Maverick and Unpredictable Republican Candidates Embroil Senate Races

The US Chamber of Commerce has entered the fight in the Mississippi special election in November: Will the appointed woman with no pizzazz keep the seat, or will the more charismatic but extremely conservative upstart push her aside?



We profiled Cindy Hyde-Smith's Republican upstart opponent, Chris McDaniel, back on March 1, when he was thought to be a likely Trumpian primary opponent to Sen. Roger Wicker this year, but then Cochran resigned and Cindy Hyde-Smith got appointed, and well, opportunity smells.

Anyway, the US Chamber of Commerce seems worried enough about the rise of McDaniel, and the loss of the seat to Democrat Mike Espy, that they're spending millions on that 30-second TV ad.

In West Virginia, something similar is happening, with the scary upstart being a recent felon who presided over a coal company that lied about the deaths of 29 coal miners, one Don Blankenship, who's notorious in West Virginia without necessarily being electable. So the Republican funding base is rallying against Blankenship, while state polls show Rep. Evan Jenkins in the lead and with Twitterman on stage in the state appearing to endorse both Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, while very publicly dissing Blankenship. Everyone thinks Blankenship would be a disaster running against Democrat Manchin, who might otherwise be uniquely vulnerable this year.

Mississippi Gets More Interesting

Back on March 1st, we wrote about the Mississippi Republican Chris McDaniel, who wants very badly to be a US senator and who was at that time planning a primary battle against incumbent Republican Senator Roger Wicker. In some Republican camps, McDaniel is considered as unelectable as Roy Moore turned out to be in Alabama.

Since March 1st other interesting things have happened in Mississippi and in Washington:

1. The other Republican senator, Thad Cochran, suddenly retired because of ill health. Chris McDaniel ran a primary against Cochran in 2014 and almost beat him. Chris McDaniel naturally decided that he'd rather run for Cochran's seat in the special election this November to complete Cochran's term.

2. The governor of Mississippi gets to replace Cochran by appointment on an interim basis until the special election in November. The governor,  Phil Bryant (R), was lobbied by Republican Majority

Cindy Hyde-Smith

Leader Mitch McConnell to appoint himself. McConnell reckoned that Bryant would be the strongest Republican for the November ballot.

3. Governor Bryant did not appoint himself. He appointed his Commissioner of Commerce and Agriculture, Cindy Hyde-Smith, a former Democrat not that well known in Mississippi and totally unknown in Washington, DC.

4. Robert Costa et al. report that Hyde-Smith "received a frosty reception in the West Wing." They don't think she can beat McDaniel, and they think McDaniel could become another Roy Moore type embarrassment. Governor Bryant pushed the White House for a quick endorsement of Hyde-Smith. President Trump has withheld his endorsement.

5. The White House's political director, Bill Stephen, scheduled a secret visit with Hyde-Smith yesterday. "It was unclear whether the gathering would forge a thaw in the troubled relationship or move the president any closer to endorsing Hyde-Smith" (Costa et al.).

6. In November, if no one receives a majority of the vote in the special election, the top two finishers

Mike Espy

will advance to a runoff, regardless of party affiliation. "Party strategists worry about a runoff that could include McDaniel and a Democrat, giving them two undesirable choices."

7. The Democrat who might arise to challenge McDaniel: Mike Espy, formerly Mississippi's first black congressman since Reconstruction and Secretary of Agriculture under President Bill Clinton. He is currently and since 2008 an attorney with the mega-firm Morgan and Morgan in Jackson, Miss., and also runs his own consulting firm specializing in governmental relations, rural development, food and nutrition, and international agricultural development issues.