--- ---  # Google Joins Companies Asking Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith for Campaign Donation Refund by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 27, 2018 12:39 AM UTC  Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Cindy Hyde-Smith and President Donald Trump wave as they exit Air Force One as they arrive for a rally at the Tupelo Regional Airport, November 26, 2018 in Tupelo, Mississippi. Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Cindy Hyde-Smith and President Donald Trump wave as they exit Air Force One as they arrive for a rally at the Tupelo Regional Airport, November 26, 2018 in Tupelo, Mississippi.Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 27, 2018 12:39 AM UTC Google has asked Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith to refund its $5,000 campaign contribution in light of controversy surrounding racially insensitive remarks the Mississippi Republican made earlier this month. “We can confirm this is accurate,” a Google spokesperson told TIME. The refund request comes as Hyde-Smith faces the fallout for her comments about [attending a “public hanging”](http://time.com/5451713/mississippi-cindy-hyde-smith-public-hanging/) during a campaign stop on Nov. 2. “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be in the front row,” Hyde-Smith said in reference to one of her supporters. She faces Mike Espy, a black Democrat, in a runoff election Tuesday. > [](https://twitter.com/LamarWhiteJr/status/1061649185110417408) She has also joked about voter suppression, saying earlier in November that “maybe we want to make it just a little more difficult” for “liberal folks” to vote. Both comments have been widely interpreted as racist. Mississippi has a [long history](http://time.com/5451713/mississippi-cindy-hyde-smith-public-hanging/) of racially-motivated lynchings of black people and of suppressing voters. Representatives for Google did not say when the company made its donation to Hyde-Smith’s campaign or when a refund was requested. The tech giant joins several companies and groups that have requested refunds from Hyde-Smith’s campaign, including [Major League Baseball](http://time.com/5462911/mlb-donation-back-senate-cindy-hyde-smith/) and Walmart. Google Asks Cindy Hyde-Smith to Refund Campaign Donation ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5464123/google-cindy-hyde-smith-campaign-contribution/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5464123/google-cindy-hyde-smith-campaign-contribution/"},"headline":"Google Joins Companies Asking Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith for Campaign Donation Refund","datePublished":"2018-11-27T00:39:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:07:59.379Z","description":"Google requested the campaign return its $5,000 contribution","url":"https://time.com/5464123/google-cindy-hyde-smith-campaign-contribution/","keywords":["Senate","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28a57d24ed24a798/69893fe9bc6cfc8c7e3e787c/cindy-hyde-smith-google.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28a57d24ed24a798/69893fe9bc6cfc8c7e3e787c/cindy-hyde-smith-google.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Holds Rally For Mississippi GOP Senate Candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith In Tupelo","caption":"President Trump Holds Rally For Mississippi GOP Senate Candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith In Tupelo","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/senate/","name":"Senate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5464123/google-cindy-hyde-smith-campaign-contribution/","name":"Google Joins Companies Asking Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith for Campaign Donation Refund"}}]}] ```