Jeremy Weldon

Today’s runoff election for U.S. Senate will wrap up voting in Panola County for the year. Nearly 51 percent of the registered voters in the county cast ballots in the general election Nov. 6, and the two candidates that survived that contest are hoping for equally good turnout of their supporters today.

Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith has held the Senate seat since her appointment by Gov. Phil Bryant in the spring, but she has a serious challenger in former U.S. Sec. of Agriculture Mike Espy, a Democrat. The two ran neck-to-neck in the general election, and have focused their attention on getting their respective bases to return to the polls today.

Espy, a popular conservative Democrat by Washington D.C. standards, was previously elected to the U.S. House of Representatives three times, the first African-American from Mississippi to win a Congressional seat since shortly after the Civil War. He was appointed to President Bill Clinton’s cabinet, but resigned after a year and was prosecuted by the federal government for crimes ranging from bribery to campaign violations.

Espy was found not guilty in a trial, and prosecutors have since said the government’s spending on the case was exorbitant considering the outcome. Since then Espy has worked privately as an attorney, mostly in the Ridgeland and Madison areas.

His campaign hopes to have a large turnout of black voters and enough “purple people” who generally vote Republican to overcome Sen. Hyde-Smith’s advantages of a strong base and the support of President Donald Trump, popular with Mississippi voters.

Both candidates have taken a few verbal swipes at one another, but have let the bulk of the perceived negative advertising to outside sources – mostly national political action committees who have sunk considerable sums into the race.

Espy has gained some ground in the last month when video clips were broadcast of Sen. Hyde-Smith using questionable language, including the words “public hanging”, when describing a relationship with a supporter. She was later recorded saying there are ways to have fewer liberal voters cast ballots.

Espy’s team pounced on those miscues and have brought national attention to the race. Espy, popular with a sizeable portion of white Democrats and Republicans alike, is counting on those voters to win the election. For her part, Sen. Hyde-Smith is counting on her close relationship with the President and conservative voting record to keep her base enthused about returning to the polls for the runoff.

In Panola County three weeks ago, Espy garnered 4,795 votes to Sen. Hyde-Smith’s 3,585.  Republican Chris McDaniel received 1,415 votes and Sen. Hyde-Smith is hoping to get most of those supporters this election.

All 22 precincts will be open and ready for voters beginning at 7 a.m., said Circuit Clerk Melissa Meek-Phelps. Although there were a few voters in the Pleasant Grove area that experienced problems in the the general voting, election commissioners have resolved the matter.

Meek-Phelps said because there was some confusion in the first election with the use of the electronic tablet used to verify voters’ name and addresses, a paper booklet of eligible voters will also be available for workers at each polling place.