During the 22 years Jeffrey Hulum III spent serving in the U.S. Army, he lived all over the world. When the Gulfport native came back home to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, he saw a huge need in the state’s second largest city and knew he wanted to make a difference.
Hulum was born and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi, in the Gaston Point community and attended Gulfport Public Schools before serving in the Army with six combat deployments and being awarded a Bronze Star.
After retiring from the Army, he came back to his community in Gulfport and founded the nonprofit Extend A Hand, Help a Friend, with the goal of addressing food insecurity in his community.
“I came back home to Mississippi after retiring and I saw a huge need—we were in a food desert,” Hulum told the Mississippi Free Press in an interview on Oct. 6.
Hulum’s nonprofit Extend a Hand, Help a Friend is an organization created to empower, educate and enhance the lives and community integration of youth, elderly and homeless individuals in the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It organizes drives for toiletries and essential items, community food distribution and more to support those on the Gulf Coast facing food insecurity and/or homelessness.
Hulum left to serve in the Army in 1996. When he retired in 2017 and returned home to his community, Hulum said it was exactly the same, if not worse than when he left. This realization was what inspired him to enter the political sphere and run for office.
Hulum currently serves as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives where he represents District 119, which primarily includes Gulfport. He is vice chairman of the Marine Resources Committee and a member of the Ports, Harbors and Airports Committee, Military Affairs Committee, House Tourism Committee and the House Gaming Committee.
Now, he’s running as the Democratic candidate to represent Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Hulum spoke with the Mississippi Free Press via video call on Oct. 6 to discuss his policy positions and why he thinks Mississippians should vote for him to serve as representative for the state’s 4th Congressional District when they cast their ballots on Election Day this Nov. 3.
Fighting Food Insecurity and Investing in Public Schools
Hulum said one of his top priorities if elected is to decrease food insecurity across the coast. In June, his nonprofit partnered with Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall, also a Gulfport native, to distribute 53,000 pounds of food to families on the coast.
“We are the poorest state in this nation and we receive the least amount of resources than any other portion,” Hulum said. “In the 4th Congressional District, we have the most food insecure portion of this state.”
In the state Legislature, Hulum introduced Mississippi House Bill 1367, the Mississippi Farm and Food Security Act of 2026, a bill to establish comprehensive health education in Mississippi schools, enhance nutrition education and to create a Mississippi Farm to Food Bank program. The bill died in committee.
“Food insecurity is destroying their way of life in the state of Mississippi,” Hulum told the Mississippi Free Press.
Jeffrey Hulum III is proud to have attended Gulfport Public Schools and he said he’s made investing taxpayer dollars into South Mississippi’s public schools another key priority of his campaign.
On his campaign website, he pledges to fight to fund public schools, support teachers and expand early childhood education including investments in school infrastructure, broadband access and technical programs.
As a state legislator, Hulum has introduced and supported multiple pieces of education-focused legislation. He said every child in Mississippi deserves access to a quality education, no matter where they live.
Hulum co-sponsored Mississippi House Bill 1126, a bill to provide a $5,000 increase to the teacher salary scale for public school teachers and assistant teachers and to provide an additional $3,000 annual salary supplement to licensed special education teachers employed by a school district. Additionally, he sponsored Mississippi House Bill 1578, a bill to require school districts to adopt a dating violence policy and to incorporate instruction on healthy relationships in mandatory courses. Both bills ended up dying.
He was also a voice of opposition to Mississippi House Bill 1193, an act to prohibit actions related to diversity, equity and inclusion in educational institutions in the state of Mississippi.
Affordability for South Mississippians
Hulum said he strongly supports raising the minimum wage so that working families in Mississippi can have the economical footing to “grow and thrive” and that increasing the federal minimum wage would be a “day one” priority for him.
He believes that Mississippi’s current minimum wage, currently set at the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, is “not enough to sustain life or support life.”
This would be a first step toward making the cost of living more affordable for working Mississippians, Hulum said.
If elected he also plans to push for more flexible parameters that allow people easier access to affordable housing.
“We’ve got to reduce some of the guidelines that allow people to attain houses through their credit. Certain things reduce your credit score (and) do not allow you to qualify for housing. Then we’ll work with housing and make sure any of these apartment complexes, projects that are in dilapidated conditions, have them brought back up to code to give them a safe living environment—give them something they can be proud of with a walkable space,” Hulum said. “But in order to do that, we have to have (an) administration that believes in working on both sides of the aisle and meeting the needs of the people.”
Part of affordability, Hulum said, is increasing Mississippians’ access to affordable healthcare, especially rural Mississippians.
“Mississippians deserve access to quality, affordable healthcare like everybody else,” Hulum said. “Healthcare right now, the issue is the premium is too high. We need to bring down those premiums.”
As a state representative, Hulum sponsored Mississippi House Bill 1381, a bill to expand Medicaid coverage for individuals who are under 65 years of age and whose income is not more than 133% of the federal poverty level.
For Hulum, this is especially important when it comes to healthcare access in Mississippi’s rural communities.
“In rural areas, we need to make sure that they have healthcare that they can actually attain. Some of these rural areas in Mississippi—rural and semi-rural—don’t even have clinics in the area.”
Because of the lack of reliable healthcare access, Hulum said some rural Mississippians have no choice but to drive far away to receive care.
“Depending on their emergency, they may not even make it,” Hulum said. “Then you’ve got to talk about the amount of gas that it costs to get there if they have reliable, adequate transportation. So we need to sew up the healthcare system and make sure that everybody has access to realistic, affordable quality healthcare, no matter what their nationality or what part of the track they live on.”
‘What Mississippi Needs From Congress’
Hulum has publicly opposed Republican-led redistricting efforts in Mississippi. He spoke in opposition to redistricting during a public hearing of the Mississippi Standing Joint Legislative Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Gulfport on Sept. 22, 2026.
“The Callais decision did not say we have to redistrict in the state of Mississippi. When we go back to redistricting the state of Mississippi, it brings us back to an 1890 constitution where it takes the power away from African Americans,” Hulum said when he spoke during the redistricting hearing. “Legislators should not choose their electors; the electors should choose their legislature.”
If elected, Hulum said he pledges to prioritize accessibility and accountability as he believes Mississippians should have the opportunity to speak with their congressmen about key issues and make sure “South Mississippi comes first.”
“What Mississippi needs from Congress is being able to talk to their congressmen,” Hulum said. “They need accountability—being accountable for the resources, and they need to stop being an afterthought.”
Hulum, along with incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell and independent candidate Carl Boyanton will be on the ballot for the 4th Congressional District in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Mississippians will vote for candidates running for federal, regional and local offices in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Mississippians must have registered to vote by Oct. 5 to cast their ballot in the upcoming election. Check your voter registration by visiting sos.ms.gov or by calling your county circuit clerk’s office.
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