Dan Hollingsworth

Joseph Daniel Hollingsworth, Jr., known as Dan Hollingsworth (born May 14, 1934)^[1] is a businessman who was the mayor of Ruston in Lincoln Parish from 1999 until 2015. He is a political Independent.^[1]

In 1994, Hollingsworth ran for mayor but was defeated in the general election by the Democratic incumbent Mayor Hilda Taylor Perritt, a former high school teacher,^[2] who received 3,182 votes (54.9 percent) to Hollingsworth's 2,616 (45.1 percent).^[3] Perritt was first elected in 1990, when she unseated the Republican Mayor Elton C. Pody (1938-2011),^[4] who subsequently moved to Alexandria, Louisiana, where he became director of the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce.^[5]

Four years after his loss, Hollingsworth on October 3, 1998, handily unseated Perritt, who finished third in the nonpartisan blanket primary.^[6] Perritt failed in a comeback bid in 2002, when Hollingsworth received 3,143 votes (63.2 percent) to her 1,834 (36.9 percent).^[7] In his most recent election in 2010, Hollingsworth with 64.4 percent defeated two other Independents to gain his fourth term in the office.^[8]

In 2008, Hollingsworth launched "Ruston 21", a planning process to address municipal needs well into the 21st century. From Ruston 21 came plans for capital improvements, economic development, and zoning and land-use improvements. Hollingsworth claimed that the program was designed to "preserve what is best about Ruston [but] cut down on wasted time and effort and avoid duplication of services. The result will be cost savings [with] investment in improvements for the future ..."^[9]

Hollingsworth owns KRUS AM radio in Ruston, 1490 on the dial.^[10] He is married to Beverly Faye Hollingsworth (born 1937).

Hollingsworth was succeeded as mayor by the Republican Ronny Lynn Walker (born c. 1951), who in the November 4, 2014 primary, held in conjunction with the general elections in the other forty-nine states, defeated fellow Republican "Bill" Elmore, 3,197 (59.9 percent) to 2,144 (40.1 percent).^[11]

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