Madison resident and overall good guy Bill Billingsley issued the following press release:
Billingsley To Run For District 25 State Senate Seat
Madison – Bill Billingsley, a former health care executive
and Republican Party activist from Madison, has announced his intention to run
for the State Senate in District 25 in 2015.
District 25 includes much of Madison and Ridgeland, along with eight
precincts in northeast Jackson.
“I believe that the more people participate at all levels of
government, from voting to serving, the better our government will be.”
Billingsley said, “I believe it’s especially important for people with a
business background to seek elective office.
Government needs to run like a business, and I think I can help that
happen in the Senate.”
Billingsley was an Army Medical Service Corps officer and
health care executive during a 30+ year professional career, the last of which
were spent as an owner and Chief Operating Officer of Gilbert’s Home Health and
Hospice, one of the largest home health companies in the state. He continues to hold ownership interest in
several small businesses in the metro-Jackson area, and is a co-owner of Regent
Real Estate, a commercial real estate group in Mississippi and Colorado. He is
married to the former Stephanie Huggins, the daughter of the late Bunky
Huggins, a longtime State Senator from Greenwood, and together they operate
Mississippi Horses, one of the state’s leading equine rescue organizations. He has two daughters, Jenni and Lauren, who
live in Austin, TX; a step daughter Avery, a senior at Delta State; and, a step
son Michael, a sophomore at Mississippi State.
He holds a bachelors degree in political science from the
University of Central Oklahoma, a masters in health care administration from
Baylor University and a masters in computer resource management from Webster
University. He is on the Madison County
Republican Party Executive Committee and has been active in various Republican
campaigns and conservative issues. He
also served on the board of trustees for Madison Ridgeland Academy and is
currently serving on the board of directors at Empower Mississippi.
28 comments:
This will be a good race. Will it possibly be dirty?
Billingsley will crush Longwitz. Longwitz barely beat Charles freaking Barbour to get the seat in the first place. I guarantee you Longwitz is freaking out at this announcement.
Que the Morman Tabernacle Choir:
Hallelujah
This Jacksonian will be enthusiastically supporting Billingsley. Go get 'em Bill!
Has he officially departed the Chris McDaniel Tea Party movement, or are they considered to be back in the fold with the MS Republican Party now?
I confess to some concern about anything that leads to Longwitz's trying again to become a judge. He is much less harm in the state senate.
But if we must have a Republican (and, in this district, we must), then BB seems like a good choice.
Where can I send a donation? Billingsley has long been a polite voice of reason on this blog.
2:32 it only took Will 5 comments to lob a bomb. And it petered out. Bill is a very pragmatic guy and will be fine. He is conservative , but he is also HIS OWN MAN! This is one Madisonian that will be supporting him.
Billingsley is not just another shill for Chris McDaniel. Billingsley provided the Sworn but highly dubious Affidavit that McDaniel used to ask the Circuit Court to throw out ALL the REPUBLICAN HINDS COUNTY votes in Thad Cochran's race with McDaniel. Now McDaniel wants to take over the Senate through his puppets like Billingsley. Don't it happen! Billingsley is just a McDaniel stooge, no more, no less.
Kind of surprised. BB is a great guy but it takes years to have influence there. Would rather see him run for Madison County Supervisor.
4:41,
Wow you should try your hand at Fiction. You sound like the nuts you are writing about...
Isnt this the same Bill Billingsley that was robo-calling us 4 years ago, imploring us to vote for his friend, Will Longwitz?
I'm glad to have an alternative to Longwitz, but the connection to Chris McDaniel gives me pause.
Witz is a Barbour baby as is his wife.
Both served on Haley's Katrina board where they met
4:41 is the characterture that he tries to paint the Tea Party as being.
As long as the Anti-Haley and ant-out of state influence crowds don't get too worked up over campaign contribution history, he should poll well.
It'll be interesting to see if the field expands on this one. I suspect Billingsley can survive the efforts to tar(baby?) and feather him for aiding and abetting McDaniel. He's always come across as very rational on here. Besides, Longwitz is a pompous ass -- that will be worth at least 10-15 points to a challenger.
Billingsley was pretty rational through the whole McDaniel thing. When it came time to find a "gotcha moment" in Hinds County, he didn't find one, he told the McDaniel camp that, and urged them to call off the fight. They didn't. Look at the vote counts. There were a lot of rational people that voted for McDaniel and then thought he was acting really strange after the run off. In this race, look for Billingsley to distinguish himself as a man of integrity and business experience.
Will Walter Michel run? Was hearing his name a lot.
Longwitz has made enough people mad in just a few short years to warrant a good challenge.
Was Billingsley wearing blinders or does he just have very poor judgment regarding politicians like McDaniel?
Sure, many were attracted to the words of McDaniel at first, but soon saw something not quite right about the man.
Yet, Billingsley, without hesitation, kept supporting him. Poor judgment AND blinders, I suppose.
Billingsley does seem like a nice fellow. I assume this by some of the things he has written in this blog, but I would not vote for him in light of his error in judgment re McDaniel.
Hi Mrs Longwitz.... Um 10:07!!!!
That is funny.
Walter Michel was campaigning last night at a Madison County Chamber function.
A young whipper-snapper who hasn't accomplished anything vs. a seasoned individual who appears to have made a small fortune largely off the government, then upon retirement converts to the small government tea party movement. That's what's so great about politics.
I hope Bill will remember that a lot of good people live in both Jackson and that district. It may be awkward for a candidate to be both pro Madison and NE Jackson, but they should be. This senator could be the person to end the petty territorial squabbling and actually do some good.
The last two names we need in this race are Walter Michel and Charles Barbour.
I hope Amile Wilson will throw his hat in the ring. We need a Senator who will address these repeating 3 foot deep floods that keep devastating our communities year after year.
There are a number of feelings that are immediately stirred in me from this announcement.
1. I'm glad that Witz is being challenged for the seat. It's heartening to see that many of his constituents only needed a few years to see through the bull.
2. Having said that, will Bill be providing an explanation as to why he is challenging the incumbent that he stumped for? I would like to know where the ideological divide between the two lies. This is a serious question. As I recall, Bill did stump pretty hard for Witz during his election.
3. Is Bill going to publicly distance himself from McDaniel? Mississippi needs better centrist Republicans, not other fire-eaters.
2:29 3. Above. AS MUCH AS I WOULD LIKE TO AGREE WITH YOU, THIS BUBBA STATE ELECTS THE MOST CONSERVATIVE, RED MEAT candidates that will run. They even compete for who the biggest bubba is. /they actually brag on "out-rednecking" each other.
How else would a douche like McDenial get any traction?
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