Words matter and Hyde-Smith’s show she’s unfit to represent Mississippi in the Senate

Words matter. And those who flagrantly disregard the impact of their words should be held accountable, especially when they are competing to represent our state at a national level. Earlier this month, Cindy Hyde-Smith made two remarks that should cause all Mississippi voters pause.

First, at a fundraiser in Tupelo, Mrs. Hyde-Smith said of cattle rancher, Colin Hutchinson, that if he invited her to a public hanging she’d be sitting in the first row. She has since defended that statement as just an “exaggerated expression of regard” and barely eked out a scripted apology during her recent debate with Mike Espy. What she fails to realize is that no matter how she intended it, those words matter, and they affect people, and they embarrass our state which is fighting a never-ending battle to move past our brutal history of white people actually sitting in the front row of public hangings of black Mississippians.

Just a few days later, she said that she thought it would be a great idea to make it more difficult for liberals to vote. Those words matter too, especially in a political climate where voters are in fact being suppressed, where majority minority voting districts are having their precincts closed and their wait times climb into the hours, and where the President frequently references voter fraud of which there is no evidence. Her campaign has excused the statement by saying she was just making a joke, but her intent does not matter. Her words do.

As a Mississippian who has spent most of my professional career out of the state, I put a high priority on representing the state as best I can. Almost every day I find myself defending Mississippi and its citizens from a world who thinks we are stuck in the 1960s. Comments like this certainly do not help my quest. In fact, they set us back even further.

Cindy Hyde-Smith wants to be one of six national representatives for our state, and the first female one. While the idea of Mississippi finally electing a female to national office is laudable, we must prioritize electing good people that will be good representatives of our state first and foremost. If everyday citizens can put Mississippi’s best foot forward in our everyday lives, those representing us in Washington should be held to the highest standard and be the best example of a Mississippian that one can be. If Cindy Hyde-Smith can’t keep herself from making these types of comments now, I have no confidence that she will best represent Mississippi on the national stage.

As co-founder of Republican Women for Progress, a non-profit focused on electing good Republican women to all levels of public office, it pains me to not be able to support Cindy Hyde-Smith. But as we’ve said more times than I can count over the last two years: it remains critical to put country and principles before party, and it is more important that we have people of good character in office than people who think it’s ok to joke about public hangings, knowing all too well our state’s history.

I’m not saying you have to vote for Mike Espy, but I am saying that if you love our state and want to see it represented as best as it can, you should not vote for Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Meghan Milloy, Hattiesburg

Co-Founder, Republican Women for Progress