Campaign finance reports trickle in with reforms pending
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves has amassed a huge campaign war chest — more than $4.3 million — and has been sitting on it, saving up, most political observers expect, to run for governor in 2019.
Attorney General Jim Hood, considered a likely Democratic challenger for governor, last year raised $297,000 and has $318,000 in the bank — not earth shattering, but enough to keep him in the hunt.
Gov. Phil Bryant, serving his last term, spent his more than $1 million campaign kitty down to zero. He transferred nearly $761,000 to a political action committee he created, Imagine Mississippi PAC, and spent much of the rest donating to other candidates and PACs and charities and on travel to political meetings and events such as the Republican Governors Association or to meet with now-President Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York….
…Hosemann himself used the new online filing system, to report the $414,000 he raised and the $1.5 million he has in his campaign account — which is sure to continue the speculation that he will seek the lieutenant governorship or some higher office.
Clarion Ledger
1/31/17
Magnolia Tribune
