Wayne Dowdy
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Wayne Dowdy (born July 27, 1943) is a former United States Congressman from Mississippi, United States Senate candidate and currently chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party.
Dowdy was born in Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia.
Dowdy practiced law and owned two local radio stations before being elected Mayor of McComb from 1978-1981.
On July 7, 1981, Dowdy was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in a special election for the 4th District, a mildly significant event because the Democrats recaptured a Southern district from the Republicans. Dowdy carefully managed to avoid drawing strong Republican challengers in the general election or black opponents in the Democratic primary. He won re-election narrowly in 1982 and 1984, with 53% and 55% of the vote, before being re-elected with 72% of the vote in the 1986 elections. He was notable for being a rather progressive Democrat in a district with a 37% African American population; he voted for renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 1982.
In 1988, when John Stennis retired from the Senate Dowdy won the Democratic nomination. His opponent was Republican Congressman Trent Lott. Dowdy was unable to implement his rural strategy. George Bush carried Mississippi 59%-39% and allowed Lott to defeat Dowdy by a 54%-45% margin.
Dowdy attempted to stage a comeback against Governor Ray Mabus in the 1991 Democratic primaries but lost with 41% of the vote. Arguably, his challenge caused Mabus's defeat at the hands of Kirk Fordice, who was Mississippi's first Republican governor of the twentieth century. Detractors from this view contend that a primary candidate who receives only 41% could not be the cause of a general election defeat of a well financed incumbent.
Dowdy was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2004 and became chairperson of the state party in the same year (succeeding Rickey Cole of Ovette in that past). He represents the Democrats of Mississippi's third Congressional district as a member of the State Executive Committee. In that post, he was one of the first state chairpersons to endorse Dr. Howard Dean (with whom he served in Congress) as the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
In 2006, his law partner, Angela Cockerham, was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, representing parts of Amite, Pike, and Wilkinson counties. She is a Democratic candidate for re-election in 2007. Another close ally of Dowdy, attorney William Guy of McComb, who is a Democratic candidate running against incumbent Senator Bob Dearing of Natchez.
Dowdy's trademark slogan as the chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party has been "It's a great time to be a Democrat."
He is married. His wife is named Susan, and they have children. His wife is from Grenada, Mississippi.
He currently practices law in Magnolia, Mississippi. His family owns several radio stations in Mississippi and Louisiana. He is a former staff announcer for television station WJTV-TV in Jackson, Mississippi.
He is a graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He is United Methodist in faith.
