Hyde-Smith has drawn fire for a video showing her praising a supporter by saying, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”
TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — President Donald Trump stumped in Mississippi on Monday for a Republican Senate appointee who wants voters to focus on her unwavering support for him, and not the racial questions that have made Tuesday’s runoff election a much closer contest than anyone expected.
“She votes for us and she votes for ‘Make America Great Again,'” Trump said at a rally in Tupelo, where he was accompanied by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Trump called Hyde-Smith “a truly incredible leader and tireless champion” for Mississippi.
“She stood up to the Democrat smear machine,” Trump said, praising her for voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Hyde-Smith told the crowd in Tupelo: “I worked very, very hard for you. I have stood up for you and you know I will continue to stand up for the conservative values of Mississippi.”
She has made the Trump rallies a highlight of her runoff campaign against Democrat Mike Espy, and the president thanked her on Twitter for voting for “our Agenda in the Senate 100% of the time.”
But race has become a dominant issue as Hyde-Smith faces Espy, a former congressman and U. S. agriculture secretary who would become Mississippi’s first black senator since Reconstruction.
Hyde-Smith has drawn fire for a photo showing her wearing a replica hat of a Confederate soldier, and a video showing her praising a supporter by saying, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”
Mississippi has a history of racially motivated lynchings and violence against people who sought voting rights for black citizens.
