Johnny DuPree
| Johnny DuPree | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Mayor of Hattiesburg | |
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Assumed office July 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Ed Morgan |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 18, 1953 Fort Benning, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Johniece DuPree (1972–present) |
| Children | 2 daughters |
| Alma mater |
University of Southern Mississippi Jackson State University |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Website | Campaign website |
Johnny DuPree (born November 18, 1953) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who has served as the mayor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi since 2001. He was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Mississippi in 2011. He was the first African-American major party nominee for Governor in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. After losing the election for Governor, in 2013 he won reelection to be Mayor of Hattiesburg in an election marred by numerous allegations of voter fraud.
Johnny DuPree was born in Fort Benning, Georgia. As a small boy, he moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with his mother, brother, and sister. DuPree is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
DuPree entered public service in 1987 when he was appointed to the Hattiesburg Public School Board. A year later, he and his wife established a small business in real estate. In 1991, he was elected to the Forrest County Board of Supervisors where he served for 10 years before running for mayor of Hattiesburg in 2001.
In 2001, DuPree became the first African-American mayor of Hattiesburg after winning 53% of the vote. He was re-elected twice in the next decade. During his first campaign for mayor, DuPree ran on a platform of shoring up education and protecting small business. At the time, Robert Ingram, the executive director of economic development at the University of Southern Mississippi, predicted that DuPree would support locally owned small business while also being active in industrial recruitment. Despite damage to the city resulting from Hurricane Katrina and a global recession, the health of Hattiesburg’s small businesses remained steady during DuPree’s tenure as mayor. Ingram’s predictions for Hattiesburg under the DuPree administration were largely accurate. In 2010, employment statistics showed Hattiesburg registering only 8.6 percent at a time when the state unemployment rate was 11.2 and the national rate was 11.1. Also during DuPree's tenure as mayor, annual crime statistics released by the Hattiesburg Police Department in showed a 10 percent overall decrease in reported crime since 2008.
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