James Matthew Hood (born May 15, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 39th Attorney General of Mississippi from 2004 to 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in 2003, defeating Republican Scott Newton. A former district attorney, Hood succeeded fellow Democrat Mike Moore. Hood announced on October 3, 2018, that he would run for Governor of Mississippi in 2019; he easily won the Democratic primary on August 6, 2019. He lost the general election to Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves on November 5, 2019, which was his first statewide loss. He was the only Democrat holding statewide elected office in Mississippi from 2008 to 2020, and remains the most recent to do so. Since leaving office, Hood has joined the national law firm Weisbrod Matteis & Copley, establishing the firm's first Mississippi-based office in Houston. He also sits on the bipartisan advisory board of States United Democracy Center. Early life and education Hood is the son of James Hood, Jr. Hood is a native of New Houlka in Chickasaw County in northeastern Mississippi. In 1988, Hood received his J.D. degree from the University of Mississippi at Oxford. As an undergraduate, he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha. Attorney General Hood was sworn-in as attorney general on January 8, 2004. In 2004, Hood prosecuted Jeremy Martin, a teacher from Tupelo, Mississippi and unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Mississippi House of Representatives, who was accused of a misdemeanor campaign finance violation. John Helmert, Hood's opposing counsel, called the prosecution of Martin a "political witch hunt". According to the Sun Herald, "it is rare for the state's attorney general to prosecute alleged campaign finance violations." The case was dismissed after the defendant paid a $300 fine. In 2005, Hood prosecuted former Klansman Edgar Ray Killen for orchestrating the 1964 murders of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney in Philadelphia, Mississippi during Freedom Summer. Hood has been active in the legal aspects of the recovery of Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. Shortly after Katrina, Hood partnered with Mississippi plaintiff attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, a brother-in-law of former U.S. Senator Trent Lott, in filing suit against numerous high-profile insurance companies. Hood's leadership has been praised by some as allowing homeowners a better opportunity for recovery than they experienced in neighboring Louisiana, but Scruggs and Hood have also been criticized for over-zealously prosecuting insurance companies and because