FILE - Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes, D-Gulfport, speaks at a news conference on the gender pay gap at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on March 15, 2017. Williams-Barnes, who was a longtime leader in working to remove a Confederate symbol from the state flag said Monday, May 2, 2022, that she is stepping down to take a job with an advocacy group. She said her last day in the state House will be Sunday. The next day, she will begin work as Mississippi policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)