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By Phil McCausland
A video of US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Who faces a clash against an African American opponent, joking about attending a "public hanging" became viral Sunday while She insisted that her remark was not negative.
"If he invited me to a public hanging, I would be in first place," said Hyde-Smith at a stoppage of his campaign in Tupelo, Mississippi. The man she was referring to was identified as a local breeder.
The opponent of Hyde-Smith in the second round is former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy.
The video was published by Lamar White Jr., publisher of the Bayou Brief, a non-profit news site in Louisiana. White told Mississippi Today that he had not taken the video, which had been recorded on November 2, before the election.
Mississippi has a difficult racial history including 581 lynchings between 1882 and 1968, the record of all states in this period, according to the NAACP.
Hyde-Smith, who is about to complete the last two years of the Senate term she assumed when she was appointed to replace Thad Cochran in March, ignored the comment in a Sunday night statement.
"In a November 2 comment, I mentioned accepting an invitation to a speech," Hyde-Smith said. "In referring to the one who invited me, I used an expression of exaggerated respect, and any attempt to turn that into a negative connotation is ridiculous."
Espy said that Hyde-Smith's remark showed why she was not fit to represent the state.
"Cindy Hyde-Smith's comments are reprehensible," Espy said in a statement. "They have no place in our political speech, in Mississippi, nor in our country, we need leaders, not separators, and her words show that she lacks understanding and judgment to represent the people of our state. "
The racial elements of this comment have been lost in a state where 38% of the population is black and social media has provoked many negative reactions.
Hyde-Smith and Espy face each other for a special election to serve the remainder of Mr. Cochran's term after his retirement for health reasons.
Republican Governor Phil Bryant appointed Hyde-Smith to this position in April and has since secured the approval of President Donald Trump, who campaigned for her last month in Mississippi.
Since none of the candidates won 50% of the vote on November 6th (both slightly more than 40%), the race will take place on November 27th.
Hyde-Smith was the state's agriculture commissioner and was a senator from the state of Mississippi. She was a Democrat until 2010, when she changed party. By taking the current seat in the Senate, Hyde-Smith became the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress.
Espy, his opponent, is expected to become the first Black to hold the post of Mississippi Senator since Reconstruction and the first Democrat to hold the post since John Stennis retired in 1989.
Alex Johnson contributed.
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