Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker will serve as presiding office of the U.S. Senate during the first day of the 114th Congress, which convenes Tuesday.

Wicker, a Republican, will preside from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The segment will be broadcast live on C-SPAN 2.

Wicker was born in Pontotoc July 5, 1951. He took his first foray into the political world in 1967 at the age of 16, when he started working as a United States House of Representatives Page for Democratic Congressman Jamie L. Whitten of Mississippi's 1st congressional district.

After earning a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science and a law degree from the University of Mississippi, Wicker went on to serve as an officer in the United States Air Force from 1976 to 1980. He entered the Air Force Reserve in 1980 and later retired from service in 2003 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Wicker began his political career in 1980 as House Rules Committee counsel to Republican Congressman Trent Lott. He was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1987, becoming the first Republican elected to the legislature from northern Mississippi since Reconstruction. He represented the 6th district from 1988 to 1994.

When 54-year Democratic U.S. Representative Jamie L. Whitten declined to seek re-election in 1994, Wicker successfully ran to succeed him. He was a member of the House Appropriations Committee and worked on issues related to medical research and on economic development for his home state, as well as advocating private-public partnerships to bring investment to rural areas. Wicker also worked for veterans' issues while serving as a member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee.

On November 26, 2007, U.S. Senator Trent Lott announced that he would resign before the end of the year to become a lobbyist. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour appointed Wicker to fill Lott's vacant seat on December 18, 2007. Wicker successfully ran for the remainder of Lott's term in the November 2008 special election against Democrat Ronnie Musgrove. He was later re-elected to a full term in 2012.

Wicker was recently elected chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the sixth-highest ranking leadership position in the Republican Party conference of the U.S. Senate. He also has been named to five Senate committees and awaits assignments for subcommittee positions.