that's why we need cindy hyde-smith back in the united states senate. hyde-smith is a rocksolid conservative with a proven record, forged right here in mississippi and in our nations capital. she has been there every time we needed her and supported this president's agenda every step of the way. [applause] cindy stood with us to make the strongest military in the history of the world stronger still. she stood with us to pass the most important veteran reform in a decade, and cindy hyde-smith stood strong for fairness and due process when she voted to confirm justice brett kavanaugh to the supreme court of the united states. [applause] cindy hyde-smith is pro-military, pro-law enforcement, pro-jobs. and cindy hyde-smith stands without apology for the right to live and the second amendment right to keep and bear arms. she is a strong and principled conservative. which is a lot more than you can say about her opponent. him and as a member of congress, you as a member of congress, mike espy repeatedly voted to raise taxes. he opposes building a wall on our s

cindy hyde-smith with 55%. you see it here. mike espy, the democrat, former congressman, former bill clinton cabinet member, just shy of 45%. so almost 52,000 vote margin for cindy hyde-smith as you look at the map, and it's filling in. here's one safe bet. this will get just a little bit closer. why? this is mike espy's old congressional district in the western part of the state. you see all the blue. this is the most democratic part of the state, a heavy african-american population. the problem for mike espy is he needs to not only run up margins here, they're pretty good, 72% in this county. 67% here with half of the vote in. he needs to not only run up those margins, he needs to turn out. one other thing, if you look at the espy campaign, they're saying we'll get closer here because hinds county, a little more than half still to be counted. this is just around jackson that espy is running up there. if you're in the espy headquarters, you're saying, okay, that's not great. it's going to get a little bit closer. the question i

and the key elements of his campaign health care, he is really been saying cindy hyde smith does not support previous conditions and something democrats across the country have talked about he tries to pitch himself as a uniter that cindy hyde smith is a rubber stamp for donald trump she cannot represent for the democrats. that is what he said he will bring people together and make compromises but if you can do that in that environment on the hill right now i don't know that is a key part of his message. >> host: how do the viewers read the results as they come in tonight? what are you looking for to see if mike can pull off the upset? . >> the key part is the mississippi core door the delta and hinds county the state capital of jackson and south hinds county as well that is where they tend to be heavily concentrated he needs big numbers in those counties and then if key republican counties which is to the east or those to the north and the memphis area if they see lower republican turnout for those key counties. >> host: with the daily journal go check them out online we appreciate y

cindy hyde-smith: i'm aware of the challenges there. i have met with the president and i support him in negotiating trade. all farmers want is a fair deal. i'm excited the president has stepped up three negotiate these deals so congress can have a fair trade and level the playing isld so we have the event and not other countries having a bigger advantage than us. >> rebuttal? cindy hyde-smith: ine espy: this is something an article in march. puttingident -- by terrorists -- tarrifs. i talked to soybean farmers in mississippi. soybeans and reserve because the price is too low. they have soybeans and reserve. think -- you have to have a senator who can see around the corner with division. -- with the vision. >> good evening. how can we balance the call for immigration reform and border security with the needs of farmers who rely on margaret workers as a sub -- migrant workers? mike espy: that is a good question. we have to have a strong immigration policy and secure borders for -- i do not like open borders. aspect is something that can h

cindy hyde-smith and mike espy. ve any doubt whichever candidates win -- and this is a race either candidate could win. cindy hyde-smith has the advantage, but mike espy could win this race. i don't have any doubt that both of these candidates would work well with whites and blacks because they've done that throughout their long record of public service. i don't think -- >> craig, respectfully to henry, i just can't sit here and allow that statement to go across to cindy hyde-smith has a record of working with african americans when you look at the fact that multiple times she's been spotted promoting the confederacy on her facebook page. she's dog whistled about suppressing voters. she's dog whistled about evil things we've seen in mississippi's past. if i was a mississippian, a democrat or a republican, i don't want -- i'd want to turn a page. i don't want this representing my state. it's more important that the rest of the country views our state as one focussed on the future. >> it does seem as if your candidate

[applause] president trump and i are proud to stand with cindy hyde-smith, because she stood with us. we know that senator cindy hyde-smith is going to continue to be a champion for mississippi and our agenda when you send her back to the united states senate. [applause] you know, when you think about the past two years, it's just amazing. i think there's only one way you can describe the last two years. it has been two years of action. it has been two years of results. under president donald trump, it has been two years of promises made and promises kept. [applause] mississippi and we are just getting started. [applause] think about it. think about it. under president trump's leadership, we are rebuilding our military and restoring our democracy. [applause] we are finally getting our veterans access to the world-class, real-time health care that you earned in the uniform of the united states. [applause] we are enforcing our laws, securing our border. hi and as caravans of illegal immigrants rush our southern border, we've got a president who made it clear, no one is coming into this

