The Ballot Brief
38603

Who is on the ballot in 38603?

Benton County, MS

Reported by The Ballot Brief Editorial Team. Updated as public election and video sources change.

Fields below reflect the November 3, 2026 general election ballot as races are certified.

7 races on your November 3 ballot. Jump to:
U.S. Senate1U.S. House1Local5
About this preview
County and municipal contests depend on your exact address — use the address lookup below for the full slate. Every race links to official sources on the Mississippi voter hub.
Sample Ballot Preview

38603 sample ballot preview: statewide, congressional and Benton County races

U.S. House, Mississippi District 1
3 candidates
Federal ▾
JB
Johnny Baucom
Biography
Johnny Baucom is a Libertarian candidate for Mississippi's 1st Congressional District. Baucom is a health and safety technician who has managed mechanic shops and is an Army National Guard veteran, per the Newton County Appeal. No campaign website was found as of September 17, 2026.
Full profile
CJ
Cliff Johnson
DEM
Biography
Cliff Johnson is the Democratic candidate for Mississippi's 1st Congressional District. Johnson directs work at the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law focusing on criminal justice reform, previously founded a law firm representing workers and worked at the U.S. Department of Justice coordinating health care fraud enforcement, per the campaign site. Johnson is a graduate of Mississippi College and Columbia University School of Law and a fifth-generation Mississippian, per the campaign site, which also describes a 35-year marriage.
Top Priorities
  • Wants to address the cost of living and reduce the influence of corporate and wealthy political donors
  • Supports keeping Affordable Care Act subsidies in place
  • Wants North Mississippi to receive federal funding for infrastructure and schools
Per the campaign site.
Campaign siteFull profile
Trent Kelly portrait
TK
Trent Kelly
REP INCUMBENT
Biography
Trent Kelly is the Republican incumbent representing Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, first elected in a 2015 special election runoff, per Kelly's official House biography. Kelly served 39 years in the Mississippi Army National Guard, retiring as a Major General, and before Congress worked as a private attorney, Tupelo City Prosecutor and District Attorney for the 1st Circuit Judicial District.
Key voting record
Voted yes on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2025 tax-and-spending package, which passed the House 218-214 in July 2025. Supported
Voted yes on the Laken Riley Act, expanding federal detention of certain immigrants charged with theft or violent crimes, which passed the House 263-156 in January 2025. Supported
Voted yes on the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026, which passed the House 231-196 in September 2025. Supported
Campaign siteFull profile
About this race
Johnny Baucom (L), Cliff Johnson (D), Trent Kelly (R) are on the November 3, 2026 ballot for Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, per the Secretary of State's official sample ballot. Party nominees were chosen at the March 10, 2026 primary.
U.S. Senate
3 candidates
Federal ▾
Cindy Hyde-Smith portrait
CH
Cindy Hyde-Smith
REP INCUMBENT
Biography
Cindy Hyde-Smith is Mississippi's incumbent U.S. senator and the Republican nominee for re-election in 2026. A former Mississippi agriculture commissioner and state senator, she campaigns as a conservative aligned with Republican leadership on agriculture, rural development, military installations, border policy, federal spending, and Mississippi industry.
Top Priorities
  • Support Mississippi agriculture, rural communities, and industry
  • Advance conservative fiscal, border, and judicial policy
  • Protect military, veterans, and infrastructure priorities in Mississippi
Campaign Finance
$5,027,031 raised · top industries: Itemized individual contributions (over $200), PAC/other committee contributions
Key voting record
Voted yes on the 2025 Republican tax-and-spending package, which passed the Senate 51-50. Supported
Voted against Democratic climate, health-care, tax, and prescription-drug pricing legislation, arguing the package expanded federal spending and taxes. Opposed
Voted against codifying federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. Opposed
Campaign siteFull profile
Scott Colom portrait
SC
Scott Colom
DEM
Biography
Scott Colom is a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Mississippi and a district attorney in the state's Golden Triangle region. His campaign emphasizes public safety, prosecutorial experience, health care, teacher and law-enforcement pay, wages, and a contrast with incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith on federal spending priorities and Medicaid-related policy.
Top Priorities
  • Use prosecutorial experience to focus on public safety
  • Protect health care access and rural hospitals
  • Raise wages and support teachers, law enforcement, and working families
Campaign Finance
$1,619,368 raised · top industries: Itemized individual contributions (over $200), Democratic-aligned committee support
Campaign siteFull profile
TP
Ty Pinkins
Biography
Ty Pinkins is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Mississippi, an attorney, Army veteran, and former Democratic nominee for Mississippi secretary of state and U.S. Senate. His campaign emphasizes voting access, veterans, working families, criminal justice, and an independent path outside the major-party nominees.
Top Priorities
  • Protect voting access and election accountability
  • Support veterans, working families, and rural communities
  • Offer an independent alternative in the Senate race
Campaign siteFull profile

