Kirk Fordice

Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice, Jr. (February 10, 1934–September 7, 2004) was a politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi. He was the governor of Mississippi from 1992 until 2000.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Fordice was elected auditor of Mississippi in 1991, defeating Democrat Pete Johnson, who was related to several former governors. He won the governorship of Mississippi later in the 1991 election, first winning the Republican primary against former congressman Wayne Dowdy and in the general election against Democratic incumbent Ray Mabus, making him the first Republican to be elected governor since the Reconstruction era. (The last Republican governor was Adelbert Ames, who served from 1874 to 1876.) Fordice successfully won re-election in 1995 against Democratic Mississippi secretary of state Dick Molpus. He advocated tax cuts, the abolishment of race quotas, reductions in the welfare system, capital punishment, tougher prison conditions and the building of more prison cells. He died of leukemia in Jackson, Mississippi at the age of 70.

References

• The Associated Press. "Kirk Fordice, 70, Former Governor of Mississippi." The New York Times. September 8, 2004.