yes, cindy hyde-smith was a lwa ys imagining. hyde-smith was always the favourite to win this senate seat. her campaign was briefly derailed by those comments she made, in which she said that she would turn up at a public hanging and sit in the front row if she was invited by a supporter. that caused a lot of controversy here in mississippi, not because it dredged up mississippi, not because it dredged up the past of racially motivated lynchings that took place in this state. it also made it a much more competitive battle. however, she has ove i’co m e competitive battle. however, she has overcome that and she has, according to the opinion polls and the results, really managed to make it a decisive victory here. this will be regarded as a win notjust for her, but also for donald trump, who came on the eve of the election and held two rallies in support of nikkei —— cindy hyde—smith. he also tweeted that this is a big win, it is big for him because it extends his majority inside the us senate, it means that he has 53 of the 100 sea

cindy hyde. and of course cindy hyde-smith should not be held responsible for where her parents chose to send her to school, though the free press points out that she, cindy hyde-smith sent her daughter to a different segregation academy, also opened in 1970, a school that no longer technically excludes black students, but enrolled just one black child in the 2015-2016 school year, despite being in a majority black town. senator hyde-smith has not given the impression during this campaign of someone who has done much substantive grappling with her state's or her own racial history. after making the remark she would be on the front row for a public hanging if she were invited to said public hanging bay particularly beloved consistent, cindy hyde-smith refused to answer any questions about it for a week, and then gave a half hearted sorry if anyone was offended apology at a debate, and then continued refusing to say anything about it. then there were hyde-smith's comments about making it harder for, quote, liberal folks at certain colleges to vote. and the photo of her posing with confederate artif

certainly if you look at the polls, indications are that cindy hyde-smith is far ahead. but it is the difficulty of working out just how these comments will play. talking to people at polling stations this morninere are many who have been motivated by it. certainly there are democrats re is a chance, that these controversial comments could put some of her vote in doubt. at the same time, president trump has been here, hol rallies in the state, all toth also suggests -- also trsuggests that he ing to get his base support out, too, and that is having something of an impact as well. there were queues outside polling stations this money. -- this morning. it seems to have gone prettyle steady as peontinue to vote here. e ne: has this election become all about race or ere other factors? chris: there are always other uctors, and certainly if listen to cindy hyde-smith during those rallies, she was talking about the conservative values that e believes republicans here hold very dear and very important in their hearts. nonetheless, you get this real sense that race is overs this.

cindy hyde smith so embarrassing she'd be a disaster for mississippi. >> i'm mike espy and i approve >> you were recently in mississippi, bishop barber, are the concerns expressed about cindy hyde smith more about the image she's presenting of the state with her sort of love of the confederacy and joking about lynching or about the economic of a chance -- that her stances could hurt mississippi economically. >> cindy hyde-smith, what she's doing is throwing racial code words and they are deliberate and they are not just something that happens. too often the policy she pushed. but what people are also looking at is if you have 52% of mississippi that are poor. that is 1.5 million people. that is 816,000 women, that is 843,000 people of color and 668,000 white people that are poor. what she hasn't apologized for is that she jokes about hanging, she jokes about the other things, but she simply wants to give more tax cuts to the wealthy. that won't help poor mississippi. she doesn't want to raise the minimum wage and that won't happen in mississippi and she doesn't want to address poverty

so, cindy hyde-smith's comments.duals say she maybe didn't intend to have them be so distasteful or have that conentation to them. at the same time, it's still very raw. this is a place that donald trump won by 18 percentage points and the question is, how many republicans are ultimately mike espy going to be able to poll off. a new tv ad released today and on the air waves here in mississippi from the espy campaign. >> we worked hard to overcome the stereotypes that hurt our econo economy. cindy hyde-smith so embarrass g embarrassing. >> a lot of the comparisons we have been making in this race is to what extent are we seeing here in mississippi what we saw with doug jones, the democrat in alabama one year ago. i have to be frank with you at this point,an anecdotally over e last week a lot of republican voters in the state that we talked to that said they found cindy hyde-smith's comments inappropriate and ultimately when it comes down to it, they have every intention to vote for her because she is the conservative

runoff election with cindy hyde-smith. we will take you across town to jackson, mississippi to the westin hotel where senator elect sydn cindy hyde-smith is giving her remarks. sen. hyde-smith: thank you so much. this has been an unbelievable campaign. got above is the reason we are here and i am going to give him glory every single day for it. no doubt. [applause] sen. hyde-smith: i actually brought notes because this is so important. i don't want to miss anything. i want to cover everybody, everybody out here. first, i want to thank god for this opportunity. my wonderful family. you both deserve a round of applause right now. [applause] governor-smith: the and deborah have been so gracious. he has worked as hard as i have ever seen him work at anything to get me elected. he got into the capital today, make you the yoto united states senator. he's got you and me. we were successful tonight due to the hard work of the governor . the president -- mr. president, i know he's watching -- thank you so much for everything, for th

