Theodore Gilmore Bilbo was an American politician who twice served as governor of Mississippi and later was elected a U.S. Senator (1935–1947). A demagogue and lifelong Democrat,he was a filibusterer whose name was synonymous with white supremacy. Like many Southern Democrats of his era,Bilbo believed that black people were inferior;he defended segregation,and was a member of the Ku Klux Klan,the United States' largest white supremacist terrorist organization. He also published a pro-segregation work,Take Your Choice:Separation or Mongrelization.
Fielding Lewis Wright was an American politician who served as the 19th lieutenant governor and 49th and 50th governor of Mississippi. During the 1948 presidential election he served as the vice presidential nominee of the States' Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats) alongside presidential nominee Strom Thurmond. During his political career he fought to maintain racial segregation,fighting with President Harry S. Truman over civil rights legislation,and holding other racist views.
The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature,the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate,along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives,convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson.
The Mississippi Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The bicameral Legislature is composed of the lower Mississippi House of Representatives,with 122 members,and the upper Mississippi State Senate,with 52 members. Both representatives and senators serve four-year terms without term limits. The Legislature convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson.
The lieutenant governor of Mississippi is the second-highest ranking elected executive officer in the U.S. state of Mississippi,below the governor of Mississippi,and is the only official in the state to be a member of two branches of state government. The office of lieutenant governor was established when Mississippi became a state in 1817,abolished for a few decades in the first half of the 19th century,and restored later in the century. The lieutenant governor serves a four-year term with a two consecutive term limit. The current lieutenant governor is Delbert Hosemann,a Republican,who has held the office since 2020.
Bradford Johnson Dye Jr. was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1980 until 1992. Dye was the only individual in state history to have served as lieutenant governor for 12 consecutive years.
Edythe Evelyn Gandy was an American attorney and politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1976 to 1980. A Democrat who held several public offices throughout her career,she was the first woman elected to a statewide constitutional office in Mississippi. Born in Hattiesburg,she attended the University of Mississippi School of Law as the only woman in her class. Following graduation,she took a job as a research assistant for United States Senator Theodore Bilbo. She briefly practiced law before being elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives,where she served from 1948 to 1952. Defeated for re-election,she worked as director of the Division of Legal Services in the State Department of Public Welfare and Assistant Attorney General of Mississippi until she was elected State Treasurer of Mississippi in 1959.
Ralph Hindman Doxey is an attorney and a Republican politician in the Mississippi Senate who represented the 2nd district which encompasses Benton,Marshall and Tippah counties from 2004 to 2008.
Cindy Hyde-Smith is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Mississippi since 2018. A member of the Republican Party,she was previously the Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce and a member of the Mississippi State Senate.
Robert Montgomery Dearing was an American politician,educator,and businessman who served in the Mississippi Senate as a member of the Democratic Party.
Wendell Hobdy "Hob" Bryan II is an American politician who has been a member of the Mississippi State Senate from the 7th District since 1984. A Democrat,he is the longest serving member in the upper chamber.
Barbara Anita Blackmon is an American lawyer and politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate,representing the 21st district from 1992 to 2004 and from 2016 to 2024. She was also the Democratic Party's nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 2003,losing to Amy Tuck.
Sarita Simmons is an American politician,serving in the Mississippi State Senate from the 13th district since 2020.
Nellah Izora Massey Bailey was an American politician and librarian. She was the first lady of Mississippi from 1944 to 1946 and the Mississippi state tax collector from 1948 to 1956. A member of the Democratic Party,she was the first woman elected to statewide office in Mississippi.
Betty Jane Long was an American politician and attorney who served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1956 to 1984. A member of the Democratic Party,she was one of few women legislators in Mississippi during her time in the House. She chaired several committees and subcommittees,including a subcommittee on the Equal Rights Amendment,which she opposed. After her retirement from the House,Long was appointed to a committee that drafted a proposal for a new Constitution of Mississippi.
Barbara Young Yancy was an American politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate from 1971 to 1972. A member of the Democratic Party,she won the special election to fill the Senate seat of her husband,Jesse L. Yancy Jr.,who died in 1970. She later worked for Governor Cliff Finch as the director of the Governor's Action Line,a state-run helpline.
Richard Henry Lee Davis was a Democratic Mississippi state legislator in the early 20th century.
Fred Jones was a cotton planter,state legislator,and prison warden in Mississippi. He lived in Inverness,Mississippi. A Democrat,he was state senator from 1944 to 1960 then member of the House of Representatives from 1962 to 1966 representing Sunflower County. He served on the Executive Committee of Citizens Council. He was a prison reformer.
