Nearly two dozen candidates will be on the ballot for mayor in Jackson when voters in Mississippi’s capital city head to the polls for the primary election on April 1, an unofficial list of candidates the Municipal Clerk’s office released shows.
A list of 22 candidates that the Jackson Municipal Clerk’s Office released includes incumbent Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba, who turned in his paperwork at the office with barely a minute to spare before the 5 p.m. deadline on Jan. 31. He dressed casually and spoke little to the group of reporters assembled inside City Hall awaiting his arrival.
If re-elected, this would be the third term for the mayor who currently faces charges related to a federal bribery investigation. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His opponents include 13 Democrats, 3 Republicans and 5 independent candidates.
Mayor Faces Trial on Bribery Charges
If re-elected for a third term, Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba could face prison or other criminal penalties as he faces a trial for federal bribery charges. He pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment on Nov. 7, 2024, alongside co-defendants Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and Jackson’s Ward 6 City Councilman Aaron Banks.
@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 99px;}}@media ( min-width: 320px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 99px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}
Banks is not seeking re-election this year.
A federal judge has delayed issuing a trial date as attorneys for the three men review “hundreds of hours of recordings and thousands of pages of other evidence.”
Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba pleaded not guilty to charges related to an ongoing federal bribery investigation. “I am not guilty, so I will not proceed as a guilty man,” he told reporters outside the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse on Nov. 7, 2024, following his arraignment. Photo by Shaunicy Muhammad ” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt=”Mayor Lumumba at Federal courthouse” class=”wp-image-149137″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mayor-Lumumba-at-Courthouse3_-cred-Shaunicy-Muhammad-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>Jackson Mayor Chokwe A.
Read original article by clicking here.