Chip Pickering

On December 7, 2009, Pickering was involved in a dispute with the coach of a youth soccer team that coached against his son's team, and was charged with simple assault. He was sued by the coach in December 2010.

Pickering and his ex-wife, Leisha, have five sons. In June 2008, Pickering filed for divorce from his wife citing irreconcilable differences. Leisha Pickering filed a lawsuit against Chip Pickering's alleged mistress for alienation of affection, "claiming their adulterous relationship ruined the Pickerings' marriage and his political career."

When Lott announced his resignation as Senator in November 2007, Pickering was rumored to be Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's choice to replace him, but those rumors were soon discovered to have been placed by the candidate himself. However, in December of that year, Pickering announced that he was not interested in the post. Fellow Republican Congressman Roger Wicker of Mississippi's 1st congressional district was appointed to Lott's seat. Pickering retired from the House in January 2009 and is currently a lobbyist for Cellular South.

Pickering had a strongly conservative voting record. From 2003 to 2007, he served as vice-chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Pickering was reelected five times. He was unopposed for reelection in 1998 and defeated an underfunded Democrat in 2000. He only faced substantive opposition in 2002. Mississippi lost a district after the 2000 census, and the 3rd absorbed a large slice of the Jackson-based 4th district, held by second-term Democrat Ronnie Shows. However, Pickering retained over 60 percent of his former territory, and defeated Shows with 63 percent of the vote. He was reelected without major-party opposition in 2004 and 2006.

Pickering returned to Mississippi to run as the Republican candidate for the 3rd District in 1996 following the retirement of 30-year incumbent Democrat Sonny Montgomery. He finished first in a crowded seven-way primary with 24 percent of the vote, and then defeated Bill Crawford in the runoff with 56 percent of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Democratic attorney John Eaves by a wide margin, taking 61 percent of the vote. The 3rd had been trending Republican for some time; it has only supported the official Democratic presidential candidate for president once since 1956. Although Montgomery usually faced "sacrificial lamb" candidates even in years when Republican presidential candidates carried the district in landslides, it had been considered very likely that he would be succeeded by a Republican once he retired.

From 1992 to 1996, Pickering served on the staff of Senator Trent Lott. Pickering helped shape the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first major overhaul of US telecoms law since 1934. After a year at the Senate Commerce Committee, Pickering ran for Congress as a family values conservative.

Pickering was born in Laurel, Mississippi. His father is Judge Charles Pickering Sr., a Mississippi lawyer, former municipal judge, retired Federal judge, and prominent Republican politician. He graduated from the University of Mississippi where he was a legacy member of the Eta chapter of Sigma Chi. He went on to receive a master's degree from Baylor University in 1989.

Pickering served as a Southern Baptist missionary to Hungary, after the end of Hungarian government persecution of religious believers. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush appointed Pickering as a Department of Agriculture liaison to the former European Communist countries.

Charles Willis "Chip" Pickering Jr. (born August 10, 1963) is an American businessman and former politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi. He represented Mississippi's 3rd congressional district as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives. First elected in 1996, he chose not to run again in 2008. He is currently the CEO at Incompas.