Two potential Jackson mayor candidates facing obstacles in being added to the ballot
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The City of Jackson’s Democratic Executive Committee met publicly Thursday evening to certify candidates for the city’s upcoming municipal elections, and two candidates running for Mayor will have to wait until next week to find out if they are on the ballot.
Those two candidates are Ali ShamsidDeen and Keyshia Sanders. This is due to a prior felony conviction for Sanders and questions surrounding whether ShamsidDeen violates residency requirements with where he lives and where he votes.
Initially, the committee excluded both from the candidates list, but they would allow them to make a statement before voting on that decision.
That is when both Sanders and ShamsidDeen made pleas.
Sanders explained that her former court case, in which she pleaded guilty to one federal count of wire fraud back in 2023, has been resolved and that she is committed to the community.
ShamsidDeen explained while he owns a property in Byram, he lives at 367 Elms Court Circle with his fiancee and has been there for 3 years. He also said that he has not voted in a municipal election in Byram since 2017.
This led to the committee tabling their decisions for February 10, and both candidates are confident the committee will certify them to be on the ballot.
“So when they say absolute, they mean can I show that I’m paying the bills at a place, can I show that I am actually living there. I have my fiancée who is standing with me, who deeded the place to me and her. So, I have proven that I am meeting that standard,” ShamsidDeen said.
“I am hopeful for the decision. At this point, I have been serving the citizens, I love serving the citizens, service is what I do. And so, prayerfully they’ll make that decision, so that I can be a candidate and we’ll move forward,” Sanders said.
The committee did qualify all the democratic candidates for the next municipal executive committee and city council races.
For ShamsidDeen and Sanders, the committee will meet once again to decide on the candidates and they will be notified before 5 p.m. on Monday.
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