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Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Campaigns Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, at Mama's Hamil's Restaurant in Madison, Miss. (AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis) The Associated Press
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A newly published video shows a white Republican U.S. senator in Mississippi praising someone by saying: "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row."
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said Sunday her Nov. 2 remark was "exaggerated expression of regard" for someone who invites her to speak.
Hyde-Smith faces a black Democratic challenger, Mike Espy, in a Nov. 27 runoff.
Espy campaign spokesman Danny Blanton calls Hyde-Smith's remark "reprehensible."
Mississippi has a history of racially motivated lynchings of black people.
The runoff winner gets the final two years of a term started by Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, who retired in April.
The publisher of The Bayou Posted on the video Sunday on social media.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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