Johnny DuPree, a Democrat, represents District 45 in the Mississippi State Senate, with a term beginning January 6, 2026. Born November 18, 1953, at Fort Benning, he was elected mayor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, becoming the city's first African-American mayor, and served in that office from 2001 to 2017. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Mississippi in 2011, the first African-American major-party gubernatorial nominee in the state since Reconstruction, and later ran unsuccessfully for other offices between 2011 and 2019, recording one win and three losses in that period.