JACKSON - State Sen. Joseph Stogner says he saw it coming.
Stogner feared Mississippi's redrawn district lines could hurt his chances of re-election this year. And, both he and his successful challenger, Sidney Albritton, agree that it did.
Stogner, R-Sandy Hook, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, lost to Albritton in last week's Republican runoff for District 40. Albritton won 53 percent of the vote.
District 40 previously included Lamar, Marion, Pearl River and Walthall counties. The redrawn maps approved by the Justice Department in 2002 removed Republican stronghold Lamar County from the district, and Stogner says that affected his votes.
Stogner said Marion and Walthall counties tend to vote heavily in the Democratic primary, while Pearl River County votes heavily in the GOP primary. He said he lost a lot of runoff votes in Marion and Walthall counties because some of his supporters voted in the Democratic primary, and could not switch over for the runoff.
Stogner, who's been in the Senate since 1988, said another factor in his loss was that he's never had a Republican run against him in a primary.
Albritton, a Pearl River County Justice Court clerk, said if redistricting hadn't occurred, it still would have been a close race.
"I would have still been in his district," Albritton said. "The part that was lost was Lamar County and I have quite a bit of supporters that I know up there."
Albritton faces Democrat Ann A. Simmons in the general election.
The other incumbents losing in last week's runoffs were Reps. Randy Mitchell, D-New Albany; Mike Eakes, D-Philadelphia; and Zack Rushing, D-Tylertown.
Two other incumbents lost in the Aug. 5 party primaries - Democratic Reps. Jamie Creel of Biloxi and Rep. Joey Grist of Bruce.
Of those losing incumbents, only the districts represented by Creel and Eakes remained unchanged among the redrawn districts.
When new Senate and House district lines were adopted in 2002, some lawmakers complained that the plans unfairly eliminated seats in slower-growing areas. Legislative leaders said the changes were needed so fast-growing areas could have representation. At that time, Democrats had the majority in both chambers.
Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, said "redistricting is designed to affect incumbents - in this case, particularly Republican incumbents."
Wiseman said the restriction on crossover voting had a big impact on Stogner and possibly many others. He said although Mississippi has become a two-party state, mostly Democrats run for local offices. He said until party parity is reached at the local level, "you're going to see folks like Sen. Stogner who are going to run into the same thing, when folks who likely would have voted for him, had to vote for sheriff and all that."
In the House District 99 race, Rushing, a first-term legislator, was defeated by former state Rep. Robert Vince in the Democratic runoff.
That district previously included only Marion and Walthall counties, but now Lamar and Pike counties have been added.
Vince, who served 20 years in the House before deciding not to seek re-election in 1999, isn't giving redistricting credit for his victory.
"No, I sure don't think it played a role," Vince said, explaining that 75 percent of the district is the same area he represented for two decades.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
