After eight years and two terms representing Ward 7, Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay, the current president of the Jackson City Council, said it’s time to kick back and enjoy retirement.
Over the weekend, Lindsay, 67, sent a letter to supporters announcing she will not be seeking reelection for a third term on the council. In an interview with the Clarion Ledger on Tuesday, she further explained that decision.
“I found myself craving less stress, the freedom to spend time with my family, read that stack of books on my bedside table, pursue projects that interest me and to be able to travel more,” Lindsay said. “We just felt like this was the right time to bow out.”
Lindsay said she went “back-and-forth, back-and-forth” with her husband Chuck about whether she wanted to continue serving “into my seventies.” But ultimately, she decided it was time to let someone else represent Ward 7 and Jackson — the city she’s called home since 1980 when she moved to take a job as a reporter for the Clarion Ledger.
2025 Jackson elections: When is the 2025 municipal election? See key dates
Ward 7 Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay, a Democrat, was elected to the Jackson City Council in 2017. She is currently serving as council president. Lindsay graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a degree in communications.
“Now, I do want to say that I’m not going anywhere. I plan to continue to work anyway I can to keep improving Jackson,” she said.
In a city that has seen crisis after crisis after crisis in recent years, Lindsay is seen as a voice-of-reason, with many council members looking to her for direction throughout her terms. She rarely missed a meeting and seldom got into arguments with her fellow council members. But as council president, she ensured meetings were conducted civilly and smoothly, many times stepping in to resolve disputes and calling for a vote.
But though these are “interesting times” in Jackson, and Lindsay asserted that her decision to give up politics was “a personal one.”
With her term ending on July 1, Lindsay will exit City Hall as the first woman to be elected to serve as president of the council three times. The first being in 2019, the second in 2021 and again in 2024. She has also served as vice president and chaired several council committees.
A lifelong Mississippi resident, with a majority of her childhood spent growing up in Picayune, Lindsay became the executive director of the Greater Belhaven Foundation for over 15 years before entering into politics. She would win her first term as Ward 7 councilwoman in 2017 with nearly 68% of the vote over three opponents, and a second term in 2021 with 83% of the vote.
Other notable accomplishments during Lindsay’s tenure as councilwoman include the opening of the Museum Trail, the creation of community improvement districts and supporting pay raises for Jackson’s first responders. Blighted property was cleaned up, miles of roads were repaved and plenty of potholes were filled in Ward 7 due to her advocation.
In 2021, Lindsay also became the first sitting council president to lead the council in suing a mayor. The council sued Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba after negotiations over choosing a vendor for garbage pick-up broke down, leading to an emergency contract with Waste Management that kept garbage collection running.
More recently, Lindsay introduced an ordinance that would effectively ban homeless encampments, but decided to delay a vote “indefinitely” after concluding that more discussion needs to be had with stakeholders.
Thalia Mara Hall repairs: ‘A very harmful series of events’: Thalia Mara Hall, Jackson must re-create trust with promotors
But when asked what she thought was her greatest accomplishment, Lindsay kept it simple:
“I think my biggest accomplishment was getting up everyday and working really hard to meet the needs of the people of Ward 7,” she said. “That to me is my biggest accomplishment, being responsive to my Ward 7 constituents and doing my best to meet those needs. I mean, I couldn’t always get it done because council members don’t have that power, we are legislators. But I certainly did advocate as hard as I could.”
As far as what she would like to have accomplished more of, Lindsay said “if we had all the money in the world and a huge staff” she wished more infrastructure needs were completed. Additionally, she said she wished the city could have avoided entering into the stipulated order that put Jackson’s water system into the hands of the federal government.
“It’s ended up being a good thing (the stipulated order) because we’ve got so much water issues fixed, but gosh I’m sorry that we got to that place,” Lindsay said.
Deciding not to endorse anyone for her Ward 7 seat or as mayor — “I’m staying out of that discussion” — Lindsay said she will be watching the upcoming elections from the sidelines.
However, Lindsay did advise to whoever gets elected to serve on the council to hire a good administrative assistant and thanked her longtime sidekick, Alice Patterson, for her help during her time in office. She also mentioned the importance of having four council members who will vote for claims so the city can pay its bills on time, an issue that has popped up throughout her tenure, but also in recent council meetings.
“The new council needs to work very hard to make sure it has a strong coalition of at least four people who understand that it’s important to vote to keep the city moving forward. Projects that are critical and important and positive and progressive need to be considered fairly and thoroughly by the council. And then also we need to at least make sure there are four people who are willing to vote to pay our bills and vote for claims,” Lindsay said with a chuckle.
“These kinds of considerations are important for the voters to think about too,” she added. “You need people who can work well with others and pay attention to each other and listen and build those relationships. No one council person can do anything alone.”
Is she worried that the council and the city could go in a direction that she wouldn’t agree with if she was still serving?
Casino in Jackson?: Would a casino succeed in Jackson? This group of business and state leaders explains why
“I think that’s a natural progression. I had to consider all of that while I was struggling with the notion of not running and I had to let it go,” Lindsay said. “I’m not going to be able to control that, and it’s left up to the voters at this point in time to determine who they put in that place.”
As the final six months of her second term come to an end, Lindsay is focused on continuing knocking down projects for Ward 7 residents, including blight elimination and infrastructure repairs. Asked what she would like to say to her constituents, Lindsay took a second, then said:
“I am grateful that they trusted me enough to elect me for two terms and I am really proud to have the opportunity to serve them.”
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson MS council president explains decision to not run for reelection