he was scheduled to call cindy hyde-smith. with the race called sooner than his campaign was expecting, over at the espy headquarters about five minutes away, they turned off the projector screens. he went ahead and called cindy hyde-smith. she and her family will come down any minute here. it was unclear exactly what kind of numbers they might have had when she became the first person, the first candidate to ever get president trump to come and campaign twice in one day for her but her campaign was sitting back there looking at projections based on trends and turnouts they saw. special elections are lot harder to predict turnout than a general election. things unfolded almost exactly like they thought. an early night here in mississippi where mike espy, he was trying to become the first african-american elected since reconstruction has lost to cindy hyde-smith who will become the first woman ever elected senator out of mississippi. >> laura: what they also did, they worked overtime to do this, they were trying to make this out

republican cindy hyde-smith and mike espy remain confident. ate has deep red roots going to trump by 18 percentage points. that should give hyde-smith an edge. democrats hope espy can pull off a shocker. few polls out there. what's the sense of the gap, the separation that the two candidates have between each other? >> reporter: it's a great question. what you're looking at is race that doesn't have very good polling here. it would be an upset if mike espy were to overcome the advantage that cindy hyde-smith has here. i want to juxtapose the situation that we're having a conversation that the mississippi senate race is even close to begin with. that's in large part because of those comments from cindy hyde-smith. i talked to a woman who considers herself a republican who told us she's going to be voting for mike espy because of the direction the republican party who says she has 100% voting record for the president and this is what barbara mile, republican here in columbus just told us. >> the ways of the old south need to stay in the past and

san francisco giants saying the team co-owner charles johnson's donations to senate candidate cindy hyde-smith are unacceptable. >> for me, it takes me back to the horror and the that i experienced in my native state of mississippi. >> reporter: hyde-smith is faced firestorm of controversy after saying she wouldn't -- attend a public hanging. she also said she would support voter suppression saying she was joking. charles johnson, one of the corners of the giants and his wife each donated $2700 to hyde- smith campaign after she made her controversial statements. >> i'm calling for an all-out boycott. period. >> reporter: civil rights attorney john burris, is self proclaimed lifelong giants and said he cannot support the team as long as the team owner supports hyde-smith. >> i personally will boycott the giants for as long as i am able to because that is a value system of a person who runs this organization that i do not support. >> to say that charlie johnson in any shape, form or manner, has a racist bone in him is saying my other client, barry bonds is a racist as well. it's as silly as it g

just go ahead. >> why don't you condemn cindy hyde-smith, scott? then we'll talk. condemn cindy hyde-smith and condemn donald trump for his racist tactics. i'd like to hear you do that. >> okay. >> no, please. go on. >> thank you all. i appreciate it. >> you're not doing it, scott. >> thank you. the anti-defamation league says anti-semitic hate crimes have spiked 57% since last year. we've got a cnn special report that investigates what's behind this shocking rise of hate crimes. it's right after this. ♪ carla is living with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. she's also taking prescription ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor, which is for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole was significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus letrozole. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. before taking ibrance, tell

and he had very much put his own support behind cindy hyde—smith.enate, as opposed to 52. of course, republicans need 50 seats at least in the 100—seat senate in order to make sure that they can pass laws, they can push forward president trump's policy. of course, while he can be comfortable for the senate, what's a real problem for him coming up is the house of representatives, which is now going to be a democrat majority. that's where he could find himself struggling to get legislation passed, and where he could find a lot of investigations being launched in committees into his dealings and into his policies. chris buckler in mississippi. us secretary of state mike pompeo will meet his counterpart from mexico's new government on sunday for talks over a possible deal that would see asylum seekers wait in mexico while their claims are processed. a caravan of thousands of migrants, made up largely of hondurans, has in recent days started to arrive at the us border. our correspondent will grant has sent this update from a migrant camp in tijuana. the

this should be a safe republican seat, but cindy hyde-smith's coents have made the outco of the vote anything but certain. this campaign, this election, it is not aboute, it is about the people of mississippi, it is about what you believe in and what you care about. chris: that is a direct appeal to the values of cservative voters. >> i'm voting for the best candidate that the lord has put on my mind. i'm not happy with some things she has said or done, but she is the better candidate.he >> is a difference in a public hanging and a lynching. this narrative that has beent drawn abr use of the term "public hanging" -- she is referring to a lawful execution. the way she made her comment, if the gentleman invited her to a public hanging, she would be in the front row. chris: we don't have public hangings. >> we need to. we need to. chris: some feel america has still face up to its past. in mississippi, that history could have an impact on today's vote. jane: a short time ago i spoke withis, who is in mississippi. how close is this race, and why is mike espy even with a chance against som

