A portrait of former Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn was unveiled Wednesday at the state Capitol in Jackson and will hang in the entrance to the House chamber, Mississippi Today reported.
Gunn, a Republican from Clinton who served in the House for 20 years and as speaker from 2012 to 2024, was the first Republican speaker since Reconstruction, Mississippi Today reported.
The painting shows Gunn seated in an armless olive-green chair with brass rivets and includes a depiction of the state’s new flag in the upper-left corner, Mississippi Today reported. Artist Jason Bouldin said he avoided showing Gunn with a gavel or inside the chamber to portray the former speaker’s generosity and calmness, the report said. “When I first saw it, it was like looking in the mirror,” Gunn told reporters, according to Mississippi Today.
Mississippi Today reported that as speaker Gunn helped lead the effort to replace the state’s former flag that included a Confederate battle emblem. The outlet also said Gunn led the House in passage of a bill restricting abortion in the state, legislation that the report said was followed by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Gunn told attendees he also considers infrastructure repairs, higher public school teacher pay and income tax cuts among his policy achievements, Mississippi Today reported.
Gunn told the crowd he did not expect to fade from public life. “I am not riding off into the sunset, but I will be riding into the sunrise,” he said, according to Mississippi Today. Current House Speaker Jason White, Gov. Tate Reeves and other lawmakers attended the ceremony, and White told Mississippi Today the portrait captures Gunn’s “down-to-earth” nature and leadership “from the front.”
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
