Kenneth NiemeyerIncumbent republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has defeated democratic challenger Mike Espy. The Associated Press called the race for Hyde-Smith at 10:45 p.m.
This is the second race between Hyde-Smith and Espy and the first matchup since a special election was held for the seat two years ago.
In 2018, former Gov. Phil Bryan appointed Hyde-Smith to the Senate after former Sen. Thad Cochran retired. Espy challenged Hyde-Smith in a 2018 special election that Hyde-Smith won with 53.9% of the vote.
This time, the Espy campaign gained a significantly larger amount of campaign funds than Hyde-Smith’s campaign, out-raising her campaign by millions.
Healthcare was a central issue in the race between Espy and Hyde-Smith. Hyde-Smith supports President Donald Trump’s plan to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also called Obamacare, and Espy supported the expansion of Medicaid under the ACA.
Hyde-Smith repeatedly denied the Espy campaign’s requests to debate. When asked why she would not debate Espy, Hyde-Smith repeatedly said “losing candidates and reporters” were the only people interested in a debate.
Espy was the first Black congressman from Mississippi since reconstruction and served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under former President Bill Clinton.
Hyde-Smith previously served in the state Senate as a Democrat district for 12 years, changing her party affiliation to Republican in 2010. She then served as the state commissioner of agriculture and commerce for eight years.
Incumbents won in all of Mississippi’s congressional elections. Democrat Bennie Thompson kept his seat in the House of Representatives for Mississippi’s second district. Republicans Trent Kelly, Micheal Guest and Tony Palazzo were reelected in the first, third and fourth districts respectively.
Kelly defeated UM law professor Antonia Eliason — Mississippi’s first Democratic Socialist candidate — and Palazzo ran unopposed.
