Rita Potts Parks

Rita Potts Parks

Republican Party

Mississippi State Senate District 4

Tenure

2012 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

12

Compensation

Base salary

$23,500/year

Per diem

$166/day

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 7, 2023

Education

High school

Alcorn Central High School

Associate

Northeast Mississippi Community College

Bachelor's

University of Mississippi

Personal

Religion

Christian: Baptist

Profession

Pharmaceuticals

Contact

Official website

Campaign Facebook

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Personal LinkedIn

float:right;
border:1px solid #FFB81F;
background-color: white;
width: 250px;
font-size: .9em;
margin-bottom:0px;

} .infobox p { margin-bottom: 0; } .widget-row { display: inline-block; width: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; } .widget-row.heading { font-size: 1.2em; } .widget-row.value-only { text-align: center; background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.value-only.white { background-color: #f9f9f9; } .widget-row.value-only.black { background-color: #f9f9f9; color: black; } .widget-row.Democratic { background-color: #003388; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Republican { background-color: red; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Independent, .widget-row.Nonpartisan, .widget-row.Constitution { background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Libertarian { background-color: #f9d334; color: black; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Green { background-color: green; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-key { width: 43%; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold; } .widget-value { width: 57%; float: right; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; word-wrap: break-word; } .widget-img { width: 150px; display: block; margin: auto; } .clearfix { clear: both; }

Rita Potts Parks (Republican Party) is a member of the Mississippi State Senate, representing District 4. She assumed office in 2012. Her current term ends on January 4, 2028.

Parks (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Mississippi State Senate to represent District 4. She won in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Biography

Parks earned her A.A. from Northeast Mississippi Community College and B.S. from the University of Mississippi, and studied industrial engineering at State Technical Institute. Her professional experience includes working as a quality and regulatory manager for a major pharmaceutical corporation.

Committee assignments

2023-2024

Parks was assigned to the following committees:

• Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee
• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Business and Financial Institutions Committee
• Senate Energy Committee, Vice Chair
• Highways and Transportation Committee
• Senate Medicaid Committee
• Public Health and Welfare Committee
• Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, Chair

color: #337ab7,
}

2020-2021

Parks was assigned to the following committees:

• Highways and Transportation Committee
• Senate Medicaid Committee
• Public Health and Welfare Committee
• Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, Chairman
• Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee
• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Business and Financial Institutions Committee
• Senate Energy Committee, Vice-Chairman

color: #337ab7,
}

2019-2020

Parks was assigned to the following committees:

• Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee
• Business and Financial Institutions Committee
• Finance Committee
• Economic and Workforce Development Committee
• Highways and Transportation Committee
• Senate Insurance Committee
• Public Health and Welfare Committee
• Veterans and Military Affairs Committee
• Senate Medicaid Committee

color: #337ab7,
}

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Parks served on the following committees:

2012-2013

In the 2012-2013 legislative session, Parks served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2023

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2023

General election

General election for Mississippi State Senate District 4

Incumbent Rita Potts Parks defeated Jon Newcomb in the general election for Mississippi State Senate District 4 on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rita Potts Parks (R)	76.7	10,436
		Jon Newcomb (Independent)	23.3	3,178

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,614
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 4

Incumbent Rita Potts Parks advanced from the Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 4 on August 8, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rita Potts Parks	100.0	11,189

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,189
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

   .ballot-measure-endorsements p {
       display: inline;
   }
   .ballot-measure-endorsements td {
       width: 35% !important;
   }
   .endorsements-header {
       margin-top: 10px !important;
       margin-bottom: 5px !important;
   }
   .ballot-measure-endorsements ul {
       margin-top: 0 !important;
       margin-bottom: 0 !important;
   }
   .split-cols-bm {
       columns: 2;
       -webkit-columns: 2;
       -moz-columns: 2;
   }
   @media screen and (max-width: 792px) {
       .split-cols-bm {
           columns: 1;
           -webkit-columns: 1;
           -moz-columns: 1;
       }
   }

Parks received the following endorsements.

• Mississippi Association of Realtors
• Patriot Parents

2019

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2019

General election

General election for Mississippi State Senate District 4

Incumbent Rita Potts Parks won election in the general election for Mississippi State Senate District 4 on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rita Potts Parks (R)	100.0	16,200

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,200
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 4

Incumbent Rita Potts Parks defeated Greg Ward and Lamar Walker in the Republican primary for Mississippi State Senate District 4 on August 6, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rita Potts Parks	59.5	7,429
		Greg Ward	35.0	4,368
		Lamar Walker	5.5	681

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 12,478
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2015

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2015

Elections for the Mississippi State Senate took place in 2015. A primary election was held on August 4, 2015, and the general election was held on November 3, 2015. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was February 27, 2015. Eric Powell was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Rita Parks was unopposed in the Republican primary. Parks defeated Powell in the general election.

Mississippi State Senate, District 4 General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rita Parks Incumbent	60.2%	10,386
	Democratic	Eric Powell	39.8%	6,860
Total Votes				17,246

2011

See also: Mississippi State Senate elections, 2011

Parks won the 2011 election for Mississippi Senate District 4. She was unopposed in the August 2, 2011 primary and defeated incumbent Eric Powell in the general election on November 8, 2011.

Mississippi State Senate, District 4 General Election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rita Parks	50.7%	9,050
	Democratic	Eric Powell Incumbent	49.3%	8,798
Total Votes				17,848

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Rita Potts Parks did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Rita Potts Parks did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.

