John Boykin Bartley, a former aide to Senator Ted Cruz and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, dies aged 32

A former aide to Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and Texas Senator Ted Cruz died in Washington DC at the age of 32, according to his obituary .

John Bartley Boykin, a native of Mississippi and Ole Miss graduate, had recently transitioned out of frontline politics and had begun working for Goddard Gunster, a political lobbying firm most famous for its role in Brexit .

Boykin's cause of death has not been made public. His funeral will be held in Meridian, Mississippi, on Saturday, 100 miles east of Jackson. Among the pallbearers will be Gov. Bryant.

Boykin began in politics after graduating with Chancellor's Honors from Ole Miss in 2014 where he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He went to work for Republican Senator Thad Cochrane in DC.

From there, Boykin began working for Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant where he developed a 'strong passion for Mississippi’s international trade and international relations.'

Boykin then worked on Herschel Walker 's disastrous senate campaign as the field director. His most recent job in politics was for former presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz where he was a senior adviser on financial issues and business development.

At an unspecified time, he began working as the Director of Public Affairs and Advocacy Strategies for Gunster. At the time of writing, his profile does not appear on the group's website.

His most recent update on LinkedIn is from 2023 in which he states that he has taken up a job in Cruz's office.

His obituary mentions that he was preceded in death by his father, Bart.

'His tall stature and good looks coupled with Southern friendliness, drew people to him. He loved hard, blessed, and touched many lives. He was passionate about many things, putting God first, his family, and his friends,' the tribute continues.

According to a 2018 feature in Washington Monthly on the allegations of nefarious Russian influence in western politics, Boykin is named as the person who put the Mississippi governor in contact with Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.

Following Trump's formal nomination in 2016, Farage drank well into the night at his hotel. At the bar, he met Boykin, who it's mentioned 'accompanies Bryant to nearly every public or private function,' who suggested Farage come to Mississippi.

A 2019 Jackson Free Press story on the encounter reports that Boykin 'burst' into Bryant's hotel room to tell him that he met with Farage.

A month later, Farage spoke at a Donald Trump rally in the Magnolia State. Since then, Bryant and Farage have forged a relationship, regularly visiting with one and other with the governor even appearing on the controversial activist's radio show in London.

Boykin was regularly tagged in social media posts alongside prominent Brexit advocates such as Andy Wigmore and Lord Michael Ashcroft.

In 2018, he appeared in a photo with Wigmore at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's primary residence.

Bryant is referred to the man who facilitated Trump's relationship with Farage in Arron Banks' book The Bad Boys of Brexit: Tales of Mischief, Mayhem and Guerrilla Warfare in the EU Referendum.

'Amid the alcohol-fueled joviality, it apparent that Gov. Bryant's right-hand man John Bartley Boykin - known as JB - was eager for us all to visit Mississippi, where Farage would have an opportunity to speak to grassroots Republican voters,' Banks wrote.

The book discloses that Bryant and Farage became friendly during the 2016 RNC convention.

This is not the first tragedy to befall the Boykin family. In December 2018, Boykin's father Felon 'Bart' Boykin II was shot dead during a robbery in Holllandale, Mississippi.

Willie Pam was arrested and pleaded guilty to the shooting in 2021. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the crime. During the attack, the victim, also an Ole Miss graduate where he was considered a baseball prodigy, was shot twice.