Career
He is a political Independent. In 1994, Hollingsworth ran for mayor but was defeated in the general election by the Democratic incumbent Mayor Hilda Taylor Perritt, a former high school teacher, who received 3,182 votes (549 percent) to Hollingsworth"s 2,616 (451 percent). Perritt was first elected in 1990, when she unseated the Republican Mayor Elton C. Pody (1938-2011), who subsequently moved to Alexandria, Louisiana, where he became director of the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce.
Four years after his loss, Hollingsworth on October 3, 1998, handily unseated Perritt, who finished third in the nonpartisan blanket primary.
Perritt failed in a comeback bid in 2002, when Hollingsworth received 3,143 votes (632 percent) to her 1,834 (369 percent). In his most recent election in 2010, Hollingsworth with 64.4 percent defeated two other Independents to gain his fourth term in the office.
In 2008, Hollingsworth launched "Ruston 21", a planning process to address municipal needs well into the 21st century. From Ruston 21 came plans for capital improvements, economic development, and zoning and land-use improvements.
Hollingsworth claimed that the program was designed to "preserve what is best about Ruston cut down on wasted time and effort and avoid duplication of services.
The result will be cost savings investment in improvements for the future.."
Hollingsworth owns KRUS Department of Administration and Management radio in Ruston, 1490 on the dial. Hollingsworth was succeeded as mayor by the Republican Ronny Lynn Walker (born c 1951), who in the November 4, 2014 primary, held in conjunction with the general elections in the other forty-nine states, defeated fellow Republican "Bill" Elmore, 3,197 (599 percent) to 2,144 (401 percent).