and he had very much put his own support behind cindy hyde—smith.the senate as opposed to 52. 0f determined to get 53 seats in the senate as opposed to 52. of course, republicans need 50 seats at least in the 100 seat senate in order to make sure that they can pass laws, they can push forward president trump's policy. of course, while he can be comfortable for the senate, what is a real problem for him coming up is the house of representatives, which is now going to bea representatives, which is now going to be a democrat majority. that is where he could find himself struggling to get legislation passed and where he could find a lot of investigation is being launched in committees into his dealings and india's policy. chris buckler in mississippi, thank you very much, and we will keep an eye on those results in the coming hours here on bbc news. efforts to tackle climate change are way off track, according to the united nations, which is hosting a major climate conference in poland next week. last year, greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high

mike espy, and republican senator cindy hyde-smith faced off. e two sparring over health care, president trump and race with hyde-smith joked about attending public hangings. >> for anyone that was offended by my comments, i certainly apologize. there was no ill will, no intent what so ever in my statements. i also recognize that this comment was twisted and it was turned into a weapon to be used against me. a political weapon. >> no one twisted your comments because your comments were -- it came out of your mouth. it's given our state another black eye that we don't need. >> in mississippi the jackson free press reports that hyde-smith demanded audience and no outside press at that debate. give us the state of the race now. what is the reaction on the ground there in mississippi just days away from this potentially historic vote? >> reporter: good morning. we focus on those comments from hyde-smith about the public hanging because when you talk to the voters about the state over the last couple of days, that's the issue that's come up and in thi

just go ahead. >> why don't you condemn cindy hyde-smith, scott? then we'll talk. condemn cindy hyde-smith and condemn donald trump for his racist tactics. i'd like to hear you do that. >> okay. >> no, please. go on. >> thank you all. i appreciate it. >> you're not doing it, scott. >> thank you. the anti-defamation league says anti-semitic hate crimes have spiked 57% since last year. we've got a cnn special report that investigates what's behind this shocking rise of hate crimes. it's right after this. (drumsticks clatter) got it? got it. it's slippery. nooooo... noooo... nooooo... yeeeesss... quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty picks up messes quicker and is 2x more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. hey look, i got it. bounty, the quicker picker upper. -we're in a small room. what?! -welcome. -[ gasps ] a bigger room?! -how many of you use car insurance? -oh. -well, what if i showed you this? -[ laughing ] ho-ho-ho! -wow. -it's a computer. -we compare rates to help you get the price and coverage that's right for you. -that's amazing! the only thing tha

steve, what's fairly speaking if all things were equal cindy hyde-smith is running ahead in this race >> if republicans somehow lose this race tonight, this is -- it is a body blow to republicans if cindy hyde-smith can't win because for the democrats to challenge, i will take it through here, espy-shyde-smith, that's the runoff. in the preliminary, espy was up against two republicans splitting the republican vote and still finished a few thousand votes behind cindy hyde-smith. chris mcdaniel, the other republican in the race is eliminated for this runoff so it's espy versus hyde-smith. you see that 41% or so that espy got. this is the challenge democrats have in mississippi. this is about where they can get to and then they start hitting a ceiling really quickly, really fast in mississippi. here's what it looks like, that 41% compared to hillary clinton in 2016, she got 40% in mississippi. how about barack obama, you just heard his voice, 2012 he got 44%, 2008 he got 43%. that 2012 number, that's about as good as it gets these days for a democrat in mississippi. why is that? there's

and remember who he is backing in cindy hyde-smith.ber what she said in that  election when she refused to apologize for specifically. the fool that he backed in virginia. what he did with roy moore in alabama. this is a president who hasn't shied away from supporting people who support causes that are way too akin to bigotry that we've ever seen with a republican in the modern era, a president back them. was it just us versus them of politics, or was it something else? let's bring in d. lemon. what did you hear in terms of the reference to mike espy, by the way, born in mississippi, family successful there, served in congress there? certainly he fits into the state. >> i didn't hear anything. come on, chris! are you kidding me? we got to stop pretending like, oh, no, they didn't -- that's exactly what he meant. what's worse? that he didn't know what he was saying or that he did? i think they're equally as damaging. the fact that you can say it and you know it's a dog whistle, if it is, or it could just be a loud cry, or you're just i

senate and senator cindy hyde-smith wins the run-off in mississippi keeping the seat and giving the gop senate a 53-47 advantage. we're going to have a live report right before hyde-smith's remarks later in the hour after a little marble removal from my mouth. now to react to my angle is andrew mccarthy, a former assistant u.s. attorney and fox news contributor. fox news alert, very important alert. it got in the way of the great intro to you. i have two picks. christie and you. come on. >> i thought the alert. you nominated me. >> laura: i was like wait a second. the alert coming out of that. this is how we roll. it is live news. andy, what do you make -- look, you know what i think about you. you would be phenomenal. i don't know if you would do it or not. setting you aside for a moment, what about the need to have an attorney general in place given all of the critical issues that i outlined facing this administration? >> you know, laura, when you were giving that synopsis, which i think was terrific and really hit exactly what we need to have right now which is a very strong hand at