Countywide races in Benton County

ZIP 38603 sits in Benton County, per the Census crosswalk. These seats are voted countywide; district seats, city races and school boards need a street address. All Benton County races (5).

Circuit Court Judge, District 3, Place 1
1 candidate
County ▾
GT
Gray Tollison
INCUMBENT
Biography
Gray Tollison is the sitting judge of the 3rd Circuit Court District (Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah, Union), per the Mississippi Judiciary's official directory of circuit court judges and staff. Gray Tollison is on the November 3, 2026 ballot for that seat, unopposed, per the Mississippi Secretary of State's official sample ballot. No campaign website was found as of September 17, 2026.
Full profile
Why only one name?
Only one name is on the ballot for this office: no other candidate qualified. An unopposed candidate is elected unless a write-in outpolls them where write-ins are allowed, so this line still counts as a vote.
About this race
Gray Tollison is the only name on the ballot for this seat; unopposed candidates still appear on Mississippi ballots, so the race is on the November 3 ballot but is not contested. Voters across the 3rd Circuit Court District (Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah, Union) vote on this seat. Mississippi judicial races are nonpartisan; if nobody wins a majority, the top two meet in a runoff on December 1, 2026, per the Secretary of State's 2026 elections calendar. Listed from the Secretary of State's official sample ballot.
Circuit Court Judge, District 3, Place 2
3 candidates
County ▾
BM
Bart M. Adams
Biography
Bart M. Adams is a law partner at Akins & Adams, P.A. in Ripley, and serves as county prosecutor for Tippah and Benton counties in his fifth term, as well as city prosecutor for Ripley, Walnut and Blue Mountain, per his campaign site. He previously served as municipal judge for the Town of Ashland and City of Ripley, and has spent seventeen years volunteering to teach government and economics at Ripley High School, per his campaign site. He holds a B.B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Mississippi.
Campaign siteFull profile
SC
Shirley C. Byers
Biography
Shirley C. Byers has served as Marshall County prosecuting attorney since 2007, per the Oxford Eagle. She has previously sought this circuit judge seat in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. No campaign website was found as of September 17, 2026.
Full profile
SP
Steven Patrick Jubera
Biography
Steven Patrick Jubera has served as an assistant district attorney in the 3rd, 17th and 23rd circuit districts, per the Oxford Eagle. He was a candidate in the first Lafayette County Court Judge race in 2022. No campaign website was found as of September 17, 2026.
Full profile
About this race
Bart M. Adams, Shirley C. Byers and Steven Patrick Jubera are on the November 3, 2026 ballot for this seat. Voters across the 3rd Circuit Court District (Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah, Union) vote on this seat. Mississippi judicial races are nonpartisan; if nobody wins a majority, the top two meet in a runoff on December 1, 2026, per the Secretary of State's 2026 elections calendar. Listed from the Secretary of State's official sample ballot.
Circuit Court Judge, District 3, Place 3
1 candidate
County ▾
KE
Kent E. Smith
INCUMBENT
Biography
Kent E. Smith is the sitting judge of the 3rd Circuit Court District (Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah, Union), per the Mississippi Judiciary's official directory of circuit court judges and staff. Kent E. Smith is on the November 3, 2026 ballot for that seat, unopposed, per the Mississippi Secretary of State's official sample ballot. No campaign website was found as of September 17, 2026.
Full profile
Why only one name?
Only one name is on the ballot for this office: no other candidate qualified. An unopposed candidate is elected unless a write-in outpolls them where write-ins are allowed, so this line still counts as a vote.
About this race
Kent E. Smith is the only name on the ballot for this seat; unopposed candidates still appear on Mississippi ballots, so the race is on the November 3 ballot but is not contested. Voters across the 3rd Circuit Court District (Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah, Union) vote on this seat. Mississippi judicial races are nonpartisan; if nobody wins a majority, the top two meet in a runoff on December 1, 2026, per the Secretary of State's 2026 elections calendar. Listed from the Secretary of State's official sample ballot.
Chancery Court Judge, District 18, Place 1
4 candidates
County ▾
JC
Jenessa Carter Hicks
Biography
Jenessa Carter Hicks earned her J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2009 and has practiced law in Oxford for 17 years, with a focus on Chancery Court matters including divorce, child custody, guardianships and land disputes, per her campaign site. She has also handled civil litigation cases tried to jury verdict across the state, per her campaign site. This is an open seat left by the retirement of Judge Larry Little, and the race is headed to a November 3, 2026 runoff among four candidates, per the Oxford Eagle.
