The Governor of Mississippi is the head of the executive branch of Mississippi's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Mississippi Legislature, to convene the legislature at any time, and, except in cases of treason or impeachment, to grant pardons and reprieves.

To be elected governor, a person must be at least 30 years old, and must have been a citizen of the United States for twenty years and a resident of Mississippi for at least five years at the time of inauguration. The Constitution of Mississippi, ratified in 1890, calls for a four-year term for the governor. The original constitution of 1817 had only a two-year term for governor; this was expanded to four years in the 1868 constitution. The lieutenant governor is elected at the same time as the governor and serves as president of the Mississippi Senate. When the office of governor becomes vacant for any reason, the lieutenant governor becomes governor for the remainder of the term.

Mississippi (ⁱ/ˌmɪsɨˈsɪpi/) is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). Mississippi is the 32nd most extensive and the 31st most populous of the 50 United States. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, which was cleared for cotton cultivation in the 19th century. Today, its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The state symbol is the magnolia grandiflora tree.

Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas.

In addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake and Grenada Lake. The largest lake in Mississippi is Grenada Lake.

Dewey Phillip "Phil" Bryant (born December 9, 1954) is an American politician from Mississippi. Bryant is the 64th and current Governor of Mississippi, having defeated the Democratic Party candidate, Johnny DuPree in the 2011 general election. He previously served as the 31st Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, having defeated the Democratic Party candidate, Representative Jamie Franks, in the 2007 general election. On November 8, 2011, he was elected Governor of Mississippi and assumed office on January 10, 2012.

Born in Moorhead, Mississippi, Bryant was raised in Sunflower County, Mississippi in the Delta region, the son of Dewey C. and Estelle R. Bryant. His father was a diesel mechanic. Bryant's family moved to Jackson where Dewey C. Bryant worked for Jackson Mack Sales and later Dewey Phil Bryant also worked at this business as Service Manager. The year he was elected to the legislature he employed himself as an insurance investigator. Bryant holds undergraduate degrees from Hinds Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi. He earned a master's degree at Mississippi College, where he currently (while also serving as Lieutenant Governor) is a professor teaching Mississippi political history.

Ross Robert Barnett (January 22, 1898 – November 6, 1987) was the governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964. He was a States' Rights Democrat, as well as one of many Democrats supporting segregation.

Born in Standing Pine in Leake County, Barnett was the youngest of ten children of a Confederate veteran. He served in the United States Army during World War I, then worked in a variety of jobs while earning an undergraduate degree from Mississippi College in Clinton in 1922. Four years later, he followed that with an LL.B. from the University of Mississippi in Oxford. In 1929, he married Mary Pearl Crawford, a schoolteacher, with the couple's long-time union producing two daughters and a son.

Over the next quarter century, Barnett became one of the state's most successful trial lawyers, earning more than $100,000 per year while specializing in damage suits. He often donated his skills to causes, and served as president of the Mississippi Bar Association for two years beginning in 1943.

Using the income derived from his legal fees, Barnett sought to try his hand at politics, unsuccessfully running twice for Governor of Mississippi, in 1951 and 1955. On his third try in 1959, he won the election and was inaugurated on January 19, 1960. During his term in office he celebrated the centennial of the American Civil War. Barnett traveled to Civil War sites to pay homage to fallen "Sons Of Mississippi".

Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is an American Republican politician who served as the 63rd Governor of Mississippi, from 2004 to 2012. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007. Under Mississippi's term limits, Barbour could not seek reelection in 2011. Before being elected Governor, Barbour "had a long career on the national stage and has been well-known as a Republican operative since the Reagan years." He worked as a lawyer and lobbyist, was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate and also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997, during which time the Republicans captured both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. On June 24, 2009, Barbour was elected the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association, following the resignation of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford as its leader.