2018 United States Senate special election in Mississippi
Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report Lean R October 12 , 2018
Inside Elections Likely R November 20 , 2018
Sabato 's Crystal Ball Likely R October 11 , 2018
Fox News Lean R October 10 , 2018
CNN Solid R October 12 , 2018
RealClearPolitics Likely R October 12 , 2018
FiveThirtyEight Lean R November 5 , 2018
Runoff -- Predictions
The 2018 United States Senate special election in Mississippi took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a United States Senator from Mississippi. The election was held to fill the seat vacated by Senator Thad Cochran when he resigned from the Senate, effective April 1, 2018, due to health concerns. Republican governor Phil Bryant appointed Cindy Hyde-Smith to fill the vacancy created by Cochran's resignation. Hyde-Smith sought election to serve the balance of Cochran's term, which expires in January 2021. On November 6, per Mississippi law, a nonpartisan top-two special general election took place on the same day as the regularly scheduled U.S. Senate election for the seat currently held by Roger Wicker. Party affiliations were not printed on the ballot. Because no candidate gained a simple majority of the vote, a runoff between the top two candidates, Cindy Hyde-Smith and Mike Espy, was held on November 27, 2018, in which Hyde-Smith defeated Espy. Despite her reasonable margin of victory, Hyde-Smith significantly under-performed the states's partisan lean, as well as the 20-point margin of victory of Roger Wicker in his senatorial election, held concurrently with the first round of the special election in which the combined GOP candidates won 58% