Rep. Chip Pickering (R) Elected 1996, 5th term
Born:	Aug. 10, 1963, Laurel
Home:	Hebron
Education:	MS Col., 1981-82, U. of MS, B.A. 1986, Baylor U., M.B.A. 1988
Religion:	Baptist
Marital Status:	married (Leisha)
Professional Career:	Baptist missionary, Budapest, Hungary, 1986-87; Spec. Asst. to the Admin. & Asst. Coord., East European & Soviet Secretariat, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1989-90; Legis. Aide, U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, 1990-94.
DC Office	229 CHOB20515, 202-225-5031; Fax: 202-225-5797; Web site: www.house.gov/pickering
State Offices	Brookhaven, 601-823-3400; Meridian, 601-693-6681; Natchez, 601-442-2515; Pearl, 601-932-2410; Rankin, 601-932-2410; Starkville, 662-324-0007.
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Mississippi, old and new: The old Mississippi is the Neshoba County fair, held every August since 1892 in the town of Philadelphia. This is traditionally the place where Mississippi politicians announce their candidacies, with the crowds watching to take their measure. When Ronald Reagan came here in 1980 and Michael Dukakis in 1988, neither mentioned what Philadelphia and Neshoba County are best known for nationally, nor is there any memorial except engraved stones at two black churches. It was here during the "Freedom Summer" of 1964 that three civil rights workers, two white and one black, were murdered for the crime of urging black American citizens to register and vote. In June 2005, a jury of nine whites and three blacks convicted Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year old preacher and saw mill operator, of manslaughter in the murders; many local residents breathed a sigh of relief, though some wondered about taking action against such an old man. The new Mississippi is some 80 miles away, in Rankin and Madison Counties east and north of Jackson, where subdivisions, shopping centers and office complexes are sprouting up in the countryside, as well as the big new Nissan plant in Canton.

The 3d Congressional District of Mississippi includes the Rankin and south Madison County suburbs of Jackson, plus the affluent neighborhoods of northeast Jackson in Hinds County. It stretches north to Starkville, home of Mississippi State University, and south almost to Laurel. In the southwest it reaches over to include Natchez, where antebellum mansions sit on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. In the middle are Neshoba County and Meridian, a small city that may go down in history as the site of departures of two White House chiefs of staff: Here Richard Nixon informed Bob Haldeman that he was out in April 1973 and here John Sununu penned his letter of resignation to George H. W. Bush in December 1991. The political tradition here was Southern Democratic, but the area's recent preference has been strongly Republican: Mississippi, old and new.

The congressman from the 3d District is Chip Pickering, a Republican first elected in 1996. He grew up in Laurel where he worked on the family dairy and catfish farm and attended public schools. His father, Judge Charles Pickering, was defeated for reelection as prosecutor in the 1968 after testifying against a Ku Klux Klan leader--something that took great courage in those days. The senior Pickering later was a state senator and state Republican chairman, and was nominated by George H. W. Bush to be a federal district judge and then confirmed without controversy by the Democratic-controlled Senate. When George W. Bush nominated him to be a federal appeals court judge, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted him down on party lines in March 2002; Chip Pickering said that Senator John Edwards had "distorted the facts." Bush renominated Charles Pickering again in 2003, and Chip Pickering worked hard to convince members of the Congressional Black Caucus to go along, but he was unsuccessful; in early 2004, Bush gave him a recess appointment, but Pickering had to step down at the end of the year.

Chip Pickering was more interested in football than politics at college; after that, he spent 17 months as a Southern Baptist missionary in then-Communist Hungary. He worked at the Agriculture Department in the administration of Bush the elder and worked on Senator Trent Lott's staff on telecommunications issues. In 1995, Congressman Sonny Montgomery, a Democrat who mostly voted with Republicans, announced that he would retire in 1996 after 30 years in the House. Chip Pickering returned to Mississippi and ran for the seat. Against nine Republicans and three Democrats, he made use of his party ties: His father's executive director at the state party had been Haley Barbour, Republican National Committee chairman from 1993 to 1997 and, since January 2004, governor. In the primary Pickering ran first in 13 of 19 counties, and won 27% of the vote; former state Representative Bill Crawford, with 24%, was second. Pickering won the runoff 56%-44% with big margins in the Jackson suburbs. Against 29-year-old John Arthur Eaves Jr., son of a well-known lawyer and Democratic politician, Pickering, age 33, spent more than $1 million in the general, twice what Eaves spent, and won 61%-36%.

In the House, Pickering has a conservative voting record, and his Capitol Hill contacts led to assignment on the Energy and Commerce Committee in his second term. As co-chairman of the Congressional Wireless Caucus, he sought increased focus on the industry's concerns: Competition, public safety, privacy and the spectrum. Although an opponent of the Tauzin-Dingell bill to enable the regional Bells to offer broadband service, he backed off when House passage became certain. On the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, Pickering sought to preempt state regulation of the growing Internet phone industry; after Congress failed to act, he praised the FCC when it asserted exclusive control in November 2004.

Redistricting placed Pickering in the same district with two-term Democrat Ronnie Shows in 2002. Democratic strategists hoped Shows could run as a populist, denouncing the executives of WorldCom, the bankrupt telecommunications giant that was headquartered just west of Jackson. He called for trade protections, attacked Republicans on Social Security, and distanced himself from national Democrats on gun control and abortion. But the new 3d District, though 33% black, had voted 64% for George W. Bush in 2000; 59% of its voters had been represented by Pickering and just 41% by Shows. Pickering raised twice as much money and ran the more skillful campaign. He voiced sympathy for WorldCom workers and brought in George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. He criticized Shows for taking a contribution from Hillary Rodham Clinton, and said that a vote for Shows was a vote for Dick Gephardt for Speaker. And Pickering wasn't shy about criticizing Shows for his lukewarm support for his father's nomination. In the end, it wasn't close. Pickering won 64%-35%. He won 71%-28% in his old territory and 53%-45% in Shows's.

Pickering's victory increased his prominence in the House and raised the possibility he might some day run for the Senate. In July 2003, Pickering revealed that he rejected a $1 million job offer to become president of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, saying that "public service is where I get a sense of mission." He remains a possible successor to either Lott or his colleague Thad Cochran. He would have many factors going for him, including resentment over the opposition to his father's nomination and his own proven campaign skills.

Committees

• Energy & Commerce (Vice Chmn. of 31 R): Energy & Air Quality; Health; Oversight & Investigations; Telecommunications & the Internet.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	5	5	0	0	90	51	100	92	76	92	--
2003	5	--	0	0	--	60	97	87	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	9%	--	84%		26%	--	74%
Social	30%	--	65%		25%	--	73%
Foreign	38%	--	60%		25%	--	68%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Chip Pickering (R)	234,874	80%	$832,981
	Jim Giles (I)	40,426	14%	$300
	Lamonica Magee (Ref)	18,068	6%
2004 primary	Chip Pickering (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Chip Pickering (R)	139,329	64%	$3,071,410
	Ronnie Shows (D)	76,184	35%	$1,439,921
	Other	3,638	2%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (73%); 1998 (85%); 1996 (61%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 203,376 (65%) Kerry (D) 106,455 (34%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 173,434 (64%) Gore (D) 93,454 (35%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Third District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +14
• District Size: 13,310 square miles
• Population in 2000: 711,115; 40.3% urban; 59.7% rural
• Median Household Income: $31,907; 19.2% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 28.9% blue collar; 56.7% white collar; 14.5% gray collar; 11.5% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 63.7% White, 33.1% Black, 0.6% Asian, 0.9% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.5% Two+ races, 0.0% Other, 1.2% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 13.5% USA, 6.1% Irish, 6.0% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.