According to seven Republican senators, each sheet contained a brief pledge to support his candidacy in 2019. Reeves, most political observers, are preparing for him to face Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood. Hood has boasted that he has received support from some conservatives. Reeves, who was at Jackson’s restaurant, stressed the importance of party unity and loyalty and warned of the dangers that a Democrat would become the next governor. Reeves then asked senators to sign and return the pledges, before he left the restaurant. Many senators agreed to the pledge. Reeves’ request was met with mixed reactions from the senators. Most of them declined to speak with Mississippi Today on the record because they were afraid of being retaliated for breaking ranks or speaking with the media. The pledged senators indicated that they would support Reeves regardless of what the request was. They also stated that it was not unusual for them to sign the pledge and that refusing to do so would create unnecessary tension with Reeves. The move was criticized by those who refused to sign the pledge. “I don’t know if it would have been that way. Someone said that they liked his tax cuts policies but thought he may not have the best bedside manner. “That’s a great way to say it,” one senator said. He asked for their names not to be printed out of concern about Reeves’ anger. Reeves’ Tuesday campaign described the pledge cards as an invitation to his fellow senators to endorse him. “Little Governor Reeves, who qualified to run earlier in the month, has asked hundreds of legislators, local elected officials, and grassroots leaders for their endorsements. Reeves spokesperson Clinton Soffer said that he will continue to ask Mississippians for their endorsements as the campaign progresses. This episode highlights the paradox Reeves, and the Mississippi Republican Party, must face this year. According to polls, Reeves is one of the least popular statewide officers. Reeves, who is the president of the state Senate and can kill any bill that crosses the desk, is one of most well-funded gubernatorial contenders in recent history. This gives him tremendous influence over the election prospects of all members of the Legislature. Mississippi Today interviewed several Republicans and lawmakers over the past year to learn more about Reeves leadership style, strengths, and weaknesses in anticipation of his announcement. Reeves (44), is now asking Mississippians for their next governor. This is a possibility that he and Republican Party leaders have not considered since 2003 when Reeves was a portfolio manager at 29 and a newcomer to politics: That a Democrat could actually win the Governor’s Mansion. Reeves’ approval rating was 37% and his disapproval rating was 22% in a poll by Millsaps College and Chism Strategies. The September 2018 poll was released by Millsaps College. Reeves’ marks were significantly lower than those of Gov. Phil Bryant, another Republican, scored a 54 percent approval rating and a 31% disapproval. Hood was not as popular with these voters. Reeves did well in the same survey. The gap for voters who identified themselves as “lean Republican” was much smaller. Reeves had a 47 percent approval rating with a disapproval score of 23 percent. Hood, on the other hand, scored a 46 percent approval rating with a disapproval score of 25 percent. Hood did very well among moderate voters in the same poll. Hood received a 50 percent approval rating with a disapproval score of 22 percent. Reeves got a approval rating of 37 percent and a disapproval score of 32 percent. Marvin King, a University of Mississippi political science professor, said, “I always tell all my students that in the South back when everyone was still a Democrat it was all about politics of personality.” “Hood’s politics is a politics based on personality. ‘I speak like you. I care about the same issues. King said, “Tate cannot do that. He cannot choose but to be a partisan. His base demands that he not compromise. His base would not like compromise.” Reeves personal dislike for compromise led to the worst stretch in his political career. The political winds began shifting in Jackson due to scandal and legislative failure. Many top power brokers, as well as his Republican colleagues, began to question his leadership at the Capitol, where Reeves has presided over the Senate for seven consecutive years. Lobbyists claim that clients have lost faith in Reeves. Many Republican senators opposed Reeves’ leadership style and spoke out against him in an act that would have been considered suicidal. Reeves was also criticized for not giving the rank-and-file Republicans a voice on major policy decisions. “It would have been nice to know more about the (education) bill instead of having to spend so much time deciphering it,” Senator Chris Massey, R.Nesbit, stated to Mississippi Today during the 2018 session. “It’s always difficult to predict what he (Reeves), is going to do.” Reeves has a reputation of destroying the bills of political enemies and sometimes found it difficult to push his agenda through the committees that he created. Reeves’ top priority for the 2018 legislative session, which the Republican leadership wants as their hallmark, was to rewrite the public-education funding formula. However, eight Republicans voted procedurally to kill the bill after it had passed the House. Twenty Republican senators said to Mississippi Today that they had not been informed of Reeves’ plans for the legislation two weeks prior to the Senate killing it. A proposal to expand a voucher program that allows parents of public schools to send their children to private schools was another favorite issue of Reeves. This proposal was also rejected by the Senate. It was led by Sen. Gray Tollison (R-Oxford), who is also a top Reeves lieutenant. The House and Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) reacted strongly to Reeves’ bills passing his Senate. Despite public pressure on both Reeves and Gunn to strike a deal on roads and bridge funding, Gunn killed what Reeves wanted to be his landmark infrastructure-improvement plan, leaving many of the state’s largest cities and counties without money to keep hundreds of unsafe bridges open to traffic. The senators expressed their dissatisfaction with the process. Senator Chuck Younger, R.Columbus, said that there were some who complain about not being invited to the table. Younger said that most of the time those who complain are Democrats. However, there are increasing numbers of Republicans. He still has to work with me.” 2018 legislative setbacks were nothing compared to the scandalous reports last summer that Reeves had political influence over the Department of Transportation in order to get $2 million for a road linking his suburban gated neighborhood to better highway access. Although he denied the accusations, the scandal prompted an investigation by Attorney General Hood, his political rival. It also provided fodder to newspaper editorial cartoons and newspaper op-eds. The Democratic nominee for the third congressional spot in the 2018 midterms was Michael Ted Evans, a state representative. He received a lot of laughs at the Neshoba Country Fair when he called the frontage-road project the “Tater Tot Expressway”. As Reeves’ reputation deteriorated and amid GOP platform setbacks and a growing list of political rivals, Evans pointed his finger at several people: liberal Democrats, his political opponents in the House and the media. He has not wavered in his key policy negotiations at the Capitol, as House Republicans claim, but he has maintained his political strategy of championing conservative ideals while praising his accomplishments. Reeves’ fiscally conservative policies have been the foundation of his political career. Reeves has been the Senate’s president since 2012 when he spearheaded over 50 tax cuts and incentive packages. Most of these have gone to out-of-state companies. He scrutinized the spending of state agencies and has consolidated more than 12 public school districts in an effort to find a sweet spot that allows more money to go to teachers, not to administrators. Reeves stated last week that he is proud of his record in the past seven years, “because I have done exactly what I promised voters by cutting taxes and finding efficiency in state government.” He said, “I don’t fear to say no to my friends sometimes, and I have no plans of changing just because it is an election year.” There are many top GOP leaders who remain in his side. Senate chairmen such as Sens. When asked, Josh Harkins and Buck Clarke, Gray Tollison, Terry Burton, and Gray Tollison all praise Reeves. Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said that Reeves is always respectful and will let me present my case to him and the members if necessary. “There isn’t one bill that crosses his desk that doesn’t interest him. Governor. Bryant, the Republican elected official with a high approval rating, wrote about Reeves shortly before his gubernatorial announcement, “We have had a strong partnership over the past seven years, which I look forward to continuing.” Reeves’ dislike extends beyond the Capitol and into communities where his small government philosophy is in conflict with local governments needing state assistance. This tension was especially evident after an April emergency declaration, which closed hundreds of bridges in the state that were deemed unsafe under federal standards. Mississippi Today spoke with Darwin Nelson, Lucedale Mayor. He said that he was a strong Republican as well. However, he has not been a friend of any municipality over the past few years. Lucedale, the county seat in George County, was won by Reeves with 80 percent of votes in 2015. While the echoes of Republican discontent grow more louder, primary voters will still have at least one choice. This is Rep. Robert Foster (R-Hernando), who announced his bid for gubernatorial office in December. Foster, a first-term lawmaker who has little statewide recognition but a support base in the second most Republican counties in the state, is Foster. Foster has not named Reeves, but has focused his candidacy on Reeves’ declining favorability among Republicans. “I challenge an expected hierarchy. Some people have believed for a while that this seat belonged to them, and I believe that the people should be able to choose that. After announcing his candidacy, Foster said that he wanted to make it clear. Reeves is minimizing the possibility that the governor’s race was a factor in his decisions to become lieutenant governor as battle lines are being drawn ahead of the March 1, qualifying deadline, the Aug. 6, and the Nov. 5, general elections. Reeves responded to a possible primary threat by saying, “If I worried too much about the next election cycle I wouldn’t get most of what I get done.” “The truth is that I was elected to do my job. I was elected to promote conservative ideals. I was elected to serve as the watchdog for taxpayers. I was elected to represent the interests of Mississippians in 2015. So, no, I don’t worry about or think about the next election.” Contributing by Kayleigh Skinner, Bobby Harrison