look at the race board, cindy hyde smith won by 8 points which is less than donald trump's 18 point victorye tweeted congratulations to cindy hyde smith on your big win in mississippi. we are all very proud of you. >> this win tonight, this victory is about our conservative values, the things that mean the most to all of us mississippians, faith, family, this is things i will take to washington dc, to represent all of mississippi, and our fight for it. every single day. >> reporter: former clinton cabinet member, and earlier in the night easy best buy conceded earlier than expected. >> not the result we were hoping for. this historic campaign. i am grateful for the support we received across mississippi. >> if he invited me to a public hanging i would be in the front row, changing dynamic in the state but will serve to washington for the remaining two years of the senate seat left empty by the retirement of ailing senator cochran. heather: thank you so much. some other stories we are following. investigators find a body in the search for a missing north carolina teenager. the fbi says the s

cindy-hyde smith/ (r) mississippi"so i think that's a great idea."she offered a partial apology for the public hanging remark.sen. cindy-hyde smith/ (r) mississippi"or anyone that was offended by my comments, i certainly apologize."but quickly added... sen. cindy-hyde smith/ (r) mississippi"i also recognize that this comment was twisted and it was a turned into a weapon to be used against me." it hasn't gone over well in a state that has a history of both.espy today: "someone told me that comment was the gift that keeps on giving." especially when her democratic opponent mike espy is african american.her opponent is using all this to his advantage in television ads.(nats) "so embarrassing she would be an embarrassment for mississippi." companies including walmart and major league baseball have requested refunds for their contributions to the hyde- smith campaign - a move espy suggests says she's bad for business.if he wins, espy would become mississippi's first african american senator since the end of the civil war. mike espy/ (d) senate candidate m

how much of a chance does espy have, and how much of the last week or two hurt cindy hyde-smith? y has a stronger chance now than he did a month ago, two months ago or even three weeks ago. these comments and the drip, drip, drip of cindy hyde-smith's appearing on facebook wearing a confederate hat, cindy hyde-smith reading that apology at the debates i think is going to continue to shrink the margin between espy and cindy hyde-smith. look, both republicans and democrats didn't expect this to be an incredibly competitive race, but that's what we're looking at now. something like single-digits separating the two candidates. >> it is fascinating to watch from afar, you know. midterm cycle, the midterms hyde-smith, espy, i think they were separated by less than a half a point. what do we know about where those other voters will go now, daniel? >> it's really hard to tell. the voters who supported a third candidate were voters who preferred a candidate to the right of cindy hyde-smith, so it's very hard to tell, a, if they're going to just stay at home, or b, if they're going to cross

if you're cindy hyde-smith you're saying great, you're also looking at this, 8%. number one, it's early. number two, 56% to 44%. but to the point you were making, we have absolutely nothing from here. this is hines county. this is where jackson is, the most democratic area of the state. just to go back three take a look at the bottom of your screen as more percentage of the vote comes in we'll give you all the percentages in realtime. if it gets close enough to make it interesting, i'll stop whatever i'm doing and go back to john and he'll take us to the map and explain what's going on and why. right now let's go to the implications on this. dana bash, nia-malika henderson, and david chalian. good to see you three together again on another big election night. dana, let's start with what the state of play is here. you would be home right now. and i would be texting you for help. but for tonight we're here. why? >> because this is incredibly unusual as john was pointing out. mississippi, ruby red. there hasn't been a democrat here since before you were born, andrew

so what does cindy hyde-smith do?he elected donald trump to be the voice and face of her campaign. you see donald trump on her campaign bus. you see donald trump. so i think we have to be really clear about that fact. and i think this does come down to a geo tv effort. african-americans comprise 30% of the voting electorate in mississippi. this will be a challenge for mike espy. i'm not writing him off but he has an uphill battle. >> it's clear that cindy hyde-smith's team saw her numbers were impacted for the worse when she did that. >> i tried this trick with ex-boyfriends of mine where it's like, i'm not really sorry but i'm sorry that what i said offended you. >> she was reading from a card. >> very true. >> biden, warren, booker, delaney? only one of those democrats is officially running for president. he joins me next. >>> welcome back to kasie dc. hoping for some down time between the midterms and 2020 presidential race? no such luck there. especially if you live in iowa where presidential campaigns are already

