Hyde-Smith lost Warren County in the first round, and trails Espy there now. But Wicker carried it earlier this month when he won y 20 points. Lucky for her, she doesn't need to carry it. Though she should want to.
Tidbit: Cindy Hyde-Smith is currently at 63.8% in Lawrence County, just under Roger Wicker (65.3%). #MSSen
Pike County, which is a GOP county, early dump showed 210 votes for Espy and only 3 votes for Hyde-Smith.
And just to elaborate on the early results in Pike County, which was 210/3 for Espy, that translates into a 98%+ to 1.4% lead.
With 14% of precincts reporting, Cindy Hyde-Smith now leads by 11 points over Mike Espy. I'm comparing her to Wicker. But it's important to remember that he won by 20 points. That's incumbency.
Cindy Hyde-Smith squeezed her benchmark out of DeSoto and there's still more vote out. She's sitting a little over 56.2% right now, up from just over 41.3% in the first round. Wicker took 64.5%. @RRHElections Poll looking pretty accurate right now. Not that it can't change, but..
Those were just dumps from the Red SE (Harrison[Biloxi]) and NE (Alcorn/Prentiss), putting Hyde-Smith back in double-digits.
Very crazy map tonight folks. Espy doing well in Lowndes, which nearly reported. Hyde-Smith should've won that county. But she's beating the bench in Tishomingo and Neshoba, and Warren was weak for him.
Ouch for Hyde-Smith in Hinds (Jackson), with 30% in Espy taking 88%. Better news for her in Pontotoc, where she's topping Wicker's margin, 82.6% vs. 79.2%.
With 54% reporting, Cindy Hyde-Smith leads Mike Espy by 12 points. Still a lot of vote in Hinds, though she flipped Covington. There's still a scenario where he holds it, barely.
Just FYI, Hyde-Smith definitely has the edge now. It's clear. But it's weak. Shocking weak. It's candidate related, I suspect. I'll get into that more tomorrow. But her performance in some areas are explainable only by her blunders.
Pike County is another one. Again, can't know for sure yet but I strongly suspect we're looking at candidate-specific issues. She should've come close to matching Wicker there IF the last few weeks didn't hurt her. She lost Benton County. Barely improved since earlier this month.
We're fully aware someone has called the race. I do like being first, but I like being careful and right more. That being said, Espy appears to be fizzling. We were looking at about 7 points or so. Could be worse. He did great in some expected, aforementioned areas. But...
But Hyde-Smith did worse than expected in some areas. It just doesn't seem to be enough given turnout. Basically looks like he put his best foot forward. Now he's stumbling.
Okay, Cindy Hyde-Smith is going to at least come very close to matching Wicker in his Lee County. Still precincts out, but she's improved marginally as the picture gets clearer. Better thank you know who... like tonight...
P.S. that "his" above just came out of nowhere. But scratch it. It doesn't belong ;)
Espy put up that strong 45% showing. But as we'll talk more about tomorrow (already started on it), there's already very compelling evidence that this was candidate weakness.
But this next observation is very important... #MSSen
But this next observation is very important... #MSSen
Look who helped who more than the other... again.
Hyde-Smith needed those margins in Lee (Tupelo) and Harrison (Biloxi) Counties, which just so happens to be where he held two rallies in one evening for first time ever re: a single candidate.
#MSSen
Hyde-Smith needed those margins in Lee (Tupelo) and Harrison (Biloxi) Counties, which just so happens to be where he held two rallies in one evening for first time ever re: a single candidate.
#MSSen
