Ronnie Musgrove

Musgrove was born in Tocowa, Mississippi[?] and graduated from Northwest Community College, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Mississippi Law School.

In 1987, he won a seat in the state Senate that he held until his successful run for the lieutenant governorship in 1995.

He defeated Republican opponent Mike Parker[?] for the governor's office in the 1999 election. However, since neither candidate received a majority of the popular vote, the Mississippi House of Representatives[?] had to offically select the winner.

Musgrove advocated a change in the state flag which featured prominently the Confederate Battle Flag and set up a committee to select a new design. The argeed upon design replaced the battle flag from the canton with a circular array of twenty stars (Mississippi is the 20th state) a blue background. A referendum was held in April 2001 to determine whether or not the new flag would be adopted. A large majority of voters (65%) elected to keep the old design.