Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi is losing the support of major corporations in a backlash to comments she made earlier this month. On November 2, while standing next to a supporter, Hyde-Smith said, “if he invited me to a public hanging I’d be on the front row.” The remarks were widely seen as an allusion to lynching.



"If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row"- Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith says in Tupelo, MS after Colin Hutchinson, cattle rancher, praises her.



Hyde-Smith is in a runoff on Nov 27th against Mike Espy. pic.twitter.com/0a9jOEjokr — Lamar White, Jr. (@LamarWhiteJr) November 11, 2018

Walmart contributed $2,000 to Hyde-Smith’s campaign. After receiving public criticism for the donation, including a tweet from the actress Debra Messing, the retail juggernaut said it was asking for the donation back:

Hi Debra. Completely understand your concern. Sen. Hyde-Smith’s recent comments clearly do not reflect the values of our company and associates. As a result, we are withdrawing our support and requesting a refund of all campaign donations. — Walmart (@Walmart) November 20, 2018

Two other corporations, Union Pacific and Boston Scientific, have also withdrawn their donations to Hyde-Smith.

On Monday, Boston Science tweeted:

We were not aware of Senator Hyde-Smith’s remarks when this contribution was made on November 8, and we have requested a refund. We reject the Senator’s statements, which are not aligned with our company’s core values. — Boston Scientific (@bostonsci) November 19, 2018

Hyde-Smith is widely expected to win the run-off election later this month, but Democrats reportedly believe that her remarks might energize their base and make the election much closer than expected.