. >> now rb let's turn to ashton pitman. thank you, vaughn.is a state reporter for the jackson free press. the issue of race dominates this campaign. and you're writing about it. i just want to refer to something that you just posted, where not only do we have the candidate that we were just speaking of that had said what she said about public hangings, cindy hyde smith, and praising in effect jefferson davis saying what she said and vaughn quoted. but you spaaid that she herself went to a segregated private school in the 70s and sent her daughter to a segregated private school. and this is an all-white, segregated academy that was set up to avoid integration after integration became the law of the land in the 60s. she attended it and sent her daughter. explain to our viewers the -- what your article reveals that had not been in my -- to my knowledge public before. >> well, we notice that there just went any public references at least recently to where she went to high school. she mentioned her community college and university but not her high

. >> joining me now, jackson free press reporter, ashton pitman, and derek johnson who previously ledaacp mississippi state conference. let me start with you, ashton. what -- give me some background on how this debate came about and how the hyde-smith people negotiated for it. >> so for months, both mike espy and chris mcdaniel who was a republican opponent before the november 6th general had been asking her for a debate. she repeatedly refused. first she said that she didn't want a debate because -- or she couldn't debate because of her senate schedule. but then when the senate went on recess she said, well, actually she didn't want a debate because she thought mcdaniel's supporters might come and be rude and boo her if it had a live audience. so the day after -- the day after the november 6th election, she apparently spoke with farm bureau and by thursday morning she had put out a press release saying she had agreed to this debate. and when i called the mike espy campaign that morning after the press release. they had not even seen the rules of the debate or seen the terms. they had

. >> joining me from mississippi, jackson free press state reporter ashton pitman. in mississippi think about all this? >> honestly, the reactions aren't what i expected. a lot of people when that first video came out, a lot of people said, this will just bring republicans who were less certain about her into the fold. they will take it as a liberal media going after her. that's not how it's been going. a lot of people who were supporters of senator chris mcdaniel who didn't make it into the run off, they actually were really offended by what she said as well. he himself had a lot of controversies over things he said about race. right now a lot of his supporters are saying you know, the gop told us if we didn't choose cindy hyde-smith hen mcdaniel would be the next roy moore. we feel like we do have a roy moore. >> what happened last night at the debate dween mike espy and hyde-smith. i heard it was a bit of a thi?.. i heard it was a bit of a thing. >> a source told me with the debate hyde-smith demanded there be no live studio audience there and the no outside pres