The
Mississippi House of Representatives is the
lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the
lawmaking body of the U.S. state of
Mississippi
.
According to the state
constitution of
1890, this body is to comprise no more than 122 members elected for
four-year terms (Art. 4, Sec. 34). To qualify as a member of the
house candidates must (a) be at least 21 years old, (b) have been a
resident of Mississippi for at least four years, and (c) have
resided in the district in which he/she is running for at least two
years (Art. 4, Sec. 41, Secs. 44 and 45). Current state law
provides for the maximum number of members. Elections are held the
first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
The Constitution also specifies that the legislature shall meet for
125 days every four years and 90 days in all other years (Art 4,
Sec. 36).
The House also has the duty under the
Mississippi Constitution to select
the
Governor of Mississippi
if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. This has
occurred only one time, in 1999 when
Ronnie Musgrove was selected (Musgrove had
the most votes statewide, but fell a fraction of a point shy of a
majority).
Composition
| Affiliation |
Party
(Shading indicates majority
caucus)
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
| Democratic |
Republican |
Vacant |
| End of previous
legislature |
74 |
47 |
121 |
1 |
|
| Begin |
75 |
47 |
122 |
0 |
| February 25, 2009 |
73 |
49 |
122 |
0 |
| Latest voting share |
59.8% |
40.2% |
|
With the February 2009
party switch of
Billy Nicholson from Democrat to
Republican, the compostion became 73 Democrats and 49 Republicans.
This also meant that for the first time in the history of
Mississippi, the majority of the Democratic members of the House
were
African-Americans.
See also
References
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