Mississippi gov to fill Cochran seat with agriculture commissioner: report

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) is poised to tap state Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith to replace retiring Sen. Thad Cochran (R), according to The Clarion-Ledger.

Bryant hasn’t made a final decision, but his short list is reportedly down to Hyde-Smith and Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.

If Hyde-Smith, a beef cattle farmer, is selected for the job, she’d be the first female senator from Mississippi in history.

{mosads}Cochran, who’s served in the upper chamber since 1978, announced earlier this month that he’d resign from his Senate seat on April 1 due to health issues.

His vacancy triggers a special election that will be held in November. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote getters will then advance to a runoff. Whoever wins that will serve out the remainder of Cochran’s term until 2020.

Two candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring to replace Cochran.

Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) was initially going to challenge Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) in what could have been a potentially bruising primary. But McDaniel switched shortly after Cochran announced his retirement.

McDaniel, a conservative firebrand, narrowly lost a contentious primary challenge against Cochran in 2014.

Former Rep. Mike Espy (D-Miss.) has also announced that he’ll run in the special election. Espy served in the House from 1987 to 1993 and then was tapped to be secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton administration.

Hyde-Smith served as a state senator from 2000 to 2012, but switched her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 2010. Some speculate that could make her vulnerable in the special election if she decided to run.

But Hyde-Smith has close ties to the White House. President Trump considered her to be his Agriculture secretary, and she served as the co-chair on his campaign’s Agriculture Advisory Committee.