The 2024 elections ended on Nov. 5 for many Americans, but for central Mississippi, a key outstanding race remains: the runoff between Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens and challenger Jenifer Branning. Kitchens, running for his third term in office at 81, is widely considered a judicial centrist. His opponent, a Republican Mississippi state senator, describes herself as a “Christian conservative.”
Kitchens raised a total of $91,931 in the final stretch of the campaign, for a total of $535,818 since the beginning of 2024. Trial lawyers made up the lion’s share of Kitchens’ contributions this year. Employees of Morgan & Morgan, one of the nation’s largest personal injury firms, contributed a total of $66,550 alone—the most significant of any organization among Kitchens’ hundreds of donors.
Other lawyers donating the $5,000 maximum to Kitchens’ campaign this year include Richard Schwartz, both Dennis Sweet III and Dennis Sweet IV, Rogen Chhabra and Darryl Gibbs, as well as attorneys from Davis & Crump, Liston & Deas, Reeves & Mestayer, among others.
Though they represent a smaller portion of his contributions than for his opponent, political figures are among Kitchens’ donors. David Baria, a Democrat and the former Mississippi House minority leader who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2018, contributed $2,500. The Senate Campaign Committee for Mike Espy contributed $1,000; Espy is a former U.S. House representative and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in Mississippi in 2018 and 2020. Blackmon & Blackmon, PLLC—the law firm of former Mississippi Sens. Edward Blackmon, Jr., former Mississippi Sen. Barbara Blackmon and current Mississippi Sen. Bradford Blackmon—contributed $1,000.
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Jenifer Branning’s campaign finance reports are significantly lighter on contributions from trial lawyers, but Branning has brought in a more significant haul overall. As of Nov. 22, Branning’s campaign boasted $899,471 in total contributions, bolstered by a $250,000 loan from Branning herself.
Among Branning’s top individual contributors are a number of political action committees, including the Mississippi Bankers Association, Mississippi Agents and Employees (MAE-PAC), Mississippi Realtors Political
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