Geoff Pender and Luke Ramseth

Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Democrat Mike Espy and Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith will face off in a Nov. 27 runoff, set to make history as either the first woman ever or first African-American since Reconstruction to represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate.

In a race with heavy turnout, at least by midterm standards, Espy and Hyde-Smith led the vote in incomplete, unofficial results. With more than 95 percent of the vote in, Hyde-Smith and Espy each had 41 percent, Republican Chris McDaniel had 16 percent and Democrat Tobey Bartee, 1 percent.

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With neither Espy nor Hyde-Smith receiving more than 50 percent of the vote, the race heads to a runoff in three weeks. The winner will serve out the final two years of the unexpired term of longtime Sen. Thad Cochran, who resigned in April.

The runoff will be the last holdover from the 2018 midterm congressional elections. While the balance of power in the Senate does not appear to be at stake — with Republicans holding their majority Tuesday night — the majority margin remains thin, and national attention and millions more in partisan and special interest money is expected to be focused on Mississippi for the next three weeks.

Candidates react

"I’m going to make sure Mississippi continues to rise," Espy told his election-night crowd gathered in Jackson, mentioning health care would be a priority. "I’m going to stand for health care and making sure all these rural hospitals do not close ... I promise you I will be out there with you.

"Will you stand with me?" Espy said. "Together we can make sure Mississippi continues to rise above, together we can make sure Mississippi continues to move forward. And after three weeks, I promise you I’ll be the best senator Mississippi has ever had.”

Hyde-Smith on Tuesday vowed "Republicans are going to keep this seat," and that she would "fight like nobody's business the next three weeks."

"No Democrat is going to take over here while I am here as you're candidate," she told her crowd in Jackson. "We have got to unite," she said, adding she wanted to "get back up there" to help with President Trump's agenda.

McDaniel in his concession speech endorsed Hyde-Smith. "We now have to unite," he said. "Mr. Espy cannot be allowed to win this seat."

McDaniel, who nearly toppled Sen. Thad Cochran in the 2014 GOP primary, said, "They won this one fair and square, not like it was in 2014."

Although he called for Republican unity, McDaniel took a shot at Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who appointed Hyde-Smith to fill the Senate seat temporarily, endorsed her and helped secure Trump's endorsement of her. The governor also criticized McDaniel at the time of the appointment.

"Phil Bryant said that politics is not the business for me," McDaniel said. "He may be right. I never once sold my soul. I never once entered a backroom deal. I never did anything but fight for my principles and values."

A competitive, pricey race

Espy, 64, of Madison, is an attorney, a former U.S. representative and former U.S. secretary of agriculture in the Clinton administration. In 1986 he was elected Mississippi's first African American in Congress since Reconstruction and in 1993 became the first African-American secretary of agriculture with President Bill Clinton's appointment.

Hyde-Smith, 59, of Brookhaven is a cattle farmer and stockyard/auction owner, former state senator and former state agriculture commissioner — the first woman to hold that post. Bryant in April appointed Hyde-Smith to temporarily fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Thad Cochran, making Hyde-Smith the first female to represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate.

McDaniel, 47, of Ellisville, is an attorney and three-term state senator. McDaniel nearly toppled Cochran in the 2014 GOP primary for senate, leading the first primary but losing in a hotly contested primary. McDaniel has been a leader of the state's most conservative Republicans and the tea party and critical of the "establishment" GOP in Mississippi and Washington.

President Trump had loomed large in Tuesday's special Senate race, after he endorsed Hyde-Smith via Twitter in August, then held an Oct. 3 rally in Southaven that drew national media coverage.

For Hyde-Smith, whose Republican bona fides had been questioned because of her having previously been a Democrat, Trump's endorsement was seen as crucial. McDaniel, whom Trump endorsed in 2014 when McDaniel unsuccessfully challenged Cochran, also had sought Trump's endorsement this cycle.

Although the race Tuesday was a nonpartisan, general special election, for much of the cycle it had the feeling of a primary, with Republicans Hyde-Smith and McDaniel aiming their campaigns at each other.

Espy, facing little challenge from Bartee, for months was able to run a low-key campaign inside the state and focus on fundraising and drumming up support in Washington, confident the two Republicans would split the GOP vote and give Espy a clear shot to a runoff.

McDaniel attacked Hyde-Smith — who served in the state Senate as a Democrat before switching to Republican in 2010 and running for ag commissioner — as not truly conservative and not really Republican. He claimed Hyde-Smith voted for Hillary Clinton in 2008, which Hyde-Smith has denied.

Hyde-Smith focused her campaign on her endorsement by Trump and Bryant, and criticized McDaniel for anti-Trump statements he made when McDaniel served as state co-chair for Trump opponent Sen. Ted Cruz.

Money has poured into the races. Hyde-Smith raised nearly $3 million; Espy nearly $2 million and McDaniel $583,000. But outside money — from special interests and super PACs — has surpassed $9 million. McDaniel had at least $3.9 million spent on his behalf, Hyde-Smith $3.4 million and Espy $1.9 million.

Long lines, record turnout

Election Day was marked by long lines at polling places around the state.

Two tornadoes touched down and caused damage in the Tupelo area Monday night, destroying several homes. But polls in that area nevertheless opened on time, and other voting problems — a busted elevator in Hattiesburg, a brief traffic-related police road block in Jackson, some other voting machine malfunctions — were largely resolved by noon, officials said.

As polls closed, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann told the Clarion Ledger voter turnout had been impressive and would be "clearly a record for midterm elections" in the state. He added voters had made "a statement on the direction they want the state of Mississippi to go in."

With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, more than 800,000 Mississippians had been counted — 175,000 more people than voted in the 2014 midterms. The tally also surpassed the 2010 midterm turnout, when 788,000 voted.

The candidates who won Tuesday, Hosemann said, would feel confident in their ability to govern going forward considering the strong turnout — a stark contrast to only 13 percent of registered voters, or about 245,000 people, who cast ballots in the June Republican and Democratic primaries.

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