A new Triumph Campaigns poll in Mississippi finds Mike Espy (D) and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) neck and neck in the special election to replace Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), 33% to 33%. They are followed by Chris McDaniel (R) at 13% and Jason Shelton (D) at 6%.
The special election will not have party primaries and is likely to go to a runoff.
In head-to-head matchups, Hyde-Smith leads Espy, 42% to 36%, while Espy leads McDaniel, 43% to 24%.
Associated Press: “He is one of the Republican Party’s most-prized recruits, a young U.S. Senate candidate with an outsider resume and a populist message designed to appeal equally to farmers, suburban moms and the national GOP’s moneyed elite.”
“But things get complicated when you ask Josh Hawley about President Trump. Hawley, who launched a Republican Senate bid in Missouri less than a year after being elected state attorney general, won’t say whether he considers the Republican president a role model.”
The Washington Post reports that Mississippi Senate appointee Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) sat down yesterday with White House officials, who weren’t too keen on her when Gov. Phil Bryant (R) named her for the seat last week.
First Read: “At issue, among other things, is Hyde-Smith’s past as a former Democrat, which some Republicans worry could hamper her run against conservative firebrand Chris McDaniel, who’s also seeking the seat. Keep in mind that, if no candidate between Hyde-Smith, McDaniel and Democratic candidate Mike Espy gets to 50% of the vote on Election Day, we’ll be in for a runoff.”
McDaniel tweets: “It sounds like the WH is on the right track in refusing to endorse Cindy Hyde-Smith but this should help them make a final decision.”
Author and attorney Andy Taggart (R) said he is “very seriously considering running” for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Thad Cochran, the Jackson Clarion Ledger reports.
“Taggart’s statement comes a day after Gov. Phil Bryant (R) announced he will appoint Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith to Cochran’s seat temporarily and support her election to the post in November. It also comes amid Bryant facing some Republican backlash over his choice.”
“Many establishment GOP leaders in Mississippi and Washington, including Taggart and White House advisers, have questioned Bryant’s choice. They fear Hyde-Smith, who served for years as a Democratic state Senator, would be vulnerable to a challenge from the right or left.”
Earlier for members: How Democrats Could Pick Up a Senate Seat in Mississippi
“White House officials this week told Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) that President Trump did not plan to campaign for or endorse Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) if she was appointed to the state’s open Senate seat, saying they were worried that the former Democrat would lose,” Politico reports.
“Bryant responded that he intended to go ahead and pick Hyde-Smith for the post, anyway. He’s expected to formally announce the selection Wednesday.”
“Republicans are deeply concerned that Chris McDaniel, an anti-establishment conservative state senator who is running for the seat, will use Hyde-Smith’s past party affiliation against her in the race.”
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) is expected to pick Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) to replace Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports, “a move likely to gain approval from President Trump in lead-up to one of the most important midterm elections in the country.”
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said that his pick for an interim replacement for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) would come “sooner rather than later,” the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports.
“Most folks are taking that to mean sometime this week.”
“And the Republican governor’s short list — according to numerous sources — has gotten short indeed: Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves — who had been Bryant’s top pick — doesn’t want the job largely because he has young children and doesn’t want to move his family to Washington, instead looking at a gubernatorial run in 2019.”
Chris McDaniel (R) announced that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), instead of pursuing his previously announced Republican primary challenge to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the Jackson Clarion Ledger reports.
For members: How Democrats Could Pick Up a Senate Seat in Mississippi
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) has told Republicans that President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have urged him to appoint himself to the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Thad Cochran, who is retiring early due to health issues, the AP reports.
Bryant is limited to two terms as governor, and his time in that job ends in January 2020.
Former Rep. Mike Espy (D-MS) announced his “strong intention to run” for the U.S. Senate seat Thad Cochran announced he’ll leave April 1, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports.
“Espy served as a Democrat in the U.S. House representing the 2nd District from 1987 to 1993 — the first African-American to hold a Mississippi congressional seat since Reconstruction, then served as secretary of agriculture in the Clinton administration, the first African-American to hold that post.”
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) will resign effective April 1, citing his deteriorating health.
According to Mississippi law, an interim gubernatorial appointment will be made until a special election is held.
Chris McDaniel (R) is expected to announce later this week that he will wage a 2018 primary challenge against Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Politico reports.
“McDaniel’s plans have been the subject of speculation for months. With the 80-year-old Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-MS) health in decline, many believed that McDaniel would run for the seat should it become vacant.”
Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) says he will make an announcement early next week about his political future, WTVA reports.
“McDaniel has said he has been looking at a run for the United States Senate in the GOP primary against incumbent Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS). Qualifying for that primary ends March 1 at 5 p.m.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) “is not interested in going to the U.S. Senate, despite urging from President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,” the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports.
“The Washington Post reported Thursday night that McConnell met with Bryant this week and asked the governor to appoint himself in the event that Sen. Thad Cochran stepped down in the coming months. Sources close to Bryant told the Clarion Ledger after the Post report was published that Bryant is not interested in such a scenario. The sources did confirm the conversation with McConnell and also said the president had talked to Bryant about the same thing.”
“The same sources said Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) would be the leading candidate if Cochran steps down.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has asked Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) to consider appointing himself to the Senate if ailing Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) resigns from office, the Washington Post reports.
“President Trump, a supporter of Bryant, backs the plan, according to a person familiar with the situation, though there are several other options that both McConnell and Trump have discussed if Bryant declines.”
“Mississippi’s 2018 U.S. Senate race is poised as the next possible front in the fight between rival wings of the Republican Party, a campaign that could test how the GOP’s populist and establishment forces engage in the aftermath of this month’s bitter Alabama contest,” the Washington Post reports.
“If state Sen. Chris McDaniel, the hard right’s top recruit for the seat, decides to challenge U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, he will be up against the incumbent’s well-funded allies and President Trump, who has pledged Wicker his support. Those dynamics could trigger a broad intraparty clash such as the one that played out in Alabama, where the GOP lost a Senate seat for the first time in a quarter-century.”
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, “hasn’t presided over a hearing since early September. The Mississippi Republican has not given a speech on the Senate floor all year, and he’s introduced only two bills during that time, both of them minor,” Politico reports.
“The 80-year-old’s feeble performance has fueled expectations — among senators and aides who’ve witnessed his physical and mental decline firsthand — that Cochran will step down from the Appropriations chairmanship early next year, or resign from the Senate altogether.”
Said one GOP senator: “The understanding is that he will leave after Jan. 1, That’s what most of us believe will happen.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.