Mississippi Litigation Review & Commentary : Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Phillip W. Thomas Law Firm : MS Litigation Review & Commentary

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Incumbents--many unopposed--were the big winners in Tuesday's judicial elections in Mississippi. The best site I found for vote totals in all the races was on the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's website.

Judge Donna Barnes defeated challenger Kelly Mims for the Court of Appeals. Mims ran a hard race, but voters did not have much of a reason to vote Barnes out of office.

In local judge races, Jeff Weill won Swan Yerger's seat on the Hinds County Circuit Court with over 60% of the vote. Whoever Governor Barbour appoints to replace Justice James Graves on the Mississippi Supreme Court should fear Weill. I believe that Weill can beat anyone else who runs for the seat.

Bill Gowan defeated Malcolm Harrison by 700 votes for the other contested Hinds County Circuit Court seat. Gowan won on the strength of a bunch of Malcolm McMillan TV commercials. Harrison had been appointed to the position by Governor Haley Barbour. Rain on Tuesday may have been the deciding factor in Gowan's win.

On the Coast, Gulfport native Jennifer Schloegel beat four other candidates to win the Chancery Judge seat being vacated by Margaret Alfonso, who won a county court judge seat. Schloegel, her husband Mark, and both their families are well known and popular on the Coast. Schloegel's father-in-law is mayor of Gulfport.

Like Weill, Schloegel probably could also win an election for the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court. She would also be a candidate for an appointment to replace Justice Mike Randolph on the Mississippi Supreme Court if he ever acts on rumors that he is interested in running for state wide office.

There will be an interesting runoff between Melvin Priester and Brent Southern for Hinds County County Court judge. Priester got over 5,000 more votes than Southern. But Southern will pick up all Frank Farmer's supporters and a lot of Trent Walker's in the runoff. I expect the runoff to be close and would not be surprised to see Southern win based on better voter turnout by his supporters.

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Tupelo lawyer Kelly Mims is challenging Judge Donna Barnes for her Mississippi Court of Appeals post for the Northern District. Judge Barnes has held the position since 2004.

Here is Mims' campaign website.

Mims is a 2000 graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law. He has worked as a Lee County Public Defender and appears to have primarily practiced criminal defense in private practice.  Ya'll Politics ran Mims' press release announcing his candidacy today.

 Here is Judge Barnes' campaign website.

Although Mims does not have a track record as a judge, I suspect that he would be a moderate to conservative jurist. He appears to have a conservative background and served in the U.S. Army. His stint as a Public Defender is probably more of a reflection of wanting to get good experience as opposed to a statement of judicial or political values. His private practice has been in a small firm, which almost always results in representing more individuals than insurance companies and corporations.  

Judge Barnes was originally appointed to the court and did not have an opponent in her only election. It remains to be seen how either Judge Barnes or Mims perform on the campaign trail. Contested judicial elections in Mississippi often come down to who campaigns the hardest. And by this I mean actually getting out and meeting voters. That could be the case with this one.