Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith's "hanging" remark triggered an outcry, with many pointing to Mississippi's history of lynchings. But she denied any racial connotation. | AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis White House Trump weighs Mississippi visit on heels of Hyde-Smith 'hanging' remark

National Republicans are mobilizing to shore up a Mississippi Senate seat that a few days ago was barely on anyone’s radar, with the party poised to spend at least $1 million on a TV advertising campaign and the White House weighing a pre-runoff trip by President Donald Trump.

The burst of activity follows the release of a video last weekend showing Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith joking that if she were invited by one of her supporters to a "public hanging," she would be in "the front row."


Hyde-Smith, who earlier this year was appointed to fill the seat of former Sen. Thad Cochran, is facing Democrat Mike Espy in a Nov. 27 runoff. Espy, a former agriculture secretary, is African American.

Party officials stressed that plans for a Trump rally weren’t yet finalized, but several people involved in the talks said they expect the event to take place on the eve of the runoff. It would be Trump’s first rally since his nationwide pre-midterm sprint. Trump won Mississippi by nearly 18 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, meanwhile, has drawn up plans to spend over $1 million on a TV ad campaign buttressing Hyde-Smith. Much of the funding came from an approximately $1 million transfer supplied from the Republican National Committee last week, before Hyde-Smith’s remarks became public.

The RNC, which deployed field staffers nationwide ahead of the midterm elections, has had two dozen aides in Mississippi for months, and plans on deploying additional staffers from other states.

Party officials say they remain confident that Hyde-Smith will prevail in the deep red state but want to take no chances, particularly after last year’s embarrassing special election loss for an Alabama Senate seat.

Additional reinforcements could be on the way. Mississippi Victory Fund, a pro-Hyde Smith super PAC, is expected to invest another $600,000 ahead of the runoff. The group, which is run by Henry Barbour, the nephew of former Gov. Haley Barbour, had spent more than $300,000 through the middle of October, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

National Democrats, who've long viewed the contest as a reach, are also starting to engage. On Wednesday, the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC began reserving TV advertising time. The group's commercials are set to begin airing later this week, a spokesman confirmed.

And this weekend, California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is African American, is slated to campaign with Espy,

Hyde-Smith's "hanging" remark triggered an outcry, with many pointing to Mississippi's history of lynchings. Nearly 40 percent of the state's population is African-American.

But Hyde-Smith denied any racial intent.

"In a comment on Nov. 2, I referred to accepting an invitation to a speaking engagement. In referencing the one who invited me, I used an exaggerated expression of regard, and any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous,” Hyde-Smith said in a statement last weekend. She has refused to elaborate.

White House officials were initially disappointed by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant's decision in March to appoint Hyde-Smith to the seat and warned him that Hyde-Smith's past Democratic affiliation would jeopardize the seat. But the administration soon came around: Trump announced his support for Hyde-Smith in August and flew to Mississippi in October to campaign for her.

