Getty The latest data for the Mississippi Senate race between Cindy Hyde-Smith and Michael Espy shows the election to be a toss-up.
Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy are currently neck and neck in the polls leading into the runoff election on Nov 27., which will determine who will take the U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi.
Despite several recent controversies, including an incident in which Hyde-Smith was criticized for her comments supporting a “public hanging,” some polls do still favor Hyde-Smith as a favorite over Espy, in a state that remains deeply red overall.
Here’s what you need to know:
Hyde-Smith Is Currently Predicted to Receive Just Over 50 Percent of the Vote by FiveThirtyEight
In the general election on Nov. 6, Hyde-Smith and Espy received 41.3 and 40.9 percent of the vote, respectively, with Republican Chris McDaniel receiving 16 percent of the vote. Since neither candidate received over 50 percent of the vote, the election rolled over into a runoff, in which Hyde-Smith and Espy will now fight for the vote all over again.
FiveThirtyEight currently predicts Hyde-Smith to secure 51 percent of the vote on Tuesday, with Espy securing 46 percent. Though Espy is a virtual lock for the African-American vote, he will have to win at least 22 percent of the caucasian vote as well in order to edge a victory past Hyde-Smith, per the most recent data via CNN.