Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Sarah Adlakha (left to right) - (Photos from candidates' Facebook pages)
- Sarah Adlakha, a Chicago native, is running against incumbent U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in the March 10 Republican Primary Election.
With less than six weeks before the party primary election, political newcomer Sarah Adlakha is attempting to draw distinctions between herself and her opponent in the Republican Primary, incumbent U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Adlakha is selling herself as the outsider fighting against “entrenched political interests.” On Thursday, Adlakha said if elected, she would not accept money “from Washington lobbyists.”
“Not one dollar,” Adlakha said, before pointing to Hyde-Smith’s campaign finance reports which the challenger contends show the Senator “has accepted over $300,000 from registered lobbyists and their family members over the past four election cycles.”
Adlakha’s campaign noted that these donations were received over a five-year period dating back to 2020. Adlakha also questioned Hyde-Smith’s campaign spending related to travel and trips taken while in office since 2018, some to Las Vegas, Florida and other locales.
Jake Monssen, Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, dismissed the attacks. He told Magnolia Tribune the Senator’s team welcomes Adlakha to the state and the race.
“We are happy our primary opponent recently moved to beautiful coastal Mississippi and decided to register to vote here in August 2024,” Monssen said, noting that Adlakha failed to register to vote in the state for over a decade after moving to Mississippi. “We welcome her participation in this election. As conservatives, we believe competition is good.”
As previously reported, Adlakha is a native of Chicago, Illinois who moved to Mississippi 13 years ago. She paused her psychiatric practice to help her husband establish a cardiology clinic and has run the business side of the practice for 11 years.
The couple have been involved in developing a multi-million-dollar multi-purpose real estate project in Jackson County that has faced pushback from the Board of Supervisors and Singing River Health System over a certificate of need related to the medical component in the development. That CON was recently upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Local politics surrounding the development led Adlakha to back the incumbent Independent Gautier Mayor over a Republican challenger, also a former Mayor, in last year’s municipal elections.
Monssen said Hyde-Smith is also a small business owner but unlike Adlakha, the Senator is a lifelong Mississippian.
“She has run and won competitive elections by raising funds from conservatives all over America,” Monssen said of Hyde-Smith’s campaign donations and related travel to promote Republican leadership. “She’ll continue to be a champion for all Mississippians and conservatives everywhere. That’s why President Donald J. Trump has once again endorsed Senator Hyde-Smith and offered his full support.”
Trump announced his support of Hyde-Smith’s re-election early in 2025. She has since added endorsements from nearly every statewide and legislative Republican in Mississippi, including Governor Tate Reeves, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann and Speaker Jason White.
Social media critics of Adlakha have noted her praise for former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat from California who was Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020. A post made by Adlakha following the 2020 election read, “You don’t have to like her politics – or anything about her – to recognize the significance of this moment. There are a lot of little girls out there dreaming big today. As a mom of Indian daughters, this moment is pretty special. We have our first female Vice President. A black woman. An Indian woman. An American woman.”
A review of both of the candidates’ campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission shows Hyde-Smith with a significant lead in fundraising over Adlakha. The incumbent is reporting nearly $2.5 million cash on hand while the challenger shows $122,000.
Hyde-Smith has the benefit of incumbency, having been in office since 2018, giving her the ability to fundraise and prepare for this midterm re-election bid. She has received thousands of individual donations during that time as well as donations from various trade organizations and lobbying group, as is the norm for federal officeholders.
Some of those groups included on Hyde-Smith’s FEC reports are the National Association of REALTORS, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, National Alliance of Forest Owners, National Cotton Council of America, American Bankers Association, and National Rifle Association, just to name a few. Yet, the number of individual donations to Hyde-Smith’s campaign far outpace the number of donations coming from trade or lobbying groups.
In comparison, Adlakha’s initial campaign finance report showed a personal loan made to the campaign in the amount of $201,000 to seed her run. Her subsequent filing reported donations from less than 60 persons or businesses, totaling roughly $56,000.
“You cannot drain the swamp while taking money from it,” Adlakha said.
Updated FEC filings are expected by the end of this week.
The Primary Election is March 10. The Republican nominee will move to the November General Election where the Democrat nominee, yet to be determined, and an Independent candidate await.
