Tucker, Walter R., III (Walter Rayford, III), 1957-

Walter Rayford Tucker III (born May 28, 1957) is an American politician and minister who served as mayor of Compton and a U.S. Representative from California.

Tucker was born in Compton, California. He finished Compton High School in 1974 as class valedictorian and attended Princeton University for the next two years. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1978 with a degree in political science and earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1981. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1984.

Tucker was a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney from 1984 to 1986, when he began in private practice as a criminal defense attorney. After Tucker's father died while still in office as mayor of Compton, the younger Tucker won a special election to replace him, becoming the youngest mayor in the city's history at age 33. He served from 1991 to 1992, during the civil unrest in Los Angeles County spawned by the Rodney King verdict.

In 1992, Tucker was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat, defeating Lynn Dymally, the daughter of the retiring Representative Mervyn Dymally. He resigned from Congress on December 15, 1995, due to scandals involving accepting and demanding bribes while mayor of Compton. Tucker was sentenced to 27 months in prison in 1996 for extortion and tax evasion.

After his release he was hired as the Helps Ministry manager for Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles, and he then joined with Charles Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministry as Los Angeles area director. He moved with his family to Chicago, Illinois, where for nine years he was pastor of the From the Heart Church Ministries of Chicago. He is now the pastor of the Truth and Love Christian Church in Carson, California.