. >> cindy hyde smith. why?cause she is a conservative republican. >> do you think that smith hyde wins tuesday. >> tuesday. >> the runoff. and you are votinging for? >> mike espy. >> and what makes tuesday voting different than in elections in the past? >> we need a change. >> and vaughan hillyard with the mississippi voters with who are sounding off before a closely watched election and to determine the pow ore of balance in the senate. we know that the republicans will retain the majority but how much. and the democrats are sending in the political heavyweights in hopes of ousting cindy hyde smith who has grabbed head loli with racially-charged remarks, but mike espy who is a former agriculture secretary in the clinton white house is facing a bid as becoming the first african-american to represent mississippi in the senate since the reconstruction and more than three decades. joining us is vaughan hillyard where the two candidateses are going to be debating tonight. and vaughan, tell me about the walmart disp

mainstream media saying mike espy has a shot. >> it seems like republicans don't necessarily think cindy hyde-smith has this in the bag. look, the president is en route to mississippi aboard air force one hoping to rally supporters to get out and vote for cindy hyde-smith tomorrow. at the same time, we've seen democrats pull out their big guns so to speak. you had kamala harris and corey booker and joe biden offered his endorsement. what we're seeing in the turnout on the campaign trail is it seems like this is a little bit tighter of a race than some republicans thought it would be initially. >> of course, the democrats have been focussed on the south in this new approach that they came close in florida and georgia. maybe they'll come close in mississippi. sending a message, win ore -- win or lose to the country and republican party. >> what republicans are hoping for in the senate race they avoid what we saw happen in alabama last year. if you remember, it was senator jeff sessions a lock-held republican senate seat and the seat ultimately flipped and doug jones ended up winning was an embarrassm

enators cindy hyde-smith and mr. espy. sen. hyde-smith: thank you so much for staying tuned tonight and watching this debate. next week, two big important events coming up. we will have the president of the united states to come to mississippi to campaign on my behalf. we will start off in tupelo at 5:00 on the monday before the election. we will end up on the mississippi gulf coast at :00. you can go to donaldjtrump.com and get those tickets. tonight, you have heard two clearly different opposite differences between me and my opponent. we had talked about the issues that this country is facing and the things that you are involved in. throughout this campaign, i have always said this is not about me, it is about you, then mississippians. it is about the things you care for, the things you believe in like lower taxes, less government, less regulation. supporting our military and our veterans. it is about protecting our unborn children. it is about abortion. it is the things i will stand up for an fight against. my opponent has al

if you look at the republican vote, 41% for the incumbent cindy hyde smith.those republican votes go to the republican incumbent it is game over. mike espy has to somehow find a way. let's go back to tonight's map and find a way to cut into the white vote. that's a complicated challenge. we look at the map now. it tells us just about nothing. one of the things we are going to look at. you have to go back to way before this technology existed to find a competitive democrat in mississippi in a senate race. let's just look up here. de soto county a little shy of six percent of the state population. cindy hyde smith getting a little over 50%. that is interesting if it holds. let's just go back three weeks ago. mike espy got only 34% in this county. you see the tea party vote was 24%. you would assume most of that would go here. if it goes there then mike espy can keep it competitive. we are at 17%. this could be mostly from a democratic precinct so he is running close so far. it could be very different. we will watch it fill in throughout the night. republicans t

just to be clear, you oppose cindy hyde-smith's candidacy. een instrumental in making this an actual contest for her. tell us about this report. your reporter, ashland pitman published a piece this week about hyde-smith's attendance at a seg academy, a private school that was created for white kids so they didn't have to integrate with black kids once de-segregation was really put into effect. she also sent her daughter to one more recently in a county that is over half black, and the school only had one black student out of almost 400. that said, and this is something that's gotten national attention, for sure, does this really matter overall to people in mississippi? >> first, thanks for having me, breanna, i appreciate it. well, it does matter to a lot of people. and i think it kind of reflects a changing mississippi, that there are more people here now, white people, who either really care about these kind of racial coding and racial messages. and i think in -- i think that they are concerned, as i am concerned, that she isn't kind of comi

they were encouraging messages from the campaign but did not work, he wound up conceding to cindy hyde smith earlier than scheduled and told supporters about it like this. >> a minute ago i did call cindy i'd smith -- cindy hyde smith and i congratulated her on her victory tonight. she has my prayers she goes to washington to unite a very divided mississippi. >> because of that call cindy hyde smith took the stage sooner than she planned, she lost off and normally a speech like that you think supporters in the hotel ballroom but her speech was mostly saying things to donald trump for all the support, the rallies he did yesterday and the ride on air force one, she said she's going back to washington at 4:30 tomorrow to get back to work, she was appointed by governor phil bryant when senator thad cochran left for health reasons. now she was a lot the rest of his term. she told a group of reporters all the controversy and chaos did not make her less likely to want to run in 2020, she said mississippi voters know her and that is why they voted her and governor bryant when he was introducing her

