Bradford Johnson Dye Jr. (December 20, 1933 – July 1, 2018) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1980 until 1992. Dye was the only individual in state history to have served as lieutenant governor for 12 consecutive years.
Early life
Bradford Johnson Dye Jr. was born on December 20, 1933, in Charleston, Mississippi to Braford Johnson Dye and Maylise Dorgan Dye. His father was a state legislator. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1957 from the University of Mississippi and a law degree in 1959 from the University of Mississippi School of Law. He began his political career in 1950 as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives for Jamie Whitten. He also worked as a driver for James Eastland during one of his U.S. Senate campaigns. He won election to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1959, serving in that capacity from 1960 until 1964. He served in the Mississippi State Senate from 1964 to 1968. From 1961 to 1964 he worked as an attorney for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, resigning to become a commissioner to the Workman's Compensation Commission. and in 1967 served as gubernatorial candidate John Bell Williams' campaign manager.
Dye served as Mississippi State Treasurer from 1972 to 1976. In 1975 he ran for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi. He entered a runoff in the Democratic primary with Evelyn Gandy and lost. He was president of Jackson Savings and Loan Association from 1976 to 1979.
Lieutenant governor
Dye was elected lieutenant governor in 1979. By then, he decided to "make his peace with integration, hiring African Americans onto his staff as lieutenant governor." In 1987, Dye won re-election to a third consecutive four-year term in office. In 1986 a commission studying the state's constitution affirmed Dye's perspective on the powers of the lieutenant governor's office.
In 1991 Dye was challenged in the Democratic primary by state senator Ken Harper, accused him of creating "gridlock" over reform legislation affecting ballot initiatives, referendums, and limits on lobbying. Dye shortly thereafter declared his support for these reforms in a speech at the Neshoba County Fair, but this action was viewed as opportunistic by many voters. In televisions attack ads, Harper criticized Dye for using $850 of public funds to acquire a new office chair while supporting a tax hike. Dye countered by accusing Harper of improperly using his office for private gain by performing legal services for three state bodies. While his opponent garnered the support of labor unions and the state teacher association, Dye was narrowly re-nominated, earning 51.5 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary.
In the general election Dye faced Republican state senator Eddie Briggs, a former Democrat who faced no primary challenge, and black independent Henry J. Kirksey. Briggs characterized Dye as beholden to "the tired, old, worn politic of the past" and denounced him for failing to pass reform legislation. He also attacked him for refusing to release his tax returns, participate in a public debate, and for collecting the governor's salary while serving as acting governor whenever the incumbent was out of the state. Briggs ultimately won with 49.5 percent of the vote. Dye collected 41.5 percent, and Kirksey earned the remainder. The Mississippi constitution stipulated that a statewide race not won by outright majority was to be decided by a vote of the House. Dye encouraged the House to affirm Briggs' victory on the basis that he earned a plurality of the votes. Briggs replaced him on January 9, 1992.
Dye was the longest-serving lieutenant governor in Mississippian history. Unlike many of his predecessors and most of his successors, he did not view the office as a platform from which to run for gubernatorial office. Changes were later instituted which placed a two-term limit on the lieutenant governor's office.