The final Senate race of 2018 is happening now, with flagrant racist Cindy Hyde-Smith expected to prevail over black Democrat Mike Espy, because Mississippi. Hyde-Smith was appointed to the Senate after Sen. Thad Cochran resigned in April, and she has been making Republicans sweat as the race has become unexpectedly competitive thanks to her racism turning out to exceed what even Republicans like their candidates to do publicly. On Monday evening, Donald Trump made two appearances in the state to try to whip up the base and get people over any lingering embarrassment about supporting Hyde-Smith’s racism.
The president called Tuesday’s runoff “one of the most important elections of your lives,” and he cast Hyde-Smith as a champion of his agenda who would bolster the Republican majority in the Senate.
“She votes to make America great again and she votes for America first,” Trump said, referring to two of his slogans. “Cindy is so important, so respected, we’ve got to send her back. If we win tomorrow, we’ll be at 53-47.”
Trump didn’t publicly address Hyde-Smith’s comment about happily attending a public hanging, or the pictures of her in Confederate gear, or the fact that both she and her daughter attended segregation academies. When reporters directly asked him about the public hangings comment, Trump said that she’d apologized (belatedly and tepidly) and that “I know where her heart is, and her heart is good. That’s not what she was meaning when she said that.” Great. Another Republican whose heart Donald Trump knows has a good heart.
Alabama voters stepped up and said no to a child molester—how will Mississippi voters respond to someone who’s put racism front and center?
Polls close at 8 PM ET.