NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) - A longtime Mississippi lawmaker says he’s not seeking re-election this year.
Democratic state Sen. Bob Dearing of Natchez tells the Natchez Democrat that his family is ready for him to come home.
Dearing was first elected to the state Senate in 1979 and served 32 years before he was defeated in 2011 by Republican Melanie Sojourner. In a 2015 rematch, Dearing defeated Sojourner in a district covering Adams, Amite, Franklin and Pike counties.
Dearing sponsored a dog-fighting bill that Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law in 2018. It adds two years of jail time to first-offense dogfighting convictions and introduces stiffer penalties for second and subsequent offenses.
Candidates’ qualifying deadline for Mississippi state elections is March 1. Party primaries are in August, and the general election is in November.
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Information from: The Natchez Democrat, http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/
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