2011

On her website, Parks highlighted the following campaign themes:

• Economic: "I will work to create the most job friendly district in Mississippi. We must develop an environment with the resources that will promote progress, create jobs, and grow the economy. My 25 years experience in industry has taught me how to create, implement, and manage projects for efficiency and success. Our district has the resources available: Low Taxes, Low Energy Costs, Adundant Water Supply, Multiple Transportation Routes. We simply must do a better job of marketing those resources to attract business to locate in our district."
• Education: "As a product of the public school system, I believe in them! We must recognize that writing checks to the schools is still producing failing systems, therefore money is not the only solution. We must change the way we have approached education in the past by creating and implementing high school training curriculums and by offering technical and vocational paths of instruction. We must review the systems to determine which programs are successful and that impact the most students and build on that success."
• Principles: "I will fight to protect our Second Amendment rights. I believe that the things that make Mississippi great are faith, our belief in traditional values, and our generosity. These are values that I will fight to protect."
• Representation: "I want my voice to be your voice. I will make myself available to you to hear your issues, concerns and thoughts and will carry those back to Jackson with me."

Campaign finance summary

---

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

---

Rita Potts Parks campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2023*	Mississippi State Senate District 4	Won general	$102,350	$0
2019	Mississippi State Senate District 4	Won general	$133,177	N/A**
Grand total			$235,527	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Mississippi

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Mississippi scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].

In 2023, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 3 to April 1. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues. The Institute for Legislative Analysis Legislators are scored on their adherence to the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution.

2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].
In 2022, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 4 to April 5. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues.

2021

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show].

In 2021, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 5 to April 1. Americans for Prosperity Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. Club for Growth Foundation Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].

In 2020, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 7 to October 10. The session was suspended effective July 1, 2020. It had been previously suspended from March 18 to May 7. The session reconvened from August 10 to October 2. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].

In 2019, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 8 through March 29. Americans for Prosperity Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2018

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show].

In 2018, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 2 through March 28. ACLU Mississippi Legislators are scored by the ACLU on their whether their votes on bills "promote racial, cultural, and economic justice." Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].

In 2017, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 3 through March 29. There was also a special session June 5. ACLU Mississippi Legislators are scored by the ACLU on their whether their votes on bills "promote racial, cultural, and economic justice." Americans for Prosperity Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2016

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show].

In 2016, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 5 through April 21. ACLU Mississippi Legislators are scored by the ACLU on their whether their votes on bills "promote racial, cultural, and economic justice." Americans for Prosperity Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. Empower Mississippi Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to education. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2015

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show].
In 2015, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 6 through April 2. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2014

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show].

In 2014, the Mississippi State Legislature was in session from January 7 through April 2. Business and Industry Political Education Committee Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business and economic issues. Empower Mississippi: Senate and House Legislators are scored on their votes on education bills. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

Endorsements

2011

In 2011, Parks' endorsements included the following:

• Mississippi Right to Life
• Mississippi Manufacturers Association

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Parks has been the Director of the Mississippi Governmental Prayer Alliance. She and her husband, Mike, have one daughter.

See also

2023 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

   .contact_entity {font-size: 1.5em ;margin-top: 0.6em; margin-bottom: 0em;margin-right: 0.5em;}
   .contact_office { margin-top: 0.3em; margin-bottom: 0em;margin-right: 0.5em;}
   .external_links_table { width: auto !important; }
   @media (max-width:600px) {
       .contact_entity {font-size: 1.0em ;margin-top: 0.6em; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 0.5em;}
       .contact_office { font-size: 0.8 em; margin-top: 0.6em; margin-bottom: 0em;margin-right: 0.5em;}  
   }

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Mississippi State Senate District 4

Facebook

Officeholder

Mississippi State Senate District 4

Website

Personal

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Mississippi State Senate District 4 2012-Present	Succeeded by -

[show]

Current members of the Mississippi State Senate

Leadership

Senators

District 1

Michael McLendon (R)

District 2

David Parker (R)

District 3

Kathy Chism (R)

District 4

Rita Parks (R)

District 5

Daniel Sparks (R)

District 6

Chad McMahan (R)

District 7

Hob Bryan (D)

District 8

Benjamin Suber (R)

District 9

Nicole Boyd (R)

District 10

Neil Whaley (R)

District 11

Reginald Jackson (D)

District 12

Derrick Simmons (D)

District 13

Sarita Simmons (D)

District 14

Lydia Chassaniol (R)

District 15

Bart Williams (R)

District 16

Angela Turner-Ford (D)

District 17

Charles Younger (R)

District 18

Jenifer Branning (R)

District 19

Kevin Blackwell (R)

District 20

Josh Harkins (R)

District 21

Bradford Blackmon (D)

District 22

Joseph Thomas (D)

District 23

Briggs Hopson (R)

District 24

David Jordan (D)

District 25

Walter Michel (R)

District 26

John Horhn (D)

District 27

Hillman Frazier (D)

District 28

Sollie Norwood (D)

District 29

David Blount (D)

District 30

Dean Kirby (R)

District 31

Tyler McCaughn (R)

District 32

Rod Hickman (D)

District 33

Jeff Tate (R)

District 34

Juan Barnett (D)

District 35

Andy Berry (R)

District 36

Brian Rhodes (R)

District 37

Albert Butler (D)

District 38

Gary Brumfield (D)

District 39

Jason Barrett (R)

District 40

Angela Hill (R)

District 41

Joey Fillingane (R)

District 42

Robin Robinson (R)

District 43

Dennis DeBar (R)

District 44

John Polk (R)

District 45

Chris Johnson (R)

District 46

Philman Ladner (R)

District 47

Joseph Seymour (R)

District 48

Mike Thompson (R)

District 49

Joel Carter (R)

District 50

Scott DeLano (R)

District 51

Jeremy England (R)

District 52

Brice Wiggins (R)

Republican Party (36)

Democratic Party (16)