it is only going to be cindy hyde-smith versus the democrat, mike sb. ee how cindy hyde-smith is going to win the election. if you look at the collective shares of the republican vote on november six, around 58% compared to the collective share of the democratic vote, around 42%. i think cindy hyde-smith wins tonight and a pretty healthy margin. >> tucker: to what extent do you think all the talk of this being a close election was hyped from the beginning? >> i think it was hyped, to be honest. i think it was journalists protecting and hoping it was going to be a tight election. i don't think is going to be. maybe i'm wrong but i really honestly think cindy hyde-smith wins by a pretty sizable margin tonight. >> tucker: we haven't covered her much because i kind of agree with that. we will find out. >> we'll see if we are right, tucker. >> tucker: thank you. >> thank you. >> tucker: is a molly american is being investigated for a possible hate crime after he allegedly tried to run over two men who were leaving a synagogue in los angeles. don't take the bl

urging them to vote for cindy r hyde smith. and hyde smith would back his agenda. >> from rr ery since from av party for your support. tomorrow, cindy hide smith. i need the great people of mississippi to sunday message to cry in maxine waters, the radical democrats, by electing cindy -- >> if hyde smith beats espy they

get your friends, get your neighbors, get your coworkers, and get out tomorrow and vote for cindy hyde-smithwas on monday in tupelo, mississippi, as the president campaign across the states in hopes of increasing his majority in the senate. backing incumbent republican senator cindy hyde-smith, who faces democratic challenger mike espy from the bill clinton administration. that is what is happening in tonight's runoff. polls close in about 3 minutes from now. correspondent peter doocy is allied with an update. he is at hyde-smith's headquarters. good evening, peter. tell us what is going on down there. >> martha, despite the national attention about how this race could reshape the senate, state officials are saying that the turnout has been steady but slow. as he just mentioned, mike espy is trying to become tonight the first african-american elected to the senate ms estaten and he says he knows he needs crossover voters. the state's democratic race in the states democratic base is not enough to lead him to victory. it still early but democrats inn the state are telling me they think the dyn

cindy hyde—smith was always the favourite to win this senate seat.s briefly derailed by comments she made, in which she said that she would turn up at a public hanging and sit in the front row if she was invited by a supporter. now, that caused a lot of controversy here in mississippi, not least because it dredged up the past, and racially—motivated lynchings that took place here in this state. it also made it a much more competitive battle. however, she has overcome that and she has, according to the opinion polls and according to now the results, really managed to make it a pretty decisive victory here. and that will be regarded as a win notjust for her, but also for donald trump, who came on the eve of the election and held two rallies in support of cindy hyde—smith. he has actually tweeted that this is a big win, and of course, it's big for him because it extends his majority inside the us senate. it means that he has 53 of the 100 seats for his republican party, and he will see that as being something of a victory. but i suspect there will be ot

who has not been on the trail is cindy hyde-smith.ce since on capitol hill last tl z thursday. there's not been much of a reckoning of that statement she made there. this is an issue when talking to individuals here, particularly in african-american community, who said there's a history to this. there's a history to this and they said not only were there parents and grandparents familiar with what a public hanging meant here and they said cindy hyde-smith apology or lack of apology up until last night has put them into this situation of having a difficulty of understanding of where she was coming from and i want to mention that walmart has pulled back its -- yesterday in their state they said they were pulling out -- they were asking cindy hyde-smith to refund their donation. over the next six days it will be a question of whether a large part of this white population, the white electorate will be willing to go and vote for mike espy. the numbers from the democrats campaign, they need to pull about 25% of the white electorate to pull

you are here, he is here to help elect cindy hyde-smith and make america great again! bless you, mississippi! >> sean: thanks, phil. thank you, phil, great job. lieutenant governor, where is our lieutenant governor? where is he? crazy? thank you, tate. a man who has been spectacular, the job he's done, everyone's talking about it. u.s. attorney, mike hearst, mike, thank you, mike. a very good friend of mine, he's always there, he is always available and he has very smart. he loves the people of mississippi. he loves the people of our country. senator roger wicker. roger! [cheers and applause] thank you, roger. great job. and a man that did so well recently, it will go down for a long time, you will be seeing those words, they were beautiful words and they were needed very desperately at that time. brett kavanaugh was being treated very unfairly, very, very unfairly, and lindsey graham got up -- [cheers and applause] and he hit a chord that you hit very rarely in the world of politics or anything else, he said things that were said not only so well, the meaning of what

