Racial Controversy Stirs Mississippi Senate Runoff

Democrat Mike Espy and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., during their televised Senate debate in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday night. Controversy over Hyde-Smith’s comment about a “public hanging” shook up the contest, which will be decided on Nov. 2

Rogelio V. Solis / AP

Updated at 10:35 a.m. ET

Mississippi was set for a fairly mundane midterm election runoff next week — deciding who would win the final undecided U.S. Senate seat in a state that easily elects Republicans, until a senator greeted a cattle rancher.

In a video posted on Twitter last week, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is talking to a rancher named Colin Hutchinson, who is seen putting his arm around her at an event in Tupelo, Miss., earlier this month.