Former Mississippi State Sen. John Polk, a Republican from Hattiesburg and the former chairman of the Senate Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee who killed an effort to restore the state’s ballot initiative in 2023, died on Monday at age 77.
He said he killed the ballot-initiative bill at the time because he feared Mississippians would use it to repeal the state’s right-to-work law and because the House and Senate could not come to an agreement over language in the legislation.
The chairman said it “was disturbing to me” that House lawmakers removed language from the bill that would have prohibited voters from altering Mississippi’s right-to-work law.
“They took that out of the bill we sent, and that was disturbing to me because I’m not sure why they did it,” he told the Mississippi Free Press in March 2023. “Mississippi needs and should be a right-to-work state.”
That legislation would have restored the option for citizen-led ballot initiatives after the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down the old system in 2021.
Polk began serving Mississippi Senate District 44 in 2012 and retired from the Senate after lawmakers redrew his district following a court order in the 2025 legislative session. The Senate honored his time in the Legislature with two resolutions in April 2025.
“I’m going to go home, and I’m going to be a regular old citizen,” he said on April 3, 2025. “And that’s a good thing to be, especially when I know that there are you, the Senate of Mississippi, (have) the best interest of our state at heart. You’re methodical, you’re wise, you’re thoughtful—there’s no knee jerk. We do things right, and I trust each one of you with my future, my children’s future and my grandchildren’s future. Thank you for letting me serve with you for 14 years. It’s been the best 14 of my life.”
When Polk retired last year, Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, commended him for his years of work in the Senate, calling him “Dr. No” in reference to Polk’s often firm opposition to legislation he disagreed with.
“I can’t say enough about ‘Dr. No.’ Sen. Polk is a friend to all of us. Every one of us in this chamber has enjoyed working with him,” Kirby said last year.
The senator served on several other committees throughout his time at the Capitol, including the Senate Medicaid Committee and the Senate Education Committee.
Polk was born in Columbia, Mississippi, attended Prentiss High School in Prentiss, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was also an executive at his family’s business, Polk Meat Products.
“We will always remember him for his unwavering dedication to Mississippi, his strong convictions, and his willingness to say what needed to be said even when it was difficult,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said in a Monday social-media post. “As chairman of the Senate Business and Financial Institutions Committee and vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he was always a steady leader and a voice of reason.”
During the 2025 legislative session, Polk cosponsored the Senate’s tax-reform bill, Senate Bill 3095; dozens of appropriations bills; and a bill to allow online, remote notarization, Senate Bill 2456, among many others. He also cosponsored Senate Bill 2845, which would require the State to suspend a business’ permit to sell alcohol, beer or light wine if the premises of the business have been the setting of two violent deaths and re-vote on the permit if three violent deaths occur. All of those bills died on deadline days.
“Honesty means a lot to me. Senator John Polk was honest,” Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Picayune, said in a Monday social-media post. “He was a family man and smart business man. He had common sense. He stood for something good. I’m honored that he considered me his friend, not just his colleague. He trusted me, and I trusted him. Can’t say that for everybody I’ve worked with.”
In 2024, Polk introduced a controversial bill that would have required three Mississippi universities to close, but that bill failed.
“(A)nyone that knew John knew that he was probably most proud of having the same football seats since 1971,” Polk’s obituary says. “John was a devoted husband and father, as well as a loving ‘Big J’ to his grandchildren. RV trips to Paul B Johnson, Idaho, or just tailgating at a Southern Miss football game were opportunities he saw to pour into his grandchildren. John would tell people that the only reason he got into politics was to help ensure a good future for his grandkids.”
In early 2025, Polk made headlines for a verbal back-and-forth with Mississippi State Auditor Shad White, who chastised him and other lawmakers for not holding hearings on Mississippi’s massive welfare scandal since it became public in 2020.
Gov. Tate Reeves said he and his wife, Elee Reeves, had been friends with Polk and Polk’s wife Jan “for as long as I can remember.”
“John was one of those few people that always knew he could tell me his exact opinion on any topic before state government,” Gov. Tate Reeves said in a Tuesday social-media post. “I respected his opinion because he was a successful businessman long before he got into politics. He wasn’t afraid to make a decision, and he wasn’t afraid to tell our friends ‘no’ when it was best for our state.”
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