CLARION LEDGER – 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.”
Hyde-Smith victory party
President Trump congratulates Hyde-Smith
Congratulations to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on your big WIN in the Great State of Mississippi. We are all very proud of you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2018
MSGOP comments on #MSSen results
Congratulations to Cindy Hyde-Smith for her victory tonight. In the face of the best-run democratic campaign in over a decade, her success is a testament to the conservative policy she has supported and to countless hard-working conservative activists around our great state. pic.twitter.com/rQprSBHziV
— Mississippi GOP (@MSGOP) November 28, 2018
Chris McDaniel inserts himself into Hyde-Smith win
Espy tweets after defeat
We built the largest grassroots organization our state has seen in a generation, through a coalition of voters who shared our belief that Mississippi’s future will be brighter than our past.
— Mike Espy (@espyforsenate) November 28, 2018
And we are not going to stop moving our state forward just because of one election. I look forward to finding new ways to do just that.
— Mike Espy (@espyforsenate) November 28, 2018
CLARION LEDGER – Sid Salter: MSSen: Special election race cost $20 million and two candidates’ reputations
In 2018, Mississippi voters elected two U.S. senators. The two elections saw about $27.6 million expended with $11 million of that coming from partisan outside groups — and armed with that money, Mississippians witnessed the near destruction of the reputations of at least two of those candidates…
…The Nov. 27 special election runoff ensued with outside spending attack ads from both camps that painted Hyde-Smith as an insensitive racist and Espy as a crooked public official for hire. Throughout a prior 18-year career in Mississippi politics, Hyde-Smith had never faced allegations of that nature. Espy was cleared of all criminal charges against him 20 years ago and has enjoyed a successful law practice since that time.
Both of them are far better human beings than how they were portrayed the last months and weeks, and both deserved better treatment.
But since Nov. 6, Mississippi voters have seen up close what a national campaign looks like when both major parties have resources and outside spending entities engage in campaign tactics like this. For many, the question remaining after the political dust settled is just why any candidate would subject themselves and their families to the meat grinder of modern politics?
WCBI – Mississippi Economic Council tours the state
WJTV – Court of Appeals Runoff Races
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Appeals Court District 4 Position 2 Runoff
Candidate Party Votes Percentage David McCarty 103,270 votes 66% votes Jeff Weill 53,151 votes 34% votes Total 156,421 Min: 0% Max: 100%
100% Reporting 403 of 403 Precincts
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Appeals Court District 2 Position 1 Runoff
Candidate Party Votes Percentage Deborah McDonald 82,682 votes 65% votes Eric Hawkins 44,453 votes 35% votes Total 127,135 Min: 0% Max: 100%
100% Reporting 435 of 435 Precincts
WJTV – Mississippi House of Representatives Races
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MS House District 31 Runoff
Candidate Party Votes Percentage Otis Anthony 4,701 votes 69% votes Barbara Brooks 2,143 votes 31% votes Total 6,844 Min: 0% Max: 100%
100% Reporting 18 of 18 Precincts
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MS House District 85 Runoff
Candidate Party Votes Percentage Jeffery Harness 4,300 votes 59% votes JoAnn Collins-Smith 2,929 votes 41% votes Total 7,229 Min: 0% Max: 100%
100% Reporting 27 of 27 Precincts
Magnolia Tribune
