WASHINGTON — When video surfaced last month of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi telling a supporter she would be “on the front row” if he invited her to a “public hanging,” some of the country’s largest corporations found themselves in a public relations nightmare.

Having cut checks to Ms. Hyde-Smith’s campaign, they risked association with comments that were quickly condemned by her Democratic opponent, a black man, and national civil rights groups as “racially tinged” and highly offensive, particularly in a state haunted by a history of lynchings. Almost a dozen companies and one major sports league issued public statements condemning what she had said and asked for refunds. Still others did so quietly.

But almost three weeks after Ms. Hyde-Smith, a Republican, defeated the Democrat, Mike Espy, in a runoff election, it appears that only one of the donors has received any of the more than $50,000 in total that the senator has been asked to return. They might as well give up on waiting.

Ms. Hyde-Smith’s campaign told at least one company, Walmart, on Thursday that it did not intend to refund its money. What it did not say: The campaign is out of money anyway after a frantic push to the finish line, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss the finances.