Mississippi Democrat Espy to run again for US Senate in 2020

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi Democrat Mike Espy is announcing another run for U.S. Senate, setting up a 2020 rematch with Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Espy made the announcement Tuesday morning, telling supporters by email that “I can and will do a better job for the people of Mississippi and the United States.”

A former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. House member, Espy lost a 2018 special election for Senate to Hyde-Smith to fill the last two years of retired Sen. Thad Cochran’s six-year term. Hyde-Smith became the first woman elected to Congress from Mississippi.

The election was rocked by video showing Hyde-Smith praise a supporter by saying she’d attend a “public hanging” if he invited her. She called it an “exaggerated expression of regard.” The comment made Mississippi’s history lynching history a theme.

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