Hyde-Smith defeats Espy in U.S. Senate runoff

With lots of help from President Donald Trump, Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith defeated Democrat Mike Espy in Tuesday night's U.S. Senate runoff in Mississippi.

Hyde-Smith will serve out the final two years of Thad Cochran's term and make history as the first female elected to Congress from Mississippi. Espy would have made history, too. If he'd won, he'd be the first African American Mississippian elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.

Hyde-Smith told the crowd at her Jackson election party: "You’ve handed me a victory. I’m not going to let you down. I am going to Washington, D.C., first thing in the morning ... The reason we won is because Mississippians know me and they know my heart."

"Thank you for stepping up, Mississippi."

Shortly after the race was called, Trump — who had been in Mississippi rallying for her the night before — tweeted: "Congratulations to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on your big WIN in the Great State of Mississippi. We are all very proud of you!"

Hyde-Smith said she had talked to Trump by phone earlier in the night and told her crowd, "Right now, Mr. President, thank you so much for all of your help."

Gov. Phil Bryant, a Trump ally, in April appointed Hyde-Smith to Cochran's seat temporarily and helped her campaign and secure Trump's endorsement.

"Cindy Hyde-Smith has come through the crucible of the most negative campaign in modern Mississippi," Bryant said Tuesday night.  "She won with character and dignity —something her opponents know little of. She will continue to serve as the first woman from Mississippi elected to the United States Congress."

In incomplete and unofficial results, Hyde-Smith led Espy 54 percent to 46 percent. 

“I’m very proud of this historic campaign. And I’m so very grateful for all the support we received across Mississippi,” Espy said in a concession speech, moments after calling Hyde-Smith to congratulate her. He added he hopes she heads back to Washington, D.C. to “unite a very divided Mississippi.”

Espy reflected on what he called a grassroots campaign organization that was the “largest in a generation” in Mississippi. And he framed his run as only the start of a movement in a state that has long been dominated by Republican leadership.

"Make no mistake,” Espy said. "Tonight is the beginning, tonight is not the end. For those of you out there who have met in these universities, who have looked at our campaign, looked under the hood, and decided one day you want to run for office — go for it.”

Espy and Hyde-Smith were forced into a runoff when neither candidate took more than 50 percent in the four-way Nov. 6 special election. Each received about 41 percent of the vote in that contest.

The runoff — the final outlier of this year's congressional midterms — drew the eyes of the nation, and Mississippi was cast in a harsh light as issues of race dominated the narrative in the closing weeks.

Comments Hyde-Smith referred to as an "exaggerated expression" about attending a public hanging if a friend invited her attracted a flurry of criticism, national media attention and references to Mississippi's dark past including lynchings.  

Sensing an opening in recent weeks, national Democrats focused money and energy on a Senate seat that would otherwise have been considered safely Republican in one of the reddest states in the country. This prompted the national GOP — and even Trump — to respond to help Hyde-Smith in the weeks between the Nov. 6 vote and Tuesday's runoff. Nearly $5 million was spent on TV ads for the three weeks before the runoff.

Trump held rallies for Hyde-Smith in Tupelo and Biloxi on the eve of the election, saying, "I don't want to take my chances," as he hoped to increase the GOP majority in the Senate to 53-47 with her win. Trump's support previously appeared to buoy Hyde-Smith before the Nov. 6 special election, where she had faced a serious Republican challenger and the runoff.

Trump's endorsement and her devotion to him and his agenda was the main theme of Hyde-Smith's campaign, which otherwise relied on Republican red meat issues such as abortion, border security, gun rights, Senate confirmation of conservative judges and "our conservative values."

Political experts in Mississippi said the Senate seat should have been an easy win for Republicans.

“It should have been a slam dunk,” said John Bruce, who chairs the Political Science Department at the University of Mississippi. “We’re here because of the president and the national mood. And we’re here because Cindy Hyde-Smith has run a bad campaign. She has tripped over herself more than once.”

Hyde-Smith, 59, of Brookhaven, is a cattle farmer and stockyard/auction owner. She is a former state senator and former state agriculture commissioner — the first woman to hold that post.

More:Who is Mississippi Senate candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith?

Espy, 64, of Madison, is an attorney, a former U.S. representative and former U.S. secretary of agriculture in the Clinton administration. In 1986 he was elected Mississippi's first African American in Congress since Reconstruction and in 1993 became the first African-American secretary of agriculture with President Bill Clinton's appointment. 

More:Who is Mississippi Senate candidate Mike Espy?

Throughout the campaign, Espy played up his bipartisan credentials. He often avoided discussing or criticizing Trump, mentioned he'd endorsed former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, and often steered the conversation back to health care — including protections for pre-existing conditions, rejuvenating Mississippi's struggling rural hospitals and lowering drug prices. 

Even as Espy attracted help from major Democratic stars such as California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker on the campaign trail in recent days, he often repeated that he would vote independently if elected, and said he would keep a "Mississippi first" mindset. He held back in going after Hyde-Smith publicly over the hanging remarks, though his campaign did release ads slamming her, and in a recent debate, Espy said: "I don't know what's in your heart, but we all know what came out of your mouth," and added it had given the state a "black eye." 

For months before the Nov. 6 special election vote, the race appeared more of a Republican primary than a nonpartisan general special election. Hyde-Smith and serious Republican challenger state Sen. Chris McDaniel focused most of their attention and campaigning on each other. Espy, not facing a serious Democratic challenger, was nearly assured a spot in the expected runoff as the Republicans clashed.

For Hyde-Smith, whose Republican bona fides had been questioned because of her having previously been a Democrat, Trump's endorsement in August was seen as crucial to fend off McDaniel for the first vote.

For the runoff, Trump's Mississippi rallies were crucial to Hyde-Smith for turnout of former McDaniel supporters and to help after her public hanging and other comments appeared to fire up Democrats for Espy.

The Mississippi runoff sparked a national conversation — or at times national argument — about race and questions about what progress Mississippi has made.

"While we are hopeful that the Senator-elect will prove herself worthy of her new office, this election demonstrates the need to continue broadening the tent of civic and democratic participation in our nation," the NAACP said in a statement Tuesday night. "We must continue to organize, empower Americans to make their voices heard, and use and harness this power to produce real change in Mississippi and nationwide."

Tuesday's results weren't Democrat Doug Jones upsetting a Republican to win a Senate seat in Alabama last year, or even Democrat Stacey Abrams nearly knocking out Republican Brian Kemp for governor in Georgia earlier this month. 

But following Espy's campaign party, attendees Christina Spann, 27, and Courtney Warner, 24, said despite Espy's loss, they viewed Mississippi as moving in a new direction — and perhaps toward electing a Democrat to statewide office in the next few years. 

"There's hope for the future," Warner said, noting Espy could always run again in two years. "More people are paying attention, and we're mobilizing more people to get out and vote." 

"It's great for people our age and younger to see that movement and be encouraged," added Spann. "If you want change, you always have to have hope." 

Wearing a Navy Seabee hat, Rich Huffstutler of Lawrence County stood in the thick of the Hyde-Smith victory crowd taking in the results. He said Hyde-Smith's office worked as a liason between him and a local Veterans Affairs center when he dealt with some issues a few months ago.

"It's a good day for veterans," he said of Hyde-Smith's victory.

Hyde-Smith said: "This victory is about our conservative values. It's about the things that mean the most to all of us Mississippians, our faith, our family. It's those things I will take to Washington, D.C. I want to represent all Mississippians with these values and I will fight I assure you every single day."