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 competed for the U.S. Senate seat in the Mississippi runoff election. Hyde-Smith emerged the victor.
Here’s the latest information on the runoff election results for the highly contested Senate seat. According to Vox, the final election results were as follows:
GOP Cindy Hyde-Smith 477,419 54%
DEM Mike Espy 409,375 46%
As of 8:53 PM, eastern time, the Mississippi Senate race had appeared to be a lot closer, with three percent of the precincts reporting, per The New York Times:
Cindy Hyde-Smith (R): 51.1% (20,147 votes total)
Mike Espy (D): 48.9% (19,318 votes total)
However, Hyde-Smith’s margin eventually widened. Democrats had hoped that Espy might be able to stage an upset in the closely watched race but that did not occur.
“This is just an unbelievable night,” Hyde-Smith said, according to NBC News. “This has been an unbelievable campaign. God above is the reason we’re here, and I’m going to give him glory every single day.” The race had been bogged down in controversies relating to race.
“Congratulations to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on your big WIN in the Great State of Mississippi. We are all very proud of you!” President Donald Trump tweeted after Hyde-Smith’s victory.
According to CBS News, Hyde-Smith’s victory meant that Mississippi sent a woman to the U.S. Senate for the first time in its history.