NATCHEZ, Miss. – City aldermen on Tuesday approved the new wards they and other candidates will be campaigning to represent when they run in Natchez’ 2024 election.
The new electoral lines reflect Natchez’ population shifts to ensure the wards are nearly equal in size as the city shrinks in number of residents.
Two wards need more people and two need fewer. The redistricting plan has little or no changes for the other two wards.
Two city wards – 2 and 5 that cover northeast Natchez — have declined in population and two – 3 and 6 that include central and south Natchez — are overpopulated. That’s necessitating a few hundred constituents in those four electoral districts being moved to different voting precincts, according to Tommie Cardin, the city’s redistricting attorney. Ward 1 needs a few more people while Ward 4 currently has the optimal number of residents.
A map of the newly adopted Natchez wards can be seen on the city’s website: www.natchez.ms.us/DocumentCenter/View/1290/MAP-NATCHEZ-PROPOSED-WARD-PLAN-SEP12_22
Ward 1 is currently represented by Valencia Hall. Her slightly redrawn constituency covers Natchez’ western sector as it previously did from the Cemetery Road area on the north end of town into Natchez central business district and residential areas and southward along the western side of Lower Woodville Road to parts of Highland Boulevard. Hall said she plans to run for re-election to her second term after defeating long-serving alderman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis in 2020.
Ward 2 is represented by Billie Joe Frazier. His realigned ward covers parts of north Natchez extending to central parts threaded in the middle by north Martin Luther King Street and also taking neighborhoods in the Old Pond, Shields Lane and Linden areas by Liberty Road. Frazier said he is running for re-election for a third term on the Board of Aldermen.
Sarah Carter Smith represents Ward 3. The realignment has her south Natchez ward centered by John R. Junkin Drive to include neighborhoods such as Glenwood to intersect with Seargent Prentiss Drive past Merit Health hospital and Jeff Davis Boulevard areas to extend on U.S. 61 southward past The Hills and Woodhaven neighborhoods. Smith has said she’s undecided whether to seek re-election to a fourth term.
Felicia Irving represents Ward 4. Her central city constituency remains as it’s been with St. Catherine and Jefferson streets in the middle and reaching out to encompass blocks on both sides of Main Street to Commerce and then spreads to Homochitto and Auburn. Irving said she does plan to run for re-election for a third term.
Ward 5 is represented by Ben Davis. The alderman’s northeast Natchez electoral district is bordered by Seargent Prentiss Drive and Liberty Road and extends out to areas on each side of U.S. 61 north to the city limits. Davis said he’s running for a third term on the board.
Ward 6 is represented by Dan Dillard. It covers the city’ south midtown area that goes from the end of South Union eastward along Homochitto Street’s south side to expand out to the Duncan Park and Melrose Avenue areas and reach southward to include neighborhoods in and around the Montebello, Mansfield and Espero areas. Dillard has said it’s too early to reveal if he’s running for re-election in 2024. He’s the board’s longest-serving alderman, having represented Ward 6 since 2008 and now in his fourth term.
Wards are required by law to be roughly equal in population to ensure they’re not malapportioned and that all city voters have fair representation on the six-member Board of Aldermen. Each ward should have about 2,400 people, according to the city’s redistricting attorney.
As the new electoral lines are drawn to adhere to the Voting Rights Act, the wards’ Black voting-age population remains essentially the same. The board currently has four Black members and two White members.
Natchez is about 64 percent Black and 34 percent White, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
The city had about 15,800 people in 2010 and dropped to 14,500 in 2020 – a decline of nearly 1,300. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated the city shrank further to about 13,800 in 2021.
The new wards –which are to be inserted into the city’s charter – must be submitted to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and Attorney General Lynn Fitch before they go into effect, according to Cardin.
We are lemmings headed to the cliff if we continue to try to run city infrastructure built for 30,000 with population of 13,800 and declining. Need a lot of people to move into city limits soon, or shrink city limits. County folks do not want to be annexed into city.