Cindy Hyde-Smith (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. Senate from Mississippi. She assumed office on April 9, 2018. Her current term ends on January 3, 2027.
Hyde-Smith (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the U.S. Senate to represent Mississippi. She won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Smith defeated former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy (D) in a special runoff election on November 27, 2018, and will complete former Sen. Thad Cochran's (R) term, which ended in 2021. Smith and Espy advanced to the runoff from the special general election on November 6, 2018, after neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. This special election coincided with Mississippi's regularly scheduled general elections in 2018. Tobey Bartee (D) and state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) also ran.
On March 5, 2018, Cochran announced that he would resign from the Senate on April 1, 2018. He said in a statement, "I regret my health has become an ongoing challenge." At the time of his resignation, he was the 10th longest-serving senator in U.S. history. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) appointed Cindy Hyde-Smith as interim senator to serve in Cochran's seat until voters could select a new senator in the November 6, 2018, special election.
Hyde-Smith is the former Republican Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce. She was elected in 2011 and took office on January 5, 2012. Hyde-Smith won re-election to a second term as commissioner in 2015.
Hyde-Smith is a former Republican member of the Mississippi State Senate, representing the 39th Senatorial District from 2000-2012. She joined the Mississippi State Senate in 2000 as a Democrat but switched her party affiliation to Republican in December 2010.
She is a cattle farmer and previously worked as a congressional affairs consultant before being elected to the state legislature.
