Jack Reed
For the U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, see Jack Reed (politician).Jack Raymond Reed, Sr. (born May 19, 1924), a businessman from Tupelo, was the 1987 Mississippi Republican gubernatorial nominee. He defeated Doug Lemon in his party primary election. Reed then lost the general election to Democrat Ray Mabus.At the same time, Reed's 47 percent of the vote was encouraging to his party. He fared better than his Republican predecessors Rubel Phillips in 1963 and 1967, Gil Carmichael in 1975 and 1979, and Leon Bramlett in 1983.[1] In 1991, the Mississippi GOP won the governorship for the first time since Reconstruction with the election of businessman Kirk Fordice, who unseated Mabus.Reed is remembered well across Mississippi and particularly in his home of Lee County, several books having been written about him. His son, Jack Reed, Jr., is a past mayor of their hometown, Tupelo, Mississippi.