Mississippi’s Hyde-Smith: A Dubious Senate Winner
THE ISSUE: Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith’s Senate win over Democrat Mike Espy in Mississippi.
It’s disgusting that Cindy Hyde-Smith was elected to the Senate (“GOP’er cruises in Miss,” Nov. 28).
With her narrow mind, she should not be an elected official. Her remark about a public hanging shows how little the South has progressed. It was dumb and hateful. Diane Oriente Springfield, NJ
Hyde-Smith broke a glass ceiling, becoming the first woman elected to the Senate from Mississippi. And yet I haven’t seen any celebration from women’s groups about this. I haven’t heard that women did the right thing by supporting another woman, as Madeleine Albright once said they should generally do.
Thankfully, the margin of victory is so great that the losing Democrat would not have a leg to stand on if he complained about the result. Barry Levy Hawthorn, Calif.
Hyde-Smith said that if she was “invited to a pub- lic hanging” she’d not only attend, but “be in the front row.”
Philosophical question: Is that morally worse than her supporter, President Trump, saying he could “shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters”? Richard Siegelman Plainview
All that Hyde-Smith meant by her “public hanging” comment is that she would go the limit to be on the front row if her supporter and friend invited her. That’s all. She graciously apologized.
But Democrats had no other grounds on which to campaign, so they twisted her comment as though she supported public lynchings.
If “bigot,” “racist,” “hate” or “homophobe” were removed from Democrats’ vocabularies, what would they campaign on? J. Black Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
What should’ve been an easy win for former Democrat, now Republican, Cindy Hyde-Smith was not so easy due to her missteps. She defeated Democrat Mike Espy by only 70,000 votes, and overall Mississippi is a solid red state.
Even though she managed to win, I believe a stronger Republican candidate should represent the state in 2020. HydeSmith clearly isn’t a politician.