David Ronald Musgrove is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Mississippi from 2000 to 2004. A Democrat,he previously served as the 29th lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 1996 to 2000. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2008 special election for one of Mississippi's seats in the United States Senate,losing to incumbent Senator Roger Wicker. Musgrove is a principal at a public affairs consulting firm,Politics. In 2014,he became founding partner of a new law firm in Jackson,Mississippi,Musgrove/Smith Law. As of 2024,he is the most recent Democrat to hold the office of Governor of Mississippi.
Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice Jr. was an American politician and businessman who served as the 61st governor of Mississippi from 1992 to 2000. He was the first Republican governor of the state since Reconstruction,and the state's first governor elected to two consecutive four-year terms.
William Thad Cochran was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018. A Republican,he previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1978.
Raymond Edwin Mabus Jr. is an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party,he served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017. Mabus previously served as the State auditor of Mississippi from 1984 to 1988,as the 60th governor of Mississippi from 1988 to 1992,and as the United States ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 to 1996.
William Aloysius Allain was an American politician and lawyer who held office as the 59th governor of Mississippi as a Democrat from 1984 to 1988. Born in Adams County,Mississippi,he attended the University of Notre Dame and received a law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1948.
Richard Henderson Molpus Jr. is an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1984 until 1996. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1995 against Republican incumbent Kirk Fordice. He later established a timberland management company. Throughout his public life he has pushed for reforms to support public education and promote racial reconciliation.
Paul Michael Parker is an American businessman and politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi. From 1989 to 1999,he served five terms in Congress as a member of the Democratic Party and,later,the Republican Party.
Rubel Lex Phillips was an American politician and lawyer. He grew up poor in Alcorn County,Mississippi,and graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law. Hailing from a politically active family and initially a member of the Democratic Party,he served as a circuit court clerk from 1952 to 1956 and chaired the Mississippi Public Service Commission from 1956 to 1958. In 1962 Phillips joined the Republican Party. He ran as a Republican in the 1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election,the first person to do so since 1947. Supporting a platform of racial segregation and opposition to the presidential administration of John F. Kennedy,he lost,garnering only 38 percent of the vote.
The Mississippi Republican Party is the Mississippi state affiliate of the United States Republican Party. The party chairman is Frank Bordeaux,and the party is based in Jackson,Mississippi. The original Republican Party of Mississippi was founded following the American Civil War,and the current incarnation of the Mississippi Republican Party was founded in 1956. The party would grow in popularity after the 1964 Civil Rights Act and is currently the dominant party in the state.
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.
Erik Robert Fleming is an American politician who was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives representing the 72nd District from 1999 to 2008. He has been the Democratic nominee twice for one of the state's two U.S. Senate seats. He faced incumbent Republican Thad Cochran in the November 4,2008 general election,and was defeated. Erik was the Director of Policy with the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He now resides in the metro Atlanta area and continues to advocate for African American issues as the host of the podcast,A Moment with Erik Fleming.
The Mississippi Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Mississippi. The party headquarters is located in Jackson,Mississippi.
Patrick Hayes "Pete" Johnson Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who served as State Auditor of Mississippi from 1988 to 1992. Originally a Democrat,he joined the Republican Party in 1989,thus becoming the first Republican to hold statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. He mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1991. He served as Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority from 2002 to 2011.
Jack Raymond Reed Sr. was an American businessman and politician. Born in Tupelo,Mississippi,he served in the United States Army during World War II and earned degrees from Vanderbilt University and New York University before returning home to help run his family's retail business. He later assumed control over their department store after his father's death in 1956. Active in local civic affairs,he chaired the Mississippi Economic Council from 1963 to 1964 and became a vocal proponent for public education. Appointed to the Mississippi Board of Education in 1984,he chaired the body until he decided to run for the office of governor of Mississippi in 1987 as a moderate Republican. Reed lost the general election but performed better than any Republican gubernatorial candidate had in Mississippi in the 20th century to that point. In his later life he continued to advocate for public education. He died in 2016.
The 2008 United States Senate special election in Mississippi was held on November 4,2008. This election was held on the same day of Thad Cochran's re-election bid in the regularly scheduled Class II election. The winner of this special election served the rest of the Senate term,which ended in January 2013. Unlike most Senate elections,this was a non-partisan election in which the candidate who got a majority of the vote won,and if the first-place candidate did not get 50%,a runoff election with the top two candidates would have been held. In the election,no run-off was necessary as Republican nominee and incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Roger Wicker won election to finish the term.
The 1988 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 8,1988. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John C. Stennis decided to retire instead of seeking a seventh full term. Republican Trent Lott won the open seat,becoming the first of his party to win this seat since 1874.
The 2019 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 5,2019,to choose the next governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Governor Phil Bryant was ineligible to run for a third term due to term limits. The Democratic Party nominated incumbent Attorney General Jim Hood,the only Democrat holding statewide office in Mississippi;the Republican Party nominated incumbent Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves. In the general election,Reeves defeated Hood by a margin of 5.08%,with Reeves significantly underperforming Donald Trump,who won the state by 17 points in 2016.
The 1995 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 7,1995 to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Republican Kirk Fordice won reelection to a second term. This is the last time that a gubernatorial nominee and a lieutenant gubernatorial nominee of different political parties were elected governor and lieutenant governor in Mississippi.
The 1991 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 5,1991 to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Democrat Ray Mabus unsuccessfully ran for reelection to a second term. This election marked the first time a Republican was elected Governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction,when Adelbert Ames won the office in 1873.
A special election to determine the member of the United States House of Representatives for Mississippi's 4th congressional district was held on June 23,1981,with a runoff held two weeks later on July 6. Democrat Wayne Dowdy defeated Republican Liles Williams in the runoff by 912 votes. Dowdy replaced Republican U.S. Representative Jon Hinson,who resigned from Congress following his arrest for engaging in sodomy.
