2025 Gulfport mayoral election

2025 Gulfport mayoral election

June 3, 2025 (2025-06-03)
Turnout24.6%
 
Nominee Hugh Keating Sonya Williams-Barnes
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 6,902 6,073
Percentage 53.2% 46.8%

Mayor before election

Billy Hewes
Republican

Mayor

Hugh Keating
Republican

The 2025 Gulfport mayoral election was held on June 3, 2025, to elect the mayor of Gulfport, Mississippi. Incumbent mayor Billy Hewes was eligible for re-election to a second four-year term, but announced that he would retire.

Primary elections were held on April 1, 2025. Former Democratic member of the Mississippi House of Representatives Sonya Williams-Barnes won her party's primary, defeating former professional basketball player Ronnie Henderson, and Republican attorney Hugh Keating won his party's nomination unopposed. In the general election, Keating defeated Barnes by a margin of 6.4%, as the race has become more competitive.

Although Barnes lost the election, she praised the city for having its highest voter turnout in history, with over 13,000 citizens voting.