Walker: I’m definitely going to run again

Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker says he’s running for reelection in 2026.

“In order to put out any rumors, I am definitely going to run again,” Walker said Thursday. “That question has been asked. So, I am planning on running again in two years. Hopefully, we will finish a lot of the projects that we have planned. We have (projects) planned all the way out through 2027, 2028.”

Walker, 73, is serving his third term. He’s been unopposed for the last two election cycles. The Mississippi native first ran for office in 2014, winning 60% of the vote against a lone challenger.

Questions about whether Walker would seek a fourth term have apparently grown out of a proposal to increase the salary of the mayor’s position at least partly to attract future mayoral candidates.

The proposal would raise the mayor’s pay by 20%, to $120,000 annually.

The city’s Board of Aldermen is expected to vote on the plan in December. Walker said he’s making his reelection bid known now not only to make clear that he plans to run again, but also to give future candidates time to prepare for what would be the 2030 race.

“I want to make this clear so people who want to run in five years or six years have time to prepare,” he said.

Walker’s predecessor, the late Mayor Dan Hollingsworth, who was also a Mississippi native, served for four consecutive terms, having been first elected in 1998. He choose not to seek reelection in 2014.