A member of the Mississippi House of Representatives has introduced legislation that would prohibit elected officials from changing their partisan affiliation while serving in office, treating any such switch as a resignation.
House Bill 760, introduced on January 16 by Rep. Robert Evans, a Democrat representing Mississippi’s 91st House District, would bar elected officials from publicly leaving the political party under which they were elected or from declaring membership in a different political party during their term. Under the bill, any change in party affiliation would be considered an automatic resignation, with the office declared vacant and filled according to existing law.
Mississippi has seen multiple instances of party switching among state and local lawmakers in recent years. While many of the most visible switches have involved Democratic officials joining the Republican Party, including in 2020 when the state GOP announced that eight county-level officeholders had changed affiliation, there have also been at least five cases over the past decade in which Democratic legislators left the party to serve as independents, including several who made the switch while still in office.
Two former Democrats currently serve in the Mississippi House as independents as of 2026. Shanda Yates of the 64th House District left the Democratic Party during her term in 2022. Angela Cockerham of the 96th House District also serves as an independent after previously being a member, though she ran for and won reelection as an independent in her two most recent races.
While the legislation as written applies to elected officials generally, it is unclear whether it could be enforced in federal races. Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, wrote this week that similar state-level efforts affecting members of Congress have historically been found unconstitutional and that “the same principle would probably apply to party-switchers.”
House Bill 760 has been referred to the House Apportionment and Elections Committee and the House Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee, and has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
This is a bad precedent, actually. This keeps the major two parties in power.