Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has a 10-point lead over her Democratic opponent Mike Espy ahead of a runoff Tuesday, indicating that the Republican may yet endure a flurry of controversies that threatened to derail her chances in a deep red state.
A public poll conducted last week by RRH Elections, which FiveThirtyEight considers to be a conservative blog, shows Hyde-Smith with 54 percent to Espy’s 44 percent, double the lead she had in a private Republican poll reported by the New York Times on Tuesday.
Hyde-Smith, who tied Espy on Election Day, became embroiled in a series of racially charged controversies that opened up a line of attack for her political rivals.
Among the missteps, Hyde-Smith was caught on video earlier this month joking about how she would sit in “the front row” of a public hanging.
Hyde-Smith offered an apology to “anyone that was offended” by her hanging remark during her sole public debate with Espy, who is African American, last week, but that hasn’t stopped Walmart and others to request that her campaign refund all their donations.
[List: Companies asking for a refund from embattled Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith before Mississippi runoff]
Hyde-Smith, appointed in April to temporarily fill the seat vacated by the retired Thad Cochran, will get a last-minute boost from President Trump, who will campaign for her in Mississippi on Monday. “Respected by all. We need her in Washington!. Thanks!” he tweeted Sunday.
Meanwhile, Espy, a former U.S. agriculture secretary and U.S. congressman, has gotten a helping hand from top Democratic Party figures with an eye on a 2020 challenge against Trump, including Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.
RRH Elections’ poll of 684 likely voters, conducted with the help of Bold Blue Campaigns and JMC Analytics & Polling on Nov. 19-21 and 23-24, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
