{"id":220177,"date":"2026-08-11T04:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ben-jones-cooter-on-the-dukes-of-hazzard-and-former-congressman-dies-at-84-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T04:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:29:10","slug":"ben-jones-cooter-on-the-dukes-of-hazzard-and-former-congressman-dies-at-84-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ben-jones-cooter-on-the-dukes-of-hazzard-and-former-congressman-dies-at-84-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Jones, Cooter on \u2018The Dukes of Hazzard\u2019 and former congressman, dies at 84 – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ben Jones, the man known as both Cooter from \u201cThe Dukes of Hazzard\u201d television series and a former U.S. congressman from Georgia, died Sunday.
He was 84.
Jones died after a heart attack in his home in Virginia, his wife, Alma Viator, said on Facebook<\/a>.
\u201cI lost the love of my life today. Ben passed from a massive heart attack,\u201d Viator wrote in her post Sunday evening. \u201cHe was home resting in his favorite chair waiting for the Braves to come on and whoop the Yankees.\u201d
Viator said, \u201cBen had the most amazing rich full life. He loved and was loved by so many. He will be missed. I loved him so so much.\u201d
Tom Wopat, one of Jones\u2019 \u201cThe Dukes of Hazzard\u201d co-stars, also shared the news in a post on Instagram<\/a>.
\u201cThe Dukes of Hazzard lost another integral part of their cast today,\u201d Wopat said. \u201cBen Jones was a fine friend and a fierce advocate of all the best things we can offer in the entertainment business. He will be sorely missed\u2026\u201d
Jones was cast in \u201cThe Dukes of Hazzard\u201d in the late 1970s and remained a main cast member until the show\u2019s conclusion in 1985.
Shortly after, he launched a run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1985 as a Democrat, challenging Republican Pat Swindall, who narrowly won the election in 1986.
The pair faced off again for Georgia\u2019s 4th Congressional District in 1988. This time, Jones was victorious after Swindall was indicted on charges of perjury.
Jones won again in 1990 and served in that seat for two terms. His seat was redrawn, and he lost the 1994 election to Newt Gingrich.
After his stint in Congress, Jones returned to the screen, appearing in a number of \u201cThe Dukes of Hazzard\u201d reunion shows and other specials. He also had roles in \u201cPrimary Colors\u201d in 1998 and \u201cJoe Gould\u2019s Secret\u201d in 2000.
In 1999, Jones and Viator moved to Virginia, where they opened Cooter\u2019s, a museum and shop dedicated to \u201cThe Dukes of Hazzard.\u201d
In 2007, Jones released his memoir, \u201cRedneck Boy in the Promised Land,\u201d in which he discussed his struggles with alcoholism.
In 2015, he made headlines when he announced his support for the Confederate flag, which served as a symbol on the main car in \u201cThe Dukes of Hazzard,\u201d after Warner Bros. said it would no longer manufacture merchandise featuring the flag symbol. At the time, he wrote an essay<\/a> in The New York Times defending his position.
Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeBen Jones, the man known as both Cooter from \u201cThe Dukes of Hazzard\u201d television series and a former U.S. congressman from Georgia, died Sunday. He was 84. Jones died after a heart attack in his home in Virginia, his wife, Alma Viator, said on Facebook. \u201cI lost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}