Mississippi Runoff Election Begins To Decide Final Senate Race Of 2018
Will Mississippians select Cindy Hyde-Smith despite the racial controversies that have rocked her campaign?
UNITED STATES – APRIL 9: Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., attends her swearing-in ceremony the Capitol’s Old Senate Chamber after being sworn in on the Senate floor on April 9, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
The final seat left to be filled in the U.S. Senate will be decided on Tuesday in a runoff election between Mississippi’s incumbent Sen. Cindy-Hyde Smith and Democrat Mike Espy.
Mississippians will decide whether they will choose to continue with Trumpism by selecting Hyde-Smith, whose campaign has been mired with racial controversy, including statements that she would attend a public hanging if invited, and Espy, who would be the first black Senator in the state since Reconstruction.
Hyde-Smith issued a non-apology for her statement after initially refusing to backtrack, claiming that her words were “twisted” to use as a “political weapon.”
Currently, according to WAPT, the election was going smoothly, with polling locations getting a steady slow of traffic. Nonetheless, it currently appears as if turnout for the runoff is lower than that of the general election, per the Secretary of State’s Office.
Nonetheless, the lines were long over the weekend for absentee voting, with more than 43,000 absentee ballots requested. Still Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann encouraged those who had yet to vote to turn out to do so.
“We still have more than eight hours left to vote in Mississippi, so we are encouraging all registered voters to take the time to cast a ballot,” Hosemann said.
The polls will be open until 7 p.m.
If Hyde-Smith wins the election, she will be the first woman to hold the seat and will also help further boost the Republican majority in the Senate to 53.
