Chip Pickering

"Charles Willis Pickering" redirects here. For this former congressman's father, see Charles W. Pickering.

Charles Willis "Chip" Pickering, Jr. (born August 10, 1963) is a politician in 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.

Early life

Pickering was born in Laurel, Mississippi. Pickering is English American on his father's side and Irish American and Italian American on his mother's side. 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.

Early political career

Pickering then very briefly served as a Southern Baptist missionary to Hungary, after the end of Hungarian government persecution of religious believers. In the same year, 1989, President George H. W. Bush appointed Pickering as a Department of Agriculture liaison to the former European Communist countries. This appointment provided Pickering with official diplomatic immunity.