Dean Kirby

Republican Party

Mississippi State Senate District 30

Tenure

1992 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

34

Compensation

Base salary

$23,500/year

Per diem

Senate per diem information was unavailable.

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 7, 2023

Education

Bachelor's

La Salle University

Personal

Religion

Christian: Baptist

Profession

Business owner

Contact

Official website

Personal LinkedIn

Dean Kirby (Republican Party) is a member of theMississippi State Senate, representingDistrict 30. He assumed office in 1992. His current term ends on January 4, 2028.

Kirby (Republican Party) ran for re-election to theMississippi State Senate to representDistrict 30. He won in the general election onNovember 7, 2023.

Kirby was selected to serve aspresident pro tempore at the start of the2020 legislative session and re-elected unanimously at the start of the2024 legislative session.Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison said the president pro tempore is "normally a close ally of the lieutenant governor, and Kirby has certainly served that role for[Lt. Gov. Delbert] Hosemann . . . traditionally the lieutenant governor has influence over who is selected for the post. And [in 2024], Kirby had the backing of Hosemann as he did four years ago." The president pro tempore presides over the Senate when the lieutenant governor is not present, chairs theRules Committee, and is second in the line ofgubernatorial succession behind the lieutenant governor.^[1]

Kirby was born on November 21, 1946, inLake City, Arkansas.^[2] Kirby attended and played basketball at Mississippi College before earning a bachelor's degree from LaSalle University in 1969. He opened Dean Kirby Insurance Agency in 1979 and owned the firm until he retired in 2016.^[3]

Kirby was elected to the Senate in 1992.^[3] In each election from 2007 to 2023, Kirby was unopposed in both the Republican primary and general election. Kirby faced a primary challenger in 2003, who he defeated with 70% of the vote.^[4]Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison said Kirby "has held multiple key positions during his long tenure, including chairmanships of both the Finance and Public Health committees."^[1]

During Kirby's 2024 nomination for the leadership position, Sen.Hillman Frazier (D) said of Kirby: "In this body you have two types of horses: the show horse and work horse. The show horse does stuff for attention. Sen. Dean Kirby is, in fact, a work horse. He works very hard to get things done … He puts policy over personal politics. He is respected by this body."^[1]

Biography

Kirby attended Mississippi College, and earned his bachelor's degree from La Salle University. His professional experience includes owning and operating Dean Kirby Insurance Agency.

Committee assignments

2025-2026

Kirby was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Senate Constitution Committee
• Senate County Affairs Committee
• Senate Ethics Committee
• Finance Committee
• Senate Insurance Committee
• Interstate and Federal Cooperation Committee
• Judiciary, Division A Committee
• Senate Municipalities Committee
• Senate Rules Committee,Chairman
• Senate Corrections Committee

2023-2024

Kirby was assigned to the following committees:

• Compilation, Revision and Publication (decommissioned)
• Congressional Redistricting Committee (decommissioned),Chair
• Economic and Workforce Development Committee
• Finance Committee
• Senate Insurance Committee
• Interstate and Federal Cooperation Committee
• Judiciary, Division A Committee
• Senate Legislative Budget Committee (decommissioned)
• Reapportionment Committee (decommissioned),Chair
• Local and Private Committee,Vice Chair
• Senate Rules Committee,Chair
• Reapportionment Committee (decommissioned),Vice Chair
• Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee (decommissioned)

2020-2021

Kirby was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Insurance Committee
• Interstate and Federal Cooperation Committee
• Judiciary, Division A Committee
• Senate Legislative Budget Committee (decommissioned)
• Local and Private Committee,Vice-Chairman
• Senate Rules Committee,Chairman
• Economic and Workforce Development Committee
• Legislative Budget Committee (decommissioned)
• Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee (decommissioned)
• Finance Committee

2019-2020

Kirby was assigned to the following committees:

• Legislative Budget Committee (decommissioned)
• Housing Committee
• Senate Corrections Committee
• Finance Committee,Vice-Chairman
• Highways and Transportation Committee
• Senate Insurance Committee
• Judiciary, Division A Committee
• Interstate and Federal Cooperation Committee
• Public Health and Welfare Committee,Chairman

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Kirby served on the following committees:

2012-2013

In the 2012-2013 legislative session, Kirby served on these committees:

2010-2011

In the 2010-2011 legislative session, Kirby served on these committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2023

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2023

General election

General election for Mississippi State Senate District 30

IncumbentDean Kirby won election in the general election for Mississippi State Senate District 30 on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dean Kirby (R)	100.0	10,781

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,781
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 30

IncumbentDean Kirby advanced from the Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 30 on August 8, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dean Kirby	100.0	5,787

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,787
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

2019

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2019

General election

General election for Mississippi State Senate District 30

IncumbentDean Kirby won election in the general election for Mississippi State Senate District 30 on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dean Kirby (R)	100.0	13,278

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,278
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 30

IncumbentDean Kirby advanced from the Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 30 on August 6, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dean Kirby	100.0	8,592

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,592
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2015

See also:Mississippi State Senate elections, 2015

Elections for theMississippi State Senate took place in 2015. A primary election was held on August 4, 2015, and the general election was held onNovember 3, 2015. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was February 27, 2015.^[5] No Democratic candidates filed for election. IncumbentDean Kirby was unopposed in the Republican primary. Kirby ran unchallenged in the District 30 general election.

2011

See also:Mississippi State Senate elections, 2011

Kirby won re-election to theMississippi Senate District 30. He ran unopposed in the primary on August 2 and in the general election on November 8, 2011.^[6]

2007

See also:Mississippi State Senate elections, 2007

On November 6, 2007, Dean Kirby ran unopposed for District 30 of theMississippi State Senate.^[7]

Dean Kirby raised $41,100 for his campaign.^[8]

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Dean Kirby did not completeBallotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Dean Kirby did not completeBallotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Mississippi

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Mississippi scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

Personal

Note: Pleasecontact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Kirby and his wife, Jean, have three children.

See also

2023 Elections

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Government

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Newsletters

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External links

Footnotes

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