Mike Espy announces U.S. Senate bid, setting up 2020 rematch with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith

Giacomo Bologna , Luke Ramseth | Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Show Caption Hide Caption Mike Espy announces 2020 bid for U.S. Senate Mike Espy, a former U.S. representative and former U.S. secretary of agriculture in the Clinton administration, announces his bid to unseat U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in 2020 election.

Democrat Mike Espy announced Tuesday he is running for U.S. Senate, setting up a likely 2020 rematch against Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

The 65-year-old made the announcement in a social media video highlighting his track record as both the first African American to serve Mississippi as a U.S. representative since the Civil War era and the only African American secretary of agriculture. It also mentioned his great-grandparents who were slaves, and his grandfather, who founded Mississippi's first hospital for African Americans.

"I believe I'm the person right now who can move us into the future more quickly, with a better image than who we have right now — Cindy Hyde-Smith — with all the things she said, and all the images that she's provoked," Espy told the Clarion Ledger on Tuesday at his law office in Jackson.

The 2018 special election drew national attention as Espy and Hyde-Smith battled to serve the remainder of Sen. Thad Cochran's term. Cochran resigned in April 2018 following 40 years in the Senate, and Gov. Phil Bryant appointed Hyde-Smith as interim senator. Espy and Hyde-Smith advanced to a runoff, and Hyde-Smith won with about 54% of the vote.

It was expected to be an easy win for Hyde-Smith, but turned into a hotly contested race as Election Day neared. Hyde-Smith made comments about attending a public hanging if a friend invited her, attracting criticism and references to Mississippi's dark past including lynchings. At another campaign event, she appeared to joke about voter suppression.

President Donald Trump rallied for Hyde-Smith, and she ultimately won, becoming the state's first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

It's official. I'm running to be Mississippi's next U.S. Senator. Too many people here can’t find a decent job, rural hospitals are closing, and the price for education is just too high.



Let's work together to move Mississippi forward. Join us at https://t.co/fq2EocmYXZ. pic.twitter.com/I5Hk7JSyL5 — Mike Espy (@MikeEspyMS) November 12, 2019

2018 flashback: Hyde-Smith defeats Espy in U.S. Senate runoff

Espy's announcement Tuesday was not a surprise. Within days of his 2018 loss, he filed paperwork to run again in 2020.

"We made mistakes in 2018, as a candidate and as a campaign," Espy told the Clarion Ledger. "I had not campaigned in 25 years, and people forgot me, they forgot my contributions as a congressman, they forgot my contributions as a cabinet secretary," as well as his work as a nonprofit chairman.

This time around, Espy said he would raise more money early in the campaign, which could be used to build a more robust field operation to turn out the vote. Last time, he said, the campaign raised sufficient money, about $7.2 million, but it poured in too late, and the campaign could only use it on last-minute advertising.

Espy also pledged he would do a better job connecting with African American voters, and campaign in more parts of the state. He hired an election data firm over the summer that found a lower overall percentage of black voters turned out for last year's special election than Espy originally thought — a difference of more than 4% when compared to the election of President Barack Obama.

"We have a tremendous upside if we can inform African American voters, and we can motivate them to come to the polls," he said. "And in the atmosphere of a presidential year, I believe that could happen automatically."

As it was a year ago, he indicated health care would be a central campaign issue, including saving Mississippi's rural hospitals and lowering drug prices. Espy said he would underscore his reputation as a moderate, adding he held meetings with various groups of voters over the summer, including a group of Republican farmers from the Delta.

"If he wins reelection, I’m going to certainly work with President Trump," Espy said. "He will consider me to be a moderate Democrat, an independent Democrat, someone who will vote for the good things that benefit Mississippi whether he’s president or not."

Espy said if elected, the issue of Trump's possible impeachment likely would already be resolved. But he said he was nevertheless watching this week's hearings on the issue closely, and would not say how he'd vote until he sees all the evidence. He said he's read the transcript of the call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the center of the impeachment inquiry.

"It is illegal to ask a foreign power to interfere in a domestic election," Espy said. "And then on top of that to allegedly threaten to withhold military aid is wrong. So that’s an abuse of power, if all that happened. Whether that’s impeachable? I don’t know."

Hyde-Smith, of Brookhaven, is a cattle farmer and stockyard/auction owner. She is a former state senator and former state agriculture commissioner. Hyde-Smith was a Democrat up until 2010, when she switched parties while in the Legislature before running for ag commissioner in 2011.

Party primaries in Mississippi are March 10.

Contact Giacomo "Jack" Bologna at 601-961-7282 or gbologna@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @gbolognaCL.