Dianne Black to run for State Legislature
Turning her attention from a run for Congress in 2022, Olive Branch businesswoman Dianne Black is now running for the state Legislature. Black on Tuesday announced her candidacy for House District 52 state Legislature as a Democrat. House District 52 includes portions of DeSoto and Marshall counties.
Black became the first African-American woman to run for Congress when she challenged Rep. Trent Kelly in the 2022 elections. She has operated a beauty salon business in Olive Branch for over 40 years, but said her ancestral roots are in Marshall County, where she was a Byhalia High School graduate. In her qualifying announcement Black said she sees inequity in the DeSoto and Marshall County school districts “this is untenable,” she said.
Black’s background includes serving as Treasurer for the Mississippi Early Voting Initiative Organization, and a member of the DeSoto Marshall Federation of Democratic Women, the Zata’s Amicae, the DeSoto NAACP, the Fraternal Order of Police and the St. Luke Church of God in Christ.
Black is a contributing member of the Ida B. Wells Museum, USO (a military organization), World Vision ( a humanitarian organization), and Christian United for Israel. She is also a charter member of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
Her announcement comes on the eve of the Feb. 1 deadline for qualifying on the August primary election ballot. As of the Tuesday announcement, Black was the only Democrat who had revealed a candidacy for the House District 52 legislative seat.
