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November 19th , 2024 Len’s Political Note #685 Jim Kitchens Mississippi Supreme Court
2024 Runoff Election
Jim Kitchens
This is a quickie. The runoff is next week – Tuesday, November 26. Take a moment, though. Make a donation.
Jim Kitchens is a young man. At 81, he is a little younger than I am. And he is planning to serve the full eight years of his third term in office. Currently, Jim Kitchens is completing his second term on the Supreme Court. He had spent forty years in private practice and nine years as a district attorney before becoming a judge.
Mississippi elects judges by district. There are three districts and three places in each district. The central district from which Jim Kitchens seeks to get reelected includes enough Democrats so that Joe Biden carried the district in 2020. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a JD from the University of Mississippi, he is local enough to have been comfortable in Mississippi politics. Jim Kitchens has been distinguished on the Court for his moderate opinions and is considered a centrist. Not endorsed by any political party, he is endorsed by trial lawyers who appreciate his non-ideological approach, his integrity, and his dissents on cases related to judicial authority and prosecutorial discretion.
Jim Kitchens had to raise a fair amount to come in second with 35% of the vote in the first round of the election. He raised just under $450,000 to get this far in the campaign. He did not raise as much as the Republican-endorsed Jennifer Branning who raised more than $750,000 and came in first with 41% of the vote in the first round.
Branning says she has been practicing law for 20 years and is running as a “constitutional conservative.” . She emphasizes that she is a wife and mother and says she opposes ”legislating from the bench.” In the state legislature, where she has legislated, she focused on cutting “red tape” for manufacturers, for other businesses, and for farmers. She also proposed a bill to allow businesses to deny services to people who are LGBTQ. Among the votes she took, one was to keep Confederate symbols in the state flag. Another was to increase minimum sentences for crimes. Still another was to oppose expanding Medicaid to the working poor.
Keep Jim Kitchens on Mississippi’s Supreme Court. DONATE
Don’t forget Susan M. Crawford for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Wisconsin judicial election is on April 1, 2025. See Len’s Political Note #684.
