    Seal of Mississippi.jpg
    Preamble
    Articles
    1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15

    The Mississippi Constitution provides two mechanisms for amending the state's constitution—a citizen-initiated process and a legislative process. Mississippi requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

    Initiative

    See also: Initiated constitutional amendment

    An indirect initiated constitutional amendment is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends a state's constitution. There are two states – Massachusetts and Mississippi – that allow citizens to initiate indirect constitutional amendments.

    While a direct initiated constitutional amendment is placed on the ballot once supporters file the required number of valid signatures, an indirect initiated constitutional amendment is first presented to the state legislature, which has various options depending on the state.

    In Mississippi, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to at least 12% of the total number of votes cast for governor in the last gubernatorial general election immediately preceding the signature deadline—not necessarily the gubernatorial election immediately preceding the targeted election date. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval.

    Beginning with the day the sponsor receives the ballot title and summary, proponents have one year to circulate petitions and receive certification from the county circuit clerks. Signatures must be submitted to the secretary of state at least 90 days prior to the beginning of the regular session—which begins in the first week of January.

    Once it is determined that proponents of a measure have collected enough signatures, the measure is filed with the Mississippi State Legislature on the first day of the legislative session. The legislature must act on the measure within four months of that date. The legislature may choose to adopt the measure by a majority vote in each house. Whether the legislature adopts or rejects the measure, the proposed amendment proceeds to the ballot. The legislature may also choose to approve an amended alternate version of the measure. In this case, both measures appear on the ballot together.

    An initiative must receive a majority of the total votes cast for that particular initiative and must also receive more than 40% of the total votes cast in that election.

    Note on Mississippi:

    Mississippi has an initiated constitutional amendment process, including a signature distribution requirement based on five congressional districts. However, the requirements cannot be met, according to the Mississippi Supreme Court, because the state has four congressional districts following reapportionment in 2001. As a result, the process remains part of the state constitution but cannot be carried out in practice.[2]

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for the Mississippi State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 77 votes in the Mississippi House of Representatives and 35 votes in the Mississippi State Senate, assuming no vacancies. The absolute number of those voting in favor must be equal to at least a majority of the members elected to each house. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Mississippi.

    Mississippi Party Control: 1992-2025
    Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Fourteen years of Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
    Governor R R R R R R R R D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
    Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R[3] D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
    House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

    Historical Senate control

    Republicans won control of the Mississippi State Senate in 2011. In 2023, they won a 36-16 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Mississippi Senate following every general election from 1991 to 2023. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Mississippi State Senate election results: 1991-2023

    Party 91 95 99 03 07[4] 11 15 19 23
    Democrats 39 34 34 27 28 21 20 16 16
    Republicans 13 18 18 24 24 31 32 36 36
    Other 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

    Historical House control

    Republicans won control of the Mississippi House of Representatives in 2011. In 2023, they won a 79-41-2 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Mississippi House following every general election from 1991 to 2019. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Mississippi House of Representatives election results: 1991-2023

    Party 91 95 99 03 07 11 15 19 23
    Democrats 93 86 86 75 75 58 49 46 41
    Republicans 27 33 33 47 47 64 73 75 79
    Other 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 2

    Analysis

    Adopted legislation, 2011-2024

    See also: The State Legislative Decade - Mississippi

    In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

    See also

    Elections Mississippi State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Mississippi Supreme Court, "In Re Initiative Measure No. 65: Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler V Michael Watson, in His Official Capacity as Secretary of State for the State of Mississippi," May 14, 2021
    2. ↑ Mississippi Supreme Court, "In Re Initiative Measure No. 65: Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler V Michael Watson, in His Official Capacity as Secretary of State for the State of Mississippi," May 14, 2021
    3. ↑ Republicans gained a majority in 2007 when two Democratic state senators switched their party affiliation. Democrats regained the majority as a result of the 2007 elections.
    4. ↑ Republicans gained a majority in 2007 when two Democratic state senators switched their party affiliation. Democrats regained the majority as a result of the 2007 elections.
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