Mike Parker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works | |
| In office October 2001 – March 2002 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Joseph Westphal |
| Succeeded by | John Woodley |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMississippi's4th district | |
| In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Wayne Dowdy |
| Succeeded by | Ronnie Shows |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paul Michael Parker (1949-10-31)October 31, 1949 (age 76) Laurel, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic (before 1995) Republican (1995–present) |
| Education | William Carey University (BA) |
Paul Michael Parker (born October 31, 1949) is an American businessman and politician from theU.S. state ofMississippi. From 1989 to 1999, he served five terms in Congress as a member of theDemocratic Party and, later, theRepublican Party.
In1999, he was the Republican nominee forGovernor of Mississippi. He was defeated in a tight election that was decided by theMississippi House of Representatives. He later served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army, with authority over theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Parker was born inLaurel, Mississippi and he graduated fromWilliam Carey College with a BA in English in 1970. Before entering politics, Parker owned and operated a funeral home business, insurance companies, land and timber companies, and a sand, clay and gravel business. Parker was elected to theHouse of Representatives as a Democrat in 1988 following a hard-fought primary with a wide field of contenders. The district includedJackson,Vicksburg,Natchez,McComb, andBrookhaven.
As a Democratic congressman, Parker wore his party ties very loosely. His voting record was conservative even by Mississippi Democratic standards. During Parker's successful 1992 general election campaign, he did not endorse Democratic Presidential candidateBill Clinton. After his re-election in November 1994, Parker voted 'Present' in the election forSpeaker of the House in 1995 instead of voting for the House Democratic leaderRichard Gephardt.
On November 10, 1995, Parker joined the Republican Party. Although his district was almost 40 percent African-American—one of the highest percentages for a Republican-held district—Parker was reelected with little difficulty in 1996. He did not run for re-election in 1998 in order to focus on his bid forGovernor of Mississippi.
In the1999 gubernatorial election Parker had almost 9,000 fewer votes than his Democratic opponent,Lieutenant GovernorRonnie Musgrove. However, due to the presence of two minor candidates, Musgrove came up a few thousand votes short of a majority. Under thestate constitution, a gubernatorial candidate must win a majority of the popular vote and a majority ofstate house districts. Each candidate carried 61 of the 122 state house districts. The election was thus decided by the state house, where the Democrats had a supermajority at the time. However, Parker refused to concede, and the House elected Musgrove 86-36 along partisan lines.[1]
Parker was appointed byGeorge W. Bush asAssistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), with oversight of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has numerous projects in Parker's home state of Mississippi. Parker was one of the first political casualties of the Bush administration's heavily centralized management style when he spoke out to promote the Corps of Engineers priorities and was then asked to leave in the summer of 2002. In recent years Parker has been a Washington lobbyist, specializing in infrastructure issues.
In August 2020, Parker endorsed DemocratJoe Biden for President, along with 26 other former Republican members of Congress.[2]
In 2023, Parker endorsed DemocratBrandon Presley for the2023 Mississippi gubernatorial election. He appeared in a campaign commercial titled "Republicans" which featured various Republicans espousing their support for Presley.[3][4]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMississippi's 4th congressional district 1989–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Mississippi 1999 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works 2001–2002 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
