He attended Copiah-Lincoln Community College, earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Mississippi State University in 1973, and went to work for Entergy.
He earned an MBA from Tulane University in 2000, and retired from his position as a customer service manager at Entergy in 2011 in order to run for office.
[2] In 2012, Nelson ran in the non-partisan special election for the 19th Mississippi State Senate district (incumbent Merle Flowers had resigned) on November 6.
At the time of his defeat, Nelson pointed out that Empower financed the majority of Henley's campaign, and that much of the PAC's funding in turn came from something called the Mississippi Federation for Children PAC, an organization headquartered in Virginia, which gave Empower $360,000 in March and April of that year, which allowed the mailing of eleven pieces urging voters not to vote for Nelson, but said nothing about Henley or her qualifications.
“...(We) were the swing votes in the [Republican-controlled] Mississippi House of Representatives on education issues and funding.”[5][6] Nelson is a member of the Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce.