Cindy Hyde-Smith is quietly establishing ties to key Republicans as she hunts for President Trump’s endorsement in the Mississippi special election to choose a permanent successor to former Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
Hyde-Smith, the elected state commissioner for agriculture and commerce, is a complete unknown in Washington. She slipped into the nation’s capital last week for meetings at the White House and Republican National Committee. There, Hyde-Smith met with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale, and other senior Republicans.
Appointed to succeed Cochran, whose resignation took effect Saturday, Hyde-Smith has yet to win over Trump or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Republican insiders say the hesitation is simply a product of their nonexistent relationship — literally, top Republicans had never met or spoken with Hyde-Smith when Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant tapped her in late March.
“It’s not that we don’t have confidence in her, it’s that nobody had ever met her,” one Republican strategist said. Added Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., soon after Hyde-Smith was announced as Bryant’s choice to replace Cochran: “I think the president probably wants to meet her and get to know her. I think he’ll be very supportive when it’s all said and done.”
That will begin to change next week when Hyde-Smith, 58, is sworn in and starts spending time in Washington.
Putting together a strong campaign could also allay fears that she isn’t prepared for an unpredictable special election campaign, which under state law features an open primary held the same day as the November general election that will send the top two finishers to a runoff three weeks later.
Republicans sources told the Washington Examiner that Bryant and his political team, lead by adviser Josh Gregory, are taking the lead in helping Hyde-Smith build a campaign team. Jordan Russell, a veteran Mississippi operative who worked on Cochran’s 2014 re-election, has been hired as Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, with top political, finance, and communications aides to be rolled out soon.
Hyde-Smith expects to raise around $1 million by early May. She’ll need the cash. Mississippi is conservative territory, but against at least one other Republican, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, and possibly two Democrats, anything is possible in a special election format. A fresh poll, reported by the Clarion Ledger, showed a competitive race.
Democrat Mike Espy, who commissioned the survey, led Hyde-Smith 34 percent to 27 percent. McDaniel was in third at 21 percent.
Espy, who served in President Bill Clinton’s cabinet and before that represented a Mississippi congressional district, might not be the only Democrat to run. Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton declared his bid on Tuesday. The poll, conducted before Shelton announced, also didn’t account for the possible candidacy of Andy Taggart, a lawyer and well-known Republican who could draw from Hyde-Smith’s natural base.
“I have no interest in playing spoiler or making a point or waving a banner. I believe there is a way to win this race,” Taggart said Tuesday in a brief telephone interview. “I’m not going to run if I don’t think I can raise the money … I think I can.”
McDaniel, an insurgent conservative who came within a hair of ousting Cochran in the 2014 Republican primary, attacked Hyde-Smith immediately. He has dismissed the former Democrat as a moderate out of step with Mississippi’s conservative values and insufficiently aligned with Trump, even though, contrary to Hyde-Smith, he has a demonstrated history of opposing the president.
Senior Republicans, led by Bryant and McConnell, desperately want to block McDaniel from the runoff, fearing his sharp edges and penchant for controversial rhetoric could put the seat in play. But McDaniel comes to the special election with a considerable following, courtesy of his 2014 campaign. Some fear Taggart and Hyde Smith would cannibalize the pragmatic conservative vote, opening a path for McDaniel.
Taggart would be an interesting candidate. He favors altering the Mississippi flag to remove the portion of it that includes the flag of the old Confederacy, is a centrist on immigration issues, and hasn’t hesitated to publicly speak out against Trump when it he feels criticism is warranted.
“These are things that lot of Republicans don’t want to hear,” he conceded.
Al Weaver contributed to this report.
