Billy Hudson
| Billy C. Hudson, Sr. | |
 | |
Mississippi State Senator
for District 45 (Forrest and Perry counties) | |
| In office January 2008 – January 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Tom King |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Chris Johnson |
| Born | June 16, 1938 Hattiesburg, Mississippi |
| Citizenship | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Lee Hudson |
| Children | Five children |
| Residence | Hattiesburg, Mississippi |
| Alma mater | University of Southern Mississippi |
| Occupation | Retired rancher and businessman |
| Religion | Baptist |
Billy C. Hudson, Sr. (born June 16, 1938), is a retired rancher from his native Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who has since 2008 represented District 45 in the Mississippi State Senate. A Republican, his district includes Forrest and Perry counties in the southern portion of his state.[1]
Hudson attended the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. He is a former alderman in Magee, Mississippi, and a past Forrest County supervisor (1999-2008), a position akin to the county commissioner in other states. In addition to ranching, he is the former proprietor of Hudson Salvage. A Baptist, he and his wife, the former Kelley Porter, have five children and ten grandchildren.[2]
Hudson was elected without opposition to the state Senate in November 2007, when the incumbent Tom King did not seek reelection. In 2015, Hudson won his third term in the Senate by defeating the Reform Party candidate, Eli Jackson, 11,753 votes (86.8 percent) to 1,784 (13.2 percent). No Democrat filed to run in his heavily Republican district.[3] Hudson is the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and the vice chairman of the County Affairs Committee. he also sits on these committees: (1) Agriculture, (2) Education, (3) Environmental Protection, Conservation, and Water Resources, (4) Labor, and (5) Veterans and Military Affairs.[2]
In 2008, Senator Hudson voted to require photo identification as a condition for voting in Mississippi. In 2009, he voted to increase the cigarette tax. In 2010, he sponsored the bill to establish charter schools in Mississippi. In 2011, he voted to place restrictions on employers who hire illegal aliens. In 2013, he co-sponsored the requirement that physicians administer abortion prescriptions. In 2014, he voted to prohibit abortions in Mississippi past twenty weeks of gestation of the unborn. He also backed the proposal that abortion counseling not be mentioned by crisis pregnancy centers in the state, but that measure failed to gain Senate approval.[4]
In 2016, Hudson voted to prohibit state funds to the large abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. He did not vote on HB 1523, which attempts to guarantee within Mississippi protections for religious beliefs and matters of moral conscience in regard to Christians being mandated to service homosexual activities. He did not vote on the issue of prohibiting local governments from establishing sanctuary city policies. In 2017, he backed the legislation which authorizes additional methods of execution in Mississippi and co-sponsored another measure to declare as a hate crime the targeting of law-enforcement officers by the lawless element. He voted to retain a private contractor to audit Medicaid.[4]
See also
Other Mississippi Republican state senators (incomplete listing):
- Chris Caughman
- Dennis DeBar
- Sally Doty
- Joey Fillingane
- Angela Hill
- Dean Kirby
- Philip Moran
- Joseph Seymour
- Michael Watson
- Charles Younger
References
- ↑ Billy Hudson. Billstatus.ls.state.ms.us. Retrieved on October 18, 2017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Billy Hudson, Sr.'s Biography. Retrieved on October 17, 2017.
- ↑ Billy Hudson. Ballotpedia.org. Retrieved on October 18, 2017.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Billy Hudson, Sr.'s Voting Records. Project Vote Smart. Retrieved on October 17, 2017.
