Amy Tuck
Amy Tuck is an American attorney and politician who served as the 30th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 2000 to 2008. A member of the Republican Party, she was previously a member of the Mississippi State Senate. She is the second woman to be elected to statewide office in Mississippi, and the first to have been reelected.
Since 2008, Tuck has served as the Vice President of Campus Services at Mississippi State University.Biography
Tuck was born in Maben, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi in 1963. She received Bachelor of Arts in political science and Master of Public Administration degrees from Mississippi State University in Starkville before obtaining a law degree from Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson.
In 1990 she won a special election to the Mississippi Senate as a Democrat, representing parts of Choctaw, Montgomery, Oktibbeha, and Webster counties. 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 as well as her conservative stances on abortion, same-sex marriage, 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 Martin Blackmon in the general election with 61% of the vote. Due to term limits, Tuck was ineligible for reelection as lieutenant governor in 2007.
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 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 31 December 2019 and was succeeded by former MSU finance head Don Zant.
