--- title: Cindy Hyde-Smith Apologizes For 'Public Hanging' Comment description: The controversy over her comment, linked to lynching, has thrown open the race, which was previously thought to be a shoo-in for Hyde-Smith. canonical: https://time.com/5461133/cindy-hyde-smith-public-hanging-lynching/ author: Billy Perrigo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-21T15:16:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:06:53.928Z article:section: Politics og:title: Embattled Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith Apologizes for 'Public Hanging' Comment, But Says Her Words Were 'Twisted' og:description: The Mississippi runoff is the last midterm battle of 2018 og:url: https://time.com/5461133/cindy-hyde-smith-public-hanging-lynching/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae45cff2781f8b07/69893fa9656a3f2227bd60b5/gettyimages-943902066.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Cindy Hyde-Smith Swear In og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Embattled Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith Apologizes for 'Public Hanging' Comment, But Says Her Words Were 'Twisted' twitter:description: The Mississippi runoff is the last midterm battle of 2018 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae45cff2781f8b07/69893fa9656a3f2227bd60b5/gettyimages-943902066.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Embattled Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith Apologizes for 'Public Hanging' Comment, But Says Her Words Were 'Twisted' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d4c67c68-8e17-4a86-bafa-f3910414b14a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Mississippi Candidate Mike Espy Responds to His Republican Opponent's Joke About a 'Public Hanging' [Watch (HLS stream): Mississippi Candidate Mike Espy Responds to His Republican Opponent's Joke About a 'Public Hanging'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xvan06zj.m3u8) (0:34)  _Published 2018-11-12. A newly published video shows a white Republican U.S. senator in Mississippi praising someone by saying: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”_  by [Billy Perrigo](https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Nov 21, 2018 3:16 PM UTC  by [Billy Perrigo](https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Nov 21, 2018 3:16 PM UTC A white Republican senator from Mississippi has made a partial apology after publicly saying that she would “be in the front row” of a “[public hanging](http://time.com/5451713/mississippi-cindy-hyde-smith-public-hanging/)” if invited by a political supporter. Sen. [Cindy Hyde-Smith](http://time.com/5207264/mississippi-women-congress/)‘s comment created a firestorm online after it quickly went viral for potentially trivializing the history of lynching in the American South, and caused backlash even among some fellow Republicans. The controversy over her remark has thrown open the race, which was previously thought to be a shoo-in for her. The race is for the last undecided seat of the 2018 midterms. But Hyde-Smith, who faces former congressman Mike Espy, a black Democrat, in an election runoff for a Senate seat in Mississippi on Nov. 27, also said her words were “used as a weapon” against her. In the original comment, caught on camera, Hyde-Smith embraced a political supporter, a rancher, saying, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” > [](https://twitter.com/LamarWhiteJr/status/1061649185110417408) Mississippi has a long and painful history of black people being lynched in public by racist white mobs. After multiple refusals to apologize, and with the words becoming a focal point of the political battle over the runoff vote, Hyde-Smith eventually made a partial apology during a debate on Tuesday. “For anyone that was offended by my comments, I certainly apologize,” she said. “There was no ill will, no intent whatsoever in my statements.” She then noted that “this comment was twisted and it was turned into a weapon to be used against me.” But Espy quickly pushed back: “No one twisted your comments, because the comments came out of your mouth … I don’t know what’s in your heart, but we know what came out of your mouth.” Hyde-Smith had earlier said that her words were an “exaggerated expression of regard” for a friend, and that “any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation \[sic\] is ridiculous.” She also demanded that no audience or press be allowed to attend the debate on Tuesday, according to a [report](http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/nov/20/hyde-smith-demanded-no-audience-no-press/) in the Jackson _Free Press_. According to the NAACP, 581 people were lynched in Mississippi between 1882 and 1968, the highest number of any state. ## Transcript Both comments that we heard that were published yesterday are very disappointing, they're hurtful and they're harmful. They're hurtful to the maids of Mississippians who are people of goodwill, and they're harmful because they tend to reinforce the stereotype that held back our state for so long And that have cost us jobs and have harmed our economy. This is 2018. We're going here in Mississippi into the 3rd decade of the 21st century and we just should not have this. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5461133/cindy-hyde-smith-public-hanging-lynching/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5461133/cindy-hyde-smith-public-hanging-lynching/"},"headline":"Embattled Sen. 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