JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi voters were deciding winners for one seat on the state Supreme Court and one on the state Court of Appeals.
Runoff elections were Tuesday between candidates who advanced from the Nov. 5 general election.
Voter turnout typically decreases between general elections and runoffs, and campaigns say turnout was especially challenging two days before Thanksgiving.
Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens is seeking a third term and is challenged by state Sen. Jenifer Branning.
They are running in District 1, also known as the Central District, which stretches from the Delta region through the Jackson metro area and over to the Alabama border.
Branning received 42% in the first round of voting, and Kitchens received 36%. Three other candidates split the rest.
Mississippi judicial candidates run without party labels, but Democratic areas largely supported Kitchens on Nov. 5 and Republican ones supported Branning.
Branning is endorsed by the state Republican Party. She calls herself a “constitutional conservative” and says she opposes “liberal, activists judges” and “the radical left.”
Kitchens is the more senior of the Court’s two presiding justices, putting him next in line to serve as chief justice. He is endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Action Fund, which calls itself “a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond.”
In September, Kitchens sided with a man on death row for a murder conviction in which a key witness recanted her testimony. In 2018, Kitchens dissented in a pair of death row cases dealing with the use of the drug midazolam in state executions.
The Court of Appeals runoff is in District 5 in the southeastern corner of the state, including the Gulf Coast.
Amy St. Pe’ and Jennifer Schloegel advanced to the runoff from a three-way contest, with St. Pe’ receiving 35% of the vote on Nov. 5 and Schloegel receiving 33%. The runoff winner will succeed Judge Joel Smith, who did not seek reelection.
St. Pe' is a municipal judge in Gautier. Schloegel is a chancery court judge in Hancock, Harrison and Stone counties.
FILE - Senate Elections Committee Chair Jenifer Branning, R-Philadelphia, explains a facet of an absentee-ballot bill during floor debate at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., June 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
FILE - Mississippi Supreme Court Presiding Justice James W. Kitchens asks a question, July 6, 2023, before the court in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
FILE - Mississippi Supreme Court justices including Justice Jim Kitchens, seated at right, fourth from top, listen to arguments, July 6, 2023, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
BERLIN (AP) — The smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and hot bratwurst are wafting through the air across the German capital again, as the city's more than 100 Christmas markets are opening their doors this week. But the annual tradition that Germans have cherished since the Middle Ages — and successfully exported to much of the Western world — has become a pretty diverse affair, at least in Berlin.
The city of 3.8 million, which takes pride in its tolerance and diversity, offers Christmas markets for pretty much every taste these days. Nowadays, almost 40% of Berliners have immigrant roots, and the city's LGBTQ+ community is considered one of the biggest in the country.
So it comes as no surprise that popular Christmas markets include a LGBTQ+ one offering rainbow pierogi and entertainment by drag queens, a Scandinavian market selling moose goulash and reindeer salami and a market tempting revelers with naughty gift ideas, along with a historical market that takes visitors back to medieval times.
“It’s a lovely atmosphere,” Paul Middleton said of the LGBTQ+ market Christmas Avenue, which is illuminated in the colors of the rainbow.
“It’s great to do something for the LGBTQ+ community and offer something positive in a safe environment where everyone’s welcome, no matter what background,” said Middleton, who moved to Berlin from London three years ago “for love."
Middleton was busy selling gay-themed Christmas shirts next to stalls offering suggestive candles and soaps in neon colors.
The market also attracts heterosexual couples, neighborhood residents and groups of moms with baby strollers, said Sebastian Ahlefeld, a spokesman for Christmas Avenue.
“You can meet lots of friends, relax, enjoy a mulled wine and simply kick off the Christmas season,” said Marco Klingberg, who visited the market with friends on Monday night.
Klingberg, a police officer and member of the LGBTQ+ police organization in Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin, pointed out that despite the city's reputation as a gay-friendly city, attacks on members of the community are a concern, and it was great to have a protected environment for celebrating.
“First and foremost, it’s a safe space,” he said.
Security is an issue not only at the LGBTQ+ market, where all visitors undergo a bag check before entering. Groups of police officers were patrolling most markets on Monday night, as memories of a deadly terror attack on a Christmas market eight years ago are still fresh for many Berliners.
On Dec. 19, 2016, an Islamist attacker plowed through a crowd of Christmas market-goers with a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more in the German capital. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Despite increased surveillance, visitors at the Scandinavian-themed Lucia market in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood were hanging out in crowds on the compound of a former brewery. Kids enjoyed merry-go-rounds while their parents stood in line for Finnish honey and Icelandic mulled wine infused with hard liquor, or chatted and warmed up at fire pits.
“I've been coming here every year since kindergarten times,” said Mathilda Schmidt, 21, pointing to kids cheering as they jumped on a trampoline. She was standing in line with her boyfriend for a bratwurst and potato pancakes.
At Humboldt Forum Christmas market near the Spree river, vendors were offering more exotic dishes including jerk chicken with cooked bananas at a Jamaican food stand, Argentinian empanadas, French salamis and Hungarian langos, a deep-fried flatbread.
While the city's biggest markets are open for weeks and usually close only the day before Christmas Eve, smaller markets often open for a weekend or a day.
They include the Kinky Christmas market in the Kreuzberg neighborhood that invites visitors on Dec. 1 only, seeking those who may find traditional markets “too overwhelmingly contemplative and traditional.” Over 20 stalls will offer sexy “fashion, accessories, jewelry, toys and all kinds of naughty gift ideas,” the city of Berlin says on its website.
While Berliners seem to nonchalantly enjoy the variety of Christmas market offerings, they were fiercely united in their complaint about the increasing price of mulled wine — with one small cup now selling for up to seven euros ($7.36).
Artist Paul Middleton stands in his shop with shirts he designed at the LGBTQ+ Christmas market "Christmas Avenue" at Nollendorfplatz the for in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
People visit the "Lucia" Christmas Market at the district Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Christmas stars for decoration displayed in a shop at the "Lucia" Christmas Market at the district Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
People visit the Christmas market Humbolt Forum on its opening day in the city center of Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
People visits the LGBTQ+ Christmas market "Christmas Avenue" under the tracks of the city train U-Bahn at Nollendorfplatz in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Christmas stars illuminate the top of the tents of the Christmas market at Bebelplatz in the city center of Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
People visit the LGBTQ+ Christmas market "Christmas Avenue" under the tracks of the city train U-Bahn at Nollendorfplatz in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Shirts designed by artist Paul Middleton displayed in a shop at the LGBTQ+ Christmas market "Christmas Avenue" at Nollendorfplatz the for in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Christmas stars illuminate the top of the tents of the Christmas market at Bebelplatz in the city center of Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
