“I strive to give every child in Mississippi the same educational opportunity that families have in DeSoto County. Teacher salaries must be increased to those of our bordering states. The addition of pre-K would help kids get the start they need, and tech schools are a must. The future of our children is at stake, and every child deserves the chance to be the best they can be.”
~ MICHAEL W. McLENDON
ABOUT THE CANDIDATE
A sixth-generation Mississippian and native of Simpson County, Michael McLendon attended Northwest Community College and Memphis State University. For the past three decades, he has been a resident of DeSoto County.
McLendon spent 19 years as an agent for Farm Bureau Insurance Company, protecting the lives and homes of thousands of DeSoto County residents. In 2013, he took a position at Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance, where he meets the needs of businesses and organizations within his community and throughout the state. He is currently serving in his second term as alderman for Ward 4 in the City of Hernando, Mississippi.
McLendon is a founding member of the Hernando Youth Football Association and has served as a Dizzy Dean youth baseball coach, a First Tee Golf instructor, a volunteer for Noah’s Gift Scholarship, a judge for speech and debate tournaments, and a moderator and question caller for the Knowledge Bowl. Additionally, he has been a dynamic contributor to the theatre community.
He has been married for the past 30 years to his college sweetheart, Vickey Blythe McLendon. A commercial pilot for 22 years, she flies the Falcon Dassault Jets and is a captain in the aviation department at International Paper. The couple has two adult sons: Hunter (26), a doctor in his first year of residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the VA Medical Center and the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children in Jackson; and Sadler (25), a producer/agent for Romero Miller State Farm Agency in Olive Branch.
ABOUT SENATE DISTRICT 1
Counties represented: DeSoto
School Districts represented: Desoto County School District
Endorsed: 2019