High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Haley Reeves Barbour (born October 22, 1947) is an American Republican politician who served as the 62nd Governor of Mississippi, from 2004 to 2012. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007. Under Mississippi`s term limits, Barbour could not seek reelection in 2011. Before being elected Governor, Barbour "had a long career on the national stage and has been well-known as a Republican operative since the Reagan years." He worked as a lawyer and lobbyist, was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate and also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997, during which time the Republicans captured both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. On June 24, 2009, Barbour was elected the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association, following the resignation of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford as its leader.