At noon on Jan. 2, one of the largest law-making bodies in America – the Mississippi Legislature –- will convene for a 120-day regular session.
Mississippi has one of the largest legislatures even though the state ranks as the 35th most populous; and Mississippi’s population ranking has been dropping. In 2000, Mississippi was the 32nd most populous state.
Is it good or bad for the state? Depends on perspective.
Only 13 states have lower chambers larger than the 122-member Mississippi House of Representatives. And only four states have upper chambers with more members than the 52-member Mississippi Senate.
New Hampshire has by far the largest lower chamber with 400. The second largest house is Pennsylvania with 203 members, but its senate has two fewer members than does the Mississippi Senate.
California, the most populous state, has a smaller legislature than Mississippi.
The ideal size of a Mississippi Senate district to ensure the federally mandated equal distribution of the population across the state is 56,998. The smallest ideal size is North Dakota at 16,589.
California is the largest at 989,419 people per senate district, which is about 750,000 people. The national average size is 167,820 people per state senate district.
In the house, the ideal size of a Mississippi district is 24,294 compared to the national average of 61,169.
California is the largest at 494,709, while the ideal size of a House district in New Hampshire is 3,448. Only 11 states have House districts where members represent fewer people than in Mississippi.
Like so many issues in Mississippi, race played a major role in the development of the legislative districts. (Mississippi Today analysis 12/10/23) Mississippi Legislature bigger than most even as population lags - Mississippi Today
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