By James Sweet III | Mississippi

With 28% of precincts reporting, 71 Republic is calling the Mississippi Special Election for United States Senator in favor of Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) and Mike Espy (D). As of 9:55 PM, Espy is leading the race with 44.5% of the vote. Hyde-Smith is in second place with 38.2%. The race required a majority to win without a runoff, which will be held on November 27th between the two candidates.

Chris McDaniel, a Mississippi State Senator, campaigned fiercely against Cindy Hyde-Smith, calling her an establishment candidate and labeling his campaign as anti-establishment. As tonight was a “jungle primary”, there was not a single candidate for each party. The competition between McDaniel and Hyde-Smith was expected to be the fiercest in the primary as they were the closest in a recent poll, but McDaniel only has 15.8%

Cindy Hyde-Smith is supported by the mainstream Republican Party, having garnered the endorsement of President Donald J. Trump. While Espy earned the first place for this election, due to the deep redness of the State of Mississippi, it is expected for Hyde-Smith to win the runoff election and to secure her seat as the Junior Senator from Mississippi.

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