Politics The Latest: GOP's Reeves wins Mississippi governor's race

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republicans are keeping their hold on the governorship in Mississippi, despite facing the best-funded Democrat to run for the position in more than a decade.

Trump tries to banish the specter of impeachment with red-state campaign tour

The president will campaign for GOP gubernatorial candidates who have struggled despite party advantages in Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi.Trump won Mississippi with about 58 percent of the vote in 2016, and the state is considered far from in play for 2020. But as in Kentucky, where Trump will campaign in another off-year election Monday, a GOP loss at the state level would be seen as a hairline crack in the president’s popularity among Republicans.

Mississippi ’ s surprisingly close race for governor , explained. Mississippi is controlled by Republicans. If no candidate wins both, the state’ s House of Representatives chooses who will fill the role. Reeves — and all Mississippi lieutenant governors — are able to directly influence policy

— The governors ’ races in Kentucky and Mississippi that will be decided on Tuesday have been Tate Reeves of Mississippi , have enthusiastically welcomed Mr. Trump’ s help even as he faces an But it earned a reliable constituency for Mr. Beshear, 41, who has made the governor ’ s attacks on

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday defeated Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood and two candidates who ran low-budget campaigns.

Reeves will succeed Gov. Phil Bryant, who is limited by state law to two terms.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both traveled to Mississippi in recent days to campaign for Reeves, who is completing his second term as lieutenant governor after serving two terms as the elected state treasurer.

Reeves, 45, campaigned on keeping taxes low and limiting government regulation of businesses. He also said that a vote for Hood is akin to a vote for "liberal" national Democrats, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Hood, 57, is finishing his fourth term as attorney general. For three of those terms, he has been the only Democrat holding statewide office in Mississippi.

Democrats look to win governor's races in Trump country on Tuesday

Two Southern gubernatorial races will be a major test for both parties as they head into 2020In Kentucky, Republican Governor Matt Bevin is looking to keep his job amid a strong challenge from Democrat Steve Beshear, the state's attorney general. Meanwhile in Mississippi, Democrat Jim Hood could pull off an upset win against Republican Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves, the GOP's gubernatorial nominee.

Live results for Mississippi ’ s governor ’ s race : Jim Hood vs. Tate Reeves . Tuesday’ s election could lead to a power shift in the state, giving the state its first Democratic governor in 16 years. Republicans have won the governor ’ s seat in commanding victories in recent elections, but this time experts and

(AP) — The Latest on the Mississippi governor ' s race (all times local): 1:30 p.m. Hundreds cheered Vice President Mike Pence on the Mississippi Gulf Coast as he called for voters to make Republican Tate Reeves the state' s next governor . At times the rally Monday at the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Hood's high-profile gubernatorial race came four years after the party's nominee was Robert Gray, a long-haul truck driver who didn't vote for himself in the primary, raised little money and lost the general election by a wide margin.

Hood this year campaigned on improving schools and highways and on expanding Medicaid to the working poor. Expansion is an option under the federal health overhaul signed into law in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama. Mississippi is among the 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid, a decision that Hood said has cost the state $1 billion a year in federal money.

Republicans have been governor in Mississippi for 24 of the last 28 years. The last Democratic governor, Ronnie Musgrove, lost in 2003 as he sought a second term.