>> it is those tapes of cindy hyde-smith in the conversation of race that are the first topics that theyile issues are ultimately as important to them as we were talking about yesterday, the conversations around cindy hyde-smith's conversations about sitting in the front row for a public hanging and in the aftermath after the following weeks where you call it a quasi apology or those that were offended, as one person said, when you apologize to somebody, you look them in the eye. you find some reparations to make up for them. in that case, i should note that today is the first time we'll have a chance to follow up with cindy hyde-smith. she will be in the northern part of the state. she has not been publicly accessible for more than a week. >> in mississippi, hal rains who headed up the "new york times" for a while wrote a piece about think about with what minneapolis in mississippi this week. the conventional wisdom is the race has tightened, but espy will fall short of the voters democratic strategists think he needs to win. >> what's the strategy he has to get those white voters to su

they hope cindy hyde-smith will be roy moore.d serious allegations. >> look, this is what i'll say about my beloved party. if they hoped this was going to be alabama, they should have invested in it as it were from the jump. that's what concerns me. i think mike espy is running as great a campaign as he can. i wonder if infrastructure is there and if the investment is there. >> at the end of the day, they aren't spending like a year ago. when you look at the overall landscape, you see republicans are nervous, they need to protect this last seat. don't see it as a huge opportunity. even though it is one here. at the end of the day, mississippi was ten points closer in the 2016 election than alabama. it has a statewide democrat in the attorney general for a long time. there's some history in voting for democrats, just not in high profile races. espy is trying to do something that hasn't been done, be a black democratic senator from mississippi in a long time. >> put on the screen, maybe we don't have it full screen, some issues tha

so much controversy around cindy hyde-smith. says a lot of it's unnecessary, but where does that race stand right now? >> it's going to a vote tomorrow. one of the major x factors is this is a runoff, this is the tuesday after thanksgiving. it's not clear who will be all that excited about voting, one reason why president tru is holding two rallies there today to try to remind people, hey, gus what, there's an election. you know, just by the numanbers, amy can get into this more than i can, but just by the numbers, in the first vote, in november, there were o republicans on the ballot, and, a, cindy hyde-smith didn't get 50%, but she go big share, and if you were to add all the people who voted forepublicans up, it's a much bigger share than voted for espy in that first round. >> woodruff: yet, amy, there has been a lot, as we said, controversy over comments she's rade, information that's come out about . >> and this race wasn't supposed to get this much attention, gespecially on election n when we learned republicans were going

thank you very much. >> reporter: president trump threw his weight behind republican senator cindy hyde-smithoday in tupelo, hoping to add to the republican majority in the senate. >> cindy is so important, so respected. we got to send her back. >> reporter: but hyde-smith is under fire for racially charged comments recently caught on cam race, your comments offended a great many people. >> we already have. >> no, you haven't. >> reporter: video from earlier long a reporter, joking that if he ever invited her to attend a public hanging, she would sit in the front row. >> for anyone that was offended by my comments, i certainly apologize. >> reporter: a photo also surfaced from 2014 showing hyde-smith wearing a confederate army soldier's hat. race has always been a factor in mississippi politics, but today another reminder of the state's troubled past. two nooses were found on trees at the state capitol in jackson, hung by critics of senator hyde-smith. the democrat in the race, mike espy focused not on the noose, but on hyde-smith's words. >> they were harmful and hurtful, and they were -- th

taking on republican incumbent cindy hyde-smith. >> i want to be thator sen you are very proud you supporteder: but scorn followed after she used public hanging as a punchline. pouring salt on historic waves of violence. >> the ways of the south need to stay in the past. >> how embarrassing is cindy hyde-smith? >> reporter: he says he can reach beyond party and race. >> we want black votes but wen' win with black votes alone. i know that. >> atime i've said anything, i want to apologize. >> reporter: under fire to give back corporate donations and hold on to her be. >> i thiil arlot of political mud slinging. >> reporter: president trump who won the sfat by 18 points, tweeted more support. calling h an outstanding person needed in d.c. turnout for the kinds of special election sz typically motivating voters will mean everything. for democrats, espy could be the first african american senator in nearly 140 years for mississippi. for republicans, he'll visit the state today and heline two campaign rallies, putting his the olitical capitol on line. frnks thank you. we'll be watching those resul

he wind out conceding to cindy hyde-smith earlier than they had scheduled for the call. he went and told his supporters about it like this. >> minute ago i did call senator cindy hyde-smith, no, i congratulated her tonight. she has my prayers that she goes to washington to unite very divided mississippi. >> reporter: because of that call, cindy hyde-smith was able to take the stage sooner she has been planning. she just walked off. normallyspeech like that you're saying thanks to supporters that are listening to you. her speech had some of that. it was mostly saying thanks to president trump for all of the support for the two rallies that he did yesterday and ride on air force one. she's going back to washington at 4:30 in the morning to get back to work. she was appointed by governor phil bryant once senator ted cochran left for health reasons. all the controversy and the chaos did not make her any less likely to want to run in 2020. she said that mississippi voters know her and that's why they voted for her. manage really interesting, the governor bryant said while he w