Campaign siteFull profile
SJ
Sarah J. Liddy
Biography
Sarah J. Liddy is an attorney in Holly Springs whose practice has focused on family law matters, including divorce, child custody and support, adoptions, wills and estates and real estate issues, per The Oxford Eagle. She earned her law degree and a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Mississippi and has served as Marshall County's Youth Court Referee, including as interim referee for Benton and Tippah counties, and as the county's Master in Chancery, per The Oxford Eagle. No campaign website was found as of September 27, 2026.
Full profile
JL
Jennifer L. Shackelford
Biography
Jennifer L. Shackelford has practiced law since being admitted to the Mississippi Bar in 1998, with a career focused extensively on Chancery Court matters, per her campaign site. She has served more than 25 years as a certified Guardian ad Litem and 11 years as Youth Court Referee for Benton and Tippah Counties, and has three years of experience as a prosecutor for the Town of Byhalia.
Campaign siteFull profile
MW
Michael Watts
Biography
Michael Watts began his career as a correctional officer at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and a police officer with the City of Cleveland Police Department before serving as a criminal investigator for the 11th Circuit District Attorney, per his campaign site. He graduated with honors from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1984 and has practiced with the Holcomb Law Group since, including a period as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Defense. He has served as Municipal Judge for Oxford, Mississippi and as an adjunct law professor at the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Campaign siteFull profile
About this race
Jenessa Carter Hicks, Sarah J. Liddy, Jennifer L. Shackelford and Michael Watts are on the November 3, 2026 ballot for this seat. Voters across the 18th Chancery Court District (Benton, Calhoun, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah) vote on this seat. Mississippi judicial races are nonpartisan; if nobody wins a majority, the top two meet in a runoff on December 1, 2026, per the Secretary of State's 2026 elections calendar. Listed from the Secretary of State's official sample ballot.
Chancery Court Judge, District 18, Place 2
1 candidate
County ▾
BW
Bob Whitwell
INCUMBENT
Biography
Bob Whitwell, listed in court records as Robert Q. Whitwell, is the sitting Chancery Judge for the 18th Chancery District, based in Oxford, per the Mississippi Judiciary's official court directory. He is unopposed on the November 3, 2026 ballot. No campaign website was found as of September 17, 2026.
Full profile
Why only one name?
Only one name is on the ballot for this office: no other candidate qualified. An unopposed candidate is elected unless a write-in outpolls them where write-ins are allowed, so this line still counts as a vote.
About this race
Bob Whitwell is the only name on the ballot for this seat; unopposed candidates still appear on Mississippi ballots, so the race is on the November 3 ballot but is not contested. Voters across the 18th Chancery Court District (Benton, Calhoun, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah) vote on this seat. Mississippi judicial races are nonpartisan; if nobody wins a majority, the top two meet in a runoff on December 1, 2026, per the Secretary of State's 2026 elections calendar. Listed from the Secretary of State's official sample ballot.
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Ballot Info Lookup

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Ballot info questions for 38603

Who is running for mayor in 38603?

Mayor races depend on the city tied to your address. Use the full-address lookup, then confirm with your city or county election office.

When is the primary election in this state?

Primary dates vary by state. Use this page's official election links to confirm the next primary deadline for your address.

Can I vote early in 38603?

Early voting rules vary by state and county. Check your official election links for dates, locations, and ID rules.

Where can I see a sample ballot for 38603?

Start with the Ballot Brief lookup results for this ZIP. If you need more district precision, use the Local page with a full address.

Data sources

Where does The Ballot Brief verify ballot info for 38603?

Vote.gov Official federal voter registration and voting information gateway.State election offices Official directory for state election deadlines, ballot rules, and voter resources.Federal Election Commission Federal candidate filings and campaign finance data.Congress.gov members Official congressional member records and identifiers.