From staff reports

Ceola James has announced her candidacy for Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Central District 1 Place 3.

She will be opposed in the Nov. 4 general election by incumbent and Chief Justice James W. Smith of Brandon and attorney Jim Kitchens of Crystal Springs. Candidates for state Supreme Court appear on ballots without partisan affiliation.

A lifelong resident of Vicksburg, James served as 9th District Chancery Court judge in its Greenville seat from January 1999 to December 2002. Also, she served an appointment as interim Southern District Justice Court judge in Warren County in 1997 and special master judge in Warren County Chancery Court from 1992 to 1994.

Other appointments include Special Chancery Court judgeships in Scott and Rankin counties. In 2003, she served a special appointment as city judge in Port Gibson.

James is a graduate of Mississippi College of Law. Before law school, she studied French at the University of Montreal in Quebec, Canada.

She is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Phi Delta Psi, a national honorary French society.

James is also a member of the board of trustees of Mount Heroden Baptist Church.

Counties included in District 1 are Bolivar, Claiborne, Copiah, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Jefferson, Kemper, Lauderdale, Leake, Madison, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Sunflower, Warren, Washington and Yazoo.