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.