/Reeves launches 2019 governor bid, vows to fight ‘liberal ideas’ of Hood’s Democratic Party

Reeves launches 2019 governor bid, vows to fight ‘liberal ideas’ of Hood’s Democratic Party

As the current governor, Reeves (44), has spent many years trying to tease the bid and building up a campaign war chest. Phil Bryant is approaching his term limit. By January 2018, the most recent finance reports, Phil Bryant had $5.4million in his bank account. Attorney General Jim Hood was the Democratic front-runner. He had only raised $656,000 that month. Reeves declared Thursday that he was an “eternal optimist” and would run an optimistic campaign in his announcement speech at Jackson’s GOP headquarters. Reeves said, “A campaign that focuses primarily on results and solutions to Mississippi’s future and a campaign which always protects taxpayers and protects our Mississippi values.” He was 29 years old when he was elected as state treasurer. He was elected lieutenant governor after two terms as treasurer. He defeated former state senator Billy Hewes in a Republican primary, and he won the general election. Reeves is a Floridian and Flowood resident who has built his political career around his fiscally conservative policies. Reeves, who began his presidency of the Senate in 2012 has led more than 50 tax cuts and incentive packages. Most of these have been benefited by out-of-state companies. Reeves has brought attention to how state agencies spend their money. He’s relaxed state gun ownership laws and added language to bills from the National Rifle Association. He also championed and expanded protections for people with deeply held religious beliefs. He’s also consolidated more than 12 public school districts in an effort to find a sweet spot that allows more funds to go to teachers and not to administrators. Reeves announced that he will focus his campaign on promoting economic and educational gains in his Thursday speech. Reeves also stuck to his traditional political strategy and made a mockery of Hood in an ongoing attempt to paint Hood, who is widely considered to be a moderate Democrat — alongside liberal Democrats who are generally unpopular in Mississippi. Reeves stated that he would oppose Hollywood’s values and Washington, D.C.’s values at all costs and that he would defend Mississippi’s culture and values. “The political battle that we have in 2019 is with liberal policies and liberal ideas of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Jim Hood. That’s what we’re going focus on for the next 10 months.” In 2018, Millsaps College and Chism Strategies released a poll that showed Hood’s approval rating was higher than any other elected official in Mississippi. Hood is approved by 52% of Mississippians, and disapproved by 27%. According to the poll, Reeves’ approval rating is 37 percent with a 32 percent disapproval rating.