The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion Roy Moore-lite emerges in Mississippi

March 23, 2018 at 4:50 p.m. EDT
Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) in March 2017. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

While almost nobody is looking, a perfect storm may be developing that could elect a Democrat in Mississippi to the United States Senate. Impossible, you say? Well, just as it was seemingly impossible for a Democrat to be elected in Alabama, something similar could be happening in the Magnolia State. Everyone should take note of Mississippi’s upcoming special election.

Vying to fill Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-Miss.) long-held Senate seat in November is Mississippi Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel. McDaniel is Roy Moore-lite. McDaniel has earned a reputation as someone who is every bit extreme, shallow, hypocritical and ignorant as Moore, but he has more energy and will be a better campaigner. Minus the child molestation aspect, McDaniel might actually be even worse than Moore. Specifically, when it comes to racism, McDaniel isn’t using a dog whistle – he’s clanging the dinner bell screaming for the dogs to come and get it. Following McDaniel’s loss to the beloved incumbent Cochran in 2014, his campaign released a creepy 250-page “Election Integrity Challenge” binder that included complaints such as “without the predominantly Democrat” — read: black — “voter participation in the Republican runoff, Cochran would have lost the runoff election by about 25,000.” Seriously? Does McDaniel really believe that the votes of black Americans shouldn’t be counted or somehow tainted the election because they voted against him? Every Democratic fantasy about GOP voter suppression comes to life in Chris McDaniel.

Anyway, McDaniel’s principal Republican primary opponent will be Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith. She is an authentic, conservative rancher who is comfortable with guns and religion, and she understands Mississippi’s rural communities. She has the full backing of Mississippi’s able and popular Gov. Phil Bryant. While Hyde-Smith isn’t particularly well known, the fact is she is the only person in the race who can hold Cochran’s Senate seat for Republicans. McDaniel, however, is the only person in the race who can lose it for Republicans.

Just as was the case with Moore, many Republican donors and party leaders will not want to be associated with McDaniel’s radioactive, race-baiting campaign. But people who know Mississippi think Hyde-Smith has a lot of potential. She might be the next Joni Ernst, a hyper-popular Republican senator from Iowa who came out of nowhere in 2014. The fact that Hyde-Smith is new gives her the potential to be exciting against a candidate like McDaniel, who is a throwback to an era that a lot of us from the South want to see abandoned.

Mississippi runs an open primary. That means Republicans and Democrats run on one ballot and the top two proceed to compete in a runoff general election. If the first-round primary election were to take place today, Hyde-Smith would probably finish third. She wouldn’t make it to the general election. Instead, it would likely be a contest between Roy Moore-lite Chris McDaniel and former Mississippi Democratic congressman and agriculture secretary Mike Espy, who would probably finish first in the initial ballot. And like Doug Jones in Alabama, Espy could coalesce traditional Democratic Party voters with enough disgusted suburban Republicans to squeak out a victory. Presto! Just like that, Alabama and Mississippi have Democrat senators when no one thought it was possible.

Republicans appear to be on the brink of making the same mistakes they have in years past. Pitting far-right, radical and race-tinged candidates against more palatable Democrats is not a winning strategy. With the election of Doug Jones and other primaries still outstanding, we know how quickly an otherwise safe Republican seat can fall into the hands of Democrats. Mississippi could be next if Chris McDaniel manages to win the primary.