Barbara Blackmon

Barbara Anita Blackmon ( Martin, born December 7, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician who served in the Mississippi State Senate, representing the 21st district from 1992 to 2004 and from 2016 to 2024. She was also the Democratic Party's nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 2003, losing to Amy Tuck.

Early life and education Barbara Martin was born on December 7, 1955, in Jackson, Mississippi. She was the seventh of nine children of farmer and lumber mill worker Julious Martin (died 1999) and his wife, homemaker Willie Thelma (Barnes) Martin (1921-2012). Neither of her parents had graduated from high school, although her mother later obtained her G.E.D. at the age of 50. She won a special election, held on March 10, 1992, to replace District 20 Senator Bob Montgomery, who had resigned to "settle an ethics dispute". Edward did not expect her to win the election due to the district being majority-white. one of the redrawn districts. Regardless, Blackmon was sworn in in January 1993, and was the vice-chairwoman of the Senate's Finance Committee, where she directed millions of dollars to benefit to minority business owners, historically black colleges and universities, and small businesses. She was the first woman to hold the vice-chair of the Senate's Finance Committee. She was, also, appointed by Lieutenant Governor Eddie Briggs to serve on the powerful Legislative Budget Committee. She was the first woman appointed to that position. The term ended in January 1996.

After her term began in 1996, Blackmon was the Vice Chairman of the Constitution Committee as well as Local & Private Committee, and served on many others, including Appropriations; County Affairs; Highways & Transportation; Insurance; Investigative State Offices; Judiciary; and Municipalities. The bill was opposed by only three Democrats: Willie Simmons, Robert Johnson, and Blackmon (all also supporters of Briggs in the 1995 election).

For the 1998 session, Blackmon supported giving increased salaries to teachers. She also supported using more money to improve Mississippi's colleges and universities, although she criticized satellite campuses as she considered that the colleges that had them were "spreading themselves too thin".

1999-2003 In 1999, Blackmon ran for re-election to the Senate, and was unopposed in the Democratic primary and general elections. After her term began in 2000, Blackmon became the Chairman of the State Library Committee and the Vice Chairman of the Insurance Committee. The redrawing process was closed to everyone but the federal and state governments. In order to open up the redistricting process to the public, Blackmon proposed identical $250,000 amendments of budget bills of different agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the Department of Archives and History, that would give the general public access to state data and computers so individual citizens could create their own plans for redistricting. She campaigned around Mississippi "for months" following her announcement. She said that her main priority as lieutenant governor would be economic development and creating jobs. In part due to her lucrative law practice, Blackmon had raised $735,147 in her campaign, while Roberts had raised only about $225,000.

Blackmon won the primary and Democratic nomination, with 57 percent of the vote compared to Roberts' 37 percent and Brown's 9 percent. She became the first black person to win the Democratic Party nomination for a Mississippi statewide office, and the first black person of a major party to be nominated for lieutenant governor of Mississippi since Alexander K. Davis (who was impeached in 1876).

On the election on November 4, Blackmon lost the election to Tuck, receiving 37 percent of the vote compared to Tuck's 61 percent. Blackmon cited her race as a factor in her loss, publicly stating, "It is my belief … that if my pigmentation were different, I would be the lieutenant governor of this state."

In between terms - 2004-2015 Blackmon's Senate term ended in January 2004. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day of that year, Blackmon criticized the state's incumbent governor, Republican Haley Barbour, for his Cabinet appointments; out of 12 spots, all officials were male and all but two were white.

2015-2019 In 2015, Blackmon ran again to represent District 21 in the Senate. On August 4, 2015, she competed against two-term incumbent Kenneth Wayne Jones (also of Canton) in the Democratic primary. Jones considered challenging the results of the election due to the closeness of the votes and apparent inconsistencies in how the votes were counted. As no Republicans were running in the district, Blackmon's primary victory was tantamount to the election, and she took office in January 2016.

2019-2023 In 2019, Blackmon ran unopposed in both the Democratic primary and general election and was re-elected to represent the 21st district for the 2020-2024 term. During this term, Blackmon chaired the Housing Committee, and was the vice chair of the Judiciary B Committee for one (1) year and then became vice chair of Highways and Transportation.. In 2023, Blackmon initially filed for re-election alongside her son, Bradford; however, Blackmon dropped out, enabling Bradford to run unopposed for the primary.