JACKSON, Miss. – US Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and his Democrat Democrat Mike Espy meet for their only debate Tuesday night in a contest where verbal blunders from the incumbent president sparked strong emotions about the history of the racial violence in Mississippi.

Senate races rarely attract national attention in this deeply conservative state. But this showdown – the last big race of the mid-season 2018 – drew attention after Hyde-Smith's filmed remarks during separate demonstrations about "public hanging" and making "just a little harder" "the Liberal vote.

President Donald Trump reiterated his support for Hyde-Smith on Monday before a campaign visit to Mississippi next week. Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden sponsored Espy, a former congressman and US Secretary of Agriculture who is seeking to become the first African-American Senator in Mississippi since Reconstruction.

Hyde-Smith was appointed to the Senate to temporarily replace Senator Thad Cochran, who retired in April because of health problems. She is the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress.

Hyde-Smith and Espy each received about 41% of the vote when four candidates were registered on the ballot on November 6th. If she won the second round on November 27, Hyde-Smith would give the Republicans a 53-47 majority in the US Senate.

Mississippi has not elected a Democrat in the US Senate since 1982, and Republicans occupy all positions, with the exception of one. Still, Espy is looking for a long – term victory nearly a year after another Democrat, Doug Jones, won a Senate race against a troubled Republican candidate in neighboring Alabama.

The contest has intensified since the publisher of a liberal news site posted a video clip on social media on Nov. 11, showing Hyde-Smith praising a cattle rancher during the race. campaign campaign of 2 November in Tupelo, stating: a circular saw for him. If he invited me to a public hanging, I would be in the first row. "

The same Louisiana-based publisher, Lamar White Jr. of The Bayou Brief, published another video clip on November 15, showing Hyde-Smith at an event in Starkville on Nov. 3, speaking of "Liberal People" and by doing "just a little harder" for them to vote.

In a statement, Hyde-Smith termed the suspended phrase of "exaggerated manifestation of respect" and stated that it was "ridiculous" to read a negative connotation in it. She repeatedly refused to answer questions about this at a press conference in Jackson, but the question will surely arise during the debate. Her campaign said that she was joking about the obstacles to voting.

In a state marked by lynchings and violent repression of blacks' voting rights, critics have described his remarks as ignorant at best and as racist at worst.

Bishop Ronnie Crudup, senior pastor of New Horizon Church International at Black, in Jackson, said Hyde-Smith's pending remark was "extremely shocking".

"This statement has a historical background, and it shows that she does not really know blacks," said Crudup, who supports Espy. "This is something that is causing an uproar in everyone, because in 2018, you want to think that we are beyond that. And probably for most of my parents too, which aggravates the situation is not to apologize. "

Merle Flowers, a former white colleague of Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi Senate, said she was unfairly criticized for her comment on the "public hanging".

"It's a quality Christian woman and she did not mean anything wrong in what she said.I think the national media has outgrown the proportions," said Republican Treasurer Flowers, Mississippi Victory Fund, a super PAC that spent close to $ 790,000 to help Hyde-Smith in the special election.

Democrat legislator, Mr. Hyde-Smith served for 12 years as a legislator before moving to the Republican Party at the end of 2010 and winning state-wide races as commissioner for agriculture in 2011 and 2015.

"I've never heard Cindy Hyde-Smith say anything derogatory," Flowers said. "Black or white or Mexican or Chinese – I've never heard it say a pejorative word about anyone."

For Espy to replace Hyde-Smith, he needs a strong participation among African Americans, who make up 38% of the Mississippi population. He also needs a large share of the white vote.

Crudup helped African-American voters join Cochran in 2014, when the senator was participating in a second Republican round against McDaniel, a state senator benefiting from the Tea Party's support.

Speaking of Hyde-Smith's remark about the "public hanging," Crudup said, "Thad Cochran would never have heard Thad was a statesman and a gentleman." Thad was someone who was comfortable with everyone … and he was someone who was appreciated and respected in the African-American community. "

Cochran, who lives in Oxford, has retired from public life and has not been active in the Hyde-Smith campaign.

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For full coverage of US mid-term elections by AP: http://apne.ws/APPolitics. Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.