Ellis Bodron

Ellis Barkett Bodron (October 25, 1923 &ndah; February 18, 1997) was a veteran Democratic member of both houses of the Mississippi state legislature between 1948 and 1984. He was legally blind.

Ellis Barkett Bodron
Born	October 25, 1923 Vicksburg, Mississippi
Died	February 18, 1997 Jackson, Mississippi
Political Party	Democrat

Bodron practiced law for a half century in his native Vicksburg in Warren County in western Mississippi. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1948 to 1952 and in the Mississippi State Senate from 1952 to 1984. He was named Senate Finance Committee chairman in 1964 by then Lieutenant Governor Carroll Gartin (1913-1966). He continued as chairman until he left the Senate in 1984 after losing a bid for re-election the preceding year. For the last dozen years of his life, Bodron was a lobbyist for the liquor, tobacco, health care, and insurance industries.

Bodron was the Democratic nominee in 1972 for the United States House of Representatives for Mississippi's 4th congressional district. He was defeated by the Republican Thad Cochran, who six years later was elected to the United States Senate, in which he still serves after a heated runoff election against state Senator Chris McDaniel in 2014.

He died of brain cancer in the Mississippi Baptist Medical Center in the capital city of Jackson, Mississippi, and was survived by his wife, Jane Workman Bodron of Vicksburg; a son, Lawrence E. Bodron of Vicksburg; a daughter, Helen E. Bodron, and three sisters.