Meet Steve Maggio for Chancery Judge

A Lifetime on the Gulf Coast. A Career Built on Service.

Stephen Maggio is a lifelong Gulf Coast resident who has spent nearly four decades serving the people of Harrison and Hancock Counties — first as an attorney, then as a judge, and always as a neighbor.

Stephen graduated from St. Stanislaus College in 1980, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1985, and received his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law in 1988. Since then, he has practiced law in Gulfport for over thirty-eight years, founding his own firm in 2003. Over the course of his career, he has successfully represented thousands of clients in Chancery Court and has tried cases in every state and federal court in Mississippi and Alabama, before the Mississippi Court of Appeals and Mississippi Supreme Court, the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

For the past thirty years, Stephen has also served the community from the bench. He has held judicial positions as Municipal Judge in Gulfport, Long Beach, and Bay St. Louis, as Family Master for Harrison County Chancery Court, and as Youth Court Referee for Hancock County Youth Court. In those roles, he has presided over thousands of civil and criminal matters — including cases involving abused and neglected children, child custody and support, domestic violence, parental rights, and treatment for drug, alcohol, and mental health concerns.

That experience has given Stephen a deep respect for the work attorneys do every day and an appreciation for the difficult balance between practicing law, raising a family, and serving the public. As a judge, he has made it a priority to treat every attorney, every member of court staff, and every person who appears before him with courtesy and professionalism. He pledges to continue doing so as Chancellor.

Stephen and his wife, Sandy, have lived their entire married lives in Harrison and Hancock Counties, where they raised their five children and several of their grandchildren. They are members of Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church, where Stephen serves as a lecturer. For more than twenty years, the Maggios were also foster parents — opening their home to more than fifty children and working alongside Youth Courts, DHS, law enforcement, and parents to secure the best possible outcome for each child in their care.

Those experiences shaped Stephen's belief that our greatest work is done when we help those who are most vulnerable and most in need — a value that lies at the heart of Chancery Court, where the decisions made each day have a lasting impact on Mississippi families.

Stephen is running to succeed retiring Judge Carter Bise as Chancery Judge, District 8, Place 4. He brings to this race a lifetime of Gulf Coast roots, nearly four decades of legal experience, three decades on the bench, and the steady judgment that the families of Harrison and Hancock Counties deserve.