COMMODORE MEDIA GROUP

Most of the 2018 midterm elections have now come to a close all around the country, but leave it to Mississippi to drag this thing out. This year Mississippi had both its senior senator and district one representative up for re-election, and a special senate election gained national attention with several Presidential rallies throughout the state.

Republican Senator Roger Wicker won re-election Tuesday, November 6th, defeating democratic challenger State Senator David Baria with 58.8% of the vote. Since he was expected to receive a larger percentage of the vote, this was no surprise for Wicker. He was met with no inner-party competition for his seat after State Senator Chris McDaniel pulled out of the race to run for Senator Thad Cochran’s seat.

Senator Cochran retired due to health concerns Apr. 1 after the 2018 appropriations cycle, and Governor Phil Bryant appointed the Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican, to serve the remainder of his term. Governor Bryant set a special election for Nov. 6th to determine who would serve the remainder of Cochran’s term. After getting only 16% of the vote, McDaniel bowed out of the race for Cochran’s seat leaving incumbent Hyde-Smith to take on Democrat and former Secretary of Agriculture under the Clinton Administration, Mike Espy. Hyde-Smith got 41% of the vote with Epsy receiving 40%.With no candidate receiving 50%, a runoff was triggered and set for Nov. 27.

Although it may have looked unfortunate for Hyde-Smith, the Republican vote unified and the 16% that voted for McDaniel came out to vote for her.

Hyde-Smith was first elected to the state house as a Democrat in 2000 but changed her party affiliation to Republican in 2010. Her switch was something grassroot conservatives like those in the McDaniel camp aimed to exploit. This concerned Mississippians, along with her questionable comments at an event in Tupelo after a local cattle rancher praised her saying, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”

Epsy condemned Hyde-Smith’s comments and called them “reprehensible.”

Governor Bryant defended the senator during a Monday press conference where Hyde-Smith was awarded an endorsement from the National Right to Life association, an anti-abortion group.

“I can tell you there was no ill will in her heart. There never has been. There never will be. And today she is, we are, proud of being endorsed by the National Right to Life so we can stop the genocide of babies across America,” Bryant said.

Hyde-Smith chose to stand by the statement released by her office.

However, Espy was not the perfect candidate either. After resigning from his post as Secretary of Agriculture in 1994, he was indicted in 1997 on the charge of using improper gifts while in office. He was later acquitted of all 30 charges in 1998.

For Republicans, a victory for Hyde-Smith was very important to hold their widening majority in the senate. With two flawed candidates, the Nov. 27 runoff got much more attention than a normal Mississippi race.

President Trump made several stops around the state on the 26th to rally support for Hyde-Smith. His first stop was in Tupelo, followed by stops in Gulfport and Biloxi. He was joined by Governor Bryant, Congressman Kelly, Senator Wicker, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. With support from these various public figures around the state and nation, Hyde-Smith managed to win with 53.9% of the vote Tuesday night.

Mississippi has now elected its first female senator, and as soon as the election was over, the next one seemed to have started. Hyde-Smith will serve out the remainder of Cochran’s term and be up for reelection in 2020, where Espy has already filed the necessary paperwork to run against her.