The final Senate race of 2018 was expected to be a sleepy affair — a formality, really, with a special election runoff in deep red Mississippi. Instead, the race has been upended in the final days thanks to multiple stumbles by the GOP nominee that have dredged up the state’s history of racial violence.
Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed to the seat earlier this year after longtime GOP incumbent Thad Cochran stepped down due to health reasons. While she remains the favorite in Tuesday’s election, her missteps have given an opening to former Democratic congressman and Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. Were he to win, Espy would become the first black senator from the state since Reconstruction.
Earlier this month, Hyde-Smith was captured on video talking with a supporter. In an apparent effort to praise him, she told rancher Colin Hutchinson, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”
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