A seventh generation Mississippian, Rickey Cole has spent most of his adult life marketing Mississippi agricultural products, organizing grassroots networks, and serving as a leader, spokesman, advocate and ambassador for our state and our people.

The Cole family farm near Ovett in southeastern Jones County , produces vegetables, timber, livestock, grain, and hay. The farm's specialty is fresh turnips, mustard, and collard greens, which are delivered fresh daily in season to supermarkets and other retailers in the Pine Belt area. The Cole family has truck farmed since 1944. Rickey worked full-time marketing his family's and other farmers' produce from 1988 through 2003. During that period, he developed and managed a marketing and delivery system that annually sold and distributed tens of thousands of dollars worth of Mississippi farm fresh vegetables directly to supermarkets and other retailers at more than forty locations throughout South Mississippi and Greater New Orleans. He is a past member of the Mississippi Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, and held a farmer/vendor permit at the New Orleans French Market. He continues to be involved in the management of the family farming operation, and has served as an advisor on marketing fresh vegetables to several growers and vendors.

Rickey is a United Methodist. He is a native of Jones County , having been born at Laurel on August 10, 1966, the youngest of the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Cole, Sr. Rickey attended Mississippi State University and studied political science. Rickey is married to the former Ayana Smothers of New Orleans . Their first child, Katherine Alexandra, will become two years old on September 27. Their marital residence is in Utica , a small town of less than 1000 residents about thirty miles southwest of Jackson . Ayana teaches biology at Crystal Springs High School .

Beginning as President of the Young Democrats at Mississippi State University in 1985, Rickey Cole served the Democratic Party as Second Vice President of the Young Democrats of Mississippi, President of the State Young Democrats (twice), National Parliamentarian of the Young Democrats of America, Member of the State Democratic Executive and Administrative Committees, Chairman of the Jones County Democratic Executive Committee, Chairman of the Mississippi Association of County Democratic Chairpersons, candidate for United States Senate, Democratic National Committeeman, Member of the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Committee, and National Parliamentarian of the Association of State Democratic Chairpersons.

Cole was elected Chairman of the Democratic Party of the State of Mississippi on August 18, 2001, serving until July 29, 2004. During his tenure, the state party renovated its headquarters, launched a state party website and a toll free phone hotline, upgraded office technology, secured party ownership of an updated 1.6 million name voter file, gave long overdue tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer by re-naming its signature annual event the Jefferson-Jackson-Hamer Dinner, settled a seven-year outstanding lawsuit, raised and spent over 1.2 million dollars, and successfully retained Democratic majorities in both houses of the Mississippi legislature. In December of 2005 the Young Democrats of Mississippi named their Legislative Internship stipend the" Rickey L. Cole Scholarship”.

From July of 2004 until taking leave to campaign for office, Rickey served as founding President of Mississippi Policy Forum, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit institute that conducts public forums, sponsors research projects, and assists in the development of educational, community and grassroots civic organizations to improve civic literacy and encourage civic engagement in Mississippi .

Rickey Cole is a veteran volunteer, activist and staffer on more than twenty political campaigns since 1982. He was appointed to serve as a member of the Mississippi Chief Justice's Task Force on Judicial Selection in 2002. In May of 2002, Cole was part of a delegation of state Democratic Chairpersons who were guests of the Republic of China in Taiwan . In June 2003, he took part in a ten-day visit to the Kingdom of Morocco as a member of a bi-partisan delegation coordinated by the American Council of Young Political Leaders. In September 2003, Cole was appointed to serve as a founding member of the Advisory Council of the Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Policy at Tougaloo College . In July 2005, Cole presented a paper at the Fifth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations at the Central Institute of Ethnic Administrators in Beijing , China . Rickey has served as a guest lecturer on politics and civic engagement at Lockhaven University , Roger Williams University , and North Carolina Central University . He is regularly consulted by members of the media and scholars for an insider's perspective on Mississippi politics, elections and government.