Jane Kidd (politician)

Last updated

David Kidd
(m. 1974)
Jane Kidd
Jane Kidd (1594727160).jpg
Kidd in 2007
Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia
In office
January 2007 January 2011
Children2
Parent
Education

Jane Vandiver Kidd (born February 12, 1953) is a retired American politician from Georgia.

Contents

Early life and family

Kidd was born Jane Brevard Vandiver on February 12, 1953, in Atlanta to Sybil Elizabeth "Betty" (née Russell; 1927–2018), a daughter of federal judge Robert Lee Russell, and Ernest Vandiver (1918–2005, an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II and former mayor of Lavonia, Georgia, who was serving as the state's adjutant general under Governor Herman Talmadge. Through her mother, she was a granddaughter of Richard Russell Sr., a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and a grandniece of U.S. Senator and former governor Richard Russell Jr. [1] Her father successfully ran for lieutenant governor in the 1954 election, and, subsequently, in 1958, he was elected governor, serving in that position until 1963. Kidd attended Queens College (now Queens University of Charlotte), and graduated from the University of Georgia, where she received a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Kidd married David Alexander Kidd in 1974. The couple settled in Lavonia and went on to have two children: Frances Elizabeth Kidd Hogan (born 1979) and David Alexander Kidd Jr. ({born 1982).

Career

Kidd started her career as a disc jockey at WNEG (AM) and later worked at the University of Georgia public television (WUGA-TV).

She worked at Clemson University in South Carolina, as a television and radio editor, and then returned to UGA to begin working as a national media relations director for several colleges and universities, and the MacArthur Foundation.

Kidd was elected in 1980 in Lavonia City Council, serving three two-year terms. In 1986, she moved to Athens, Georgia and worked for Gehrung Associates, as a media relations consultant for the Keene, NH firm. In 1992, she served as campaign manager for Don Johnson Jr.'s successful run for Congress, and served as his district director during his one term in Congress. In 1996 Kidd returned to UGA as fundraiser and alumni director for The State Botanical Garden of Georgia and the Grady College of Journalism. In 2004, Kidd ran for Georgia House of Representatives for the 115th district and won against Republican candidate Bill Cowsert, but after a single term in the House, lost her bid for Georgia Senate District 46 to Cowsert. Kidd was then elected chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia in 2007, which she would lead until 2011.

Kidd returned to higher education public relations in 2012 when she became Special Assistant to the President of Piedmont University in Demorest and Athens, Georgia. Kidd received a Masters in Media Technology in 2016 from Piedmont University. Kidd retired from Piedmont University in 2019.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athens, Georgia</span> Consolidated city–county in Georgia, United States

Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about 70 miles (110 km) northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an R1 research institution, is in Athens and contributed to its initial growth. In 1991, after a vote the preceding year, the original City of Athens abandoned its charter to form a unified government with Clarke County, referred to jointly as Athens–Clarke County where it is the county seat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Georgia</span> Public university in Athens, Georgia, US

The University of Georgia is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is one of the oldest public universities in the United States. It is the flagship school of the University System of Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Vandiver</span> American politician from Georgia (1918–2005)

Samuel Ernest Vandiver Jr. was an American Democratic Party politician who was the 73rd governor of Georgia from 1959 to 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Crenshaw Barrow Jr.</span> American mathematician

David Crenshaw "Uncle Dave" Barrow Jr. served as chancellor of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1906 until his resignation in 1925.

Charles Mercer Snelling was the chancellor of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, from 1925 to 1932 and the first chancellor of the Georgia Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (1932–1933). All UGA leaders after Snelling have been referred to as president.

Steadman Vincent Sanford was President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1932 until 1935. He subsequently served as Chancellor of the University System of Georgia from 1935 until 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Clark Rogers</span>

Jonathan Clark Rogers was President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1949 until 1950.

The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is a constituent college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. Established in 1915, Grady College offers undergraduate degrees in journalism, advertising, public relations, and entertainment and media studies, and master's and doctoral programs of study. Grady has consistently been ranked among the top schools of journalism education and research in the U.S.

Omer Clyde "O.C." Aderhold was President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens from 1950 until 1967.

Frederick Corbet "Fred" Davison was the President of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens. He served in that capacity from 1967 until his resignation in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Boynton Knapp</span> American academic

Charles Boynton "Chuck" Knapp was the president of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, United States. He served in that capacity from 1987 until his resignation in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Russell Sr.</span> American judge

Richard Brevard Russell Sr. was an American lawyer, legislator, jurist, and candidate for political office. He is the patriarch of the Russell Family of Georgia, a notable 20th century Georgia political family.

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies is an archive of political and historical primary documents relating to the modern American political system. The Russell Library is one of three Special Collections Libraries located in the Richard B. Russell Building on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens. The address is 300 S. Hull Street. The Russell Library is a department within the University of Georgia Libraries that reports to the University Librarian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Cecil Woodruff</span> American football player and coach (1888–1968)

George Cecil "Kid" Woodruff Sr. was an American businessman and college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Georgia from 1923 to 1927, compiling a record of 30–16–1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leila Ross Wilburn</span> American architect

Leila Ross Wilburn (1885–1967) was an early 20th-century architect, one of the first women in Georgia to enter that profession.

The Russell family is an American family from Georgia that has held prominent positions both in the United States government and the Georgia government. The family was a wealthy land-owning family until the end of the American Civil War, when they lost a large amount of their assets, like many others in the southern plantation class. The family later entered politics and rebuilt their family's prominence through holding political office.

Spencer Robert Frye serves in the Georgia General Assembly as the state representative for Georgia House District 122. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

William Stone Cowsert is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A member of the Republican Party, Cowsert serves in the Georgia State Senate, representing the 46th district. He is the most senior member of the Senate Republican Caucus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy V. Harris</span> American politician (1895–1985)

Roy Vincent Harris was an American politician and newspaper publisher in the U.S. state of Georgia during the mid-1900s. From the 1920s until the 1940s, Harris served several terms in both the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia State Senate, and he served as the speaker of the house from 1937 to 1940 and again from 1943 to 1946. Historian Harold Paulk Henderson has called Harris "one of Georgia's most capable behind-the-scenes politicians".

References

  1. "Jane Vandiver Kidd Papers". sclfind.libs.uga.edu. Retrieved June 12, 2024.