Wayne Burkes

Wayne Burkes
Member of the Mississippi Senate from the 29th district
In office January 1980 – 1989
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from the 31-I district
In office January 1976 – January 1980
Personal details
Born	(1929-12-26)December 26, 1929 Neshoba County, Mississippi
Died	May 5, 2020(2020-05-05) (aged 90) Kosciusko, Mississippi

Wayne Oliver Burkes (December 6, 1929 – May 5, 2020) was an American politician, Baptist minister, and military officer.

Burkes was born in Neshoba County, Mississippi near Philadelphia, Mississippi. He graduated from Mississippi College and studied at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained a Baptist minister and served in several churches. Burkes served in the Mississippi Air National Guard and was commissioned a lieutenant general. Burkes served as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1976 to 1980 and in the Mississippi Senate from 1980 to 1989. In 1989, he was elected Highway (later renamed Transportation) Commissioner of the Central District of Mississippi. In 1995, he switched to the Republican party to run for reelection, becoming the first ever serious GOP candidate for Highway/Transportation Commissioner in the state and only the second ever and was reelected overwhelmingly. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the Surface Transportation Board, and served from 1999 to 2002. He ran for Mississippi State Treasurer in 2003, but lost to future Governor Tate Reeves in the Republican primary. Burkes died at the Mississippi Veterans House in Kosciusko, Mississippi.