Amy Tuck (born July 8, 1963) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 30th

Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi The lieutenant governor of Mississippi is the second-highest ranking elected executive officer in the U.S. state of Mississippi, below the governor of Mississippi, and is the only official in the state to be a member of two branches of state gov ...

from 2000 to 2008. A member of the Republican Party, she was previously a member of the

Mississippi State Senate The Mississippi State Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the Lower house, lower Mississippi House of Represen ...

. She is the second woman to be elected to statewide office in Mississippi, and the first to have been reelected. Tuck later served as the Vice President of Campus Services at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

from 2008 to 2019.

Biography

Tuck was born in Maben, Oktibbeha County,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

in 1963. Her father, Grady Tuck, ran a grocery store near Maben, and was a lifelong friend of politician Brad Dye. As a high school student in Starkville, she also served as a page in the

Mississippi Legislature The Mississippi Legislature is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The bicameral Legislature is composed of the Lower house, lower Mississippi House of Representatives, with 122 members, and ...

. She received

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

degrees from Mississippi State University in Starkville before obtaining a J.D. degree from Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson. After graduating, Tuck worked as an attorney and as a teacher at a

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

. On December 18, 1990, she defeated Bryce Griffis in a special election (called after the death of incumbent senator Bill Harpole) to the

as a Democrat, representing the 16th District, comprising parts of

Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...

, Montgomery, Oktibbeha, and Webster counties. At age 27, Tuck was the youngest-ever woman to serve in the Mississippi State Senate. In 1995, she was an unsuccessful candidate for Secretary of State, narrowly losing the Democratic primary to eventual winner Eric Clark. Following her defeat, she served as secretary of the Mississippi Senate from 1995 to 1999. Tuck was elected lieutenant governor in 1999, defeating Republican state senator Bill Hawks. In 2002, Tuck announced her intention to qualify for reelection as a Republican, effectively switching parties. In her announcement, she cited ongoing disagreement with the Democratic state legislature concerning

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

as well as her conservative stances on

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, and criminal justice reform as motivating factors for her decision to switch parties. The next year, in 2003, she was nominated as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor and went on to defeat former Democratic state senator Barbara Blackmon in the general election with 61% of the vote. Due to

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

s, Tuck was ineligible for reelection as lieutenant governor in 2007. She was succeeded by Phil Bryant on January 10, 2008. In October 2007 it was announced that Tuck would be appointed as special assistant to Mississippi State University President Doc Foglesong upon expiration of her term as lieutenant governor. In this role, Tuck took a leading role in facilitating the university's

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

and private sector initiatives. Upon the retirement of Foglesong in March 2008 and the selection of Mark E. Keenum as his successor, Tuck was named the Vice President of Campus Services, a new position. In this position she oversees the university's facilities, parking and transit, sustainability, planning, and utilities divisions. Tuck announced in October 2019 that she would retire from her position as vice president on December 31, 2019, and was succeeded by former MSU finance head Don Zant.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuck, Amy 1963 births 21st-century Mississippi politicians 21st-century American women politicians Democratic Party Mississippi state senators 20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature Living people Lieutenant governors of Mississippi Mississippi Republicans Mississippi State University alumni Women state legislators in Mississippi Mississippi College School of Law alumni American United Methodists People from Maben, Mississippi 20th-century American women politicians

Biography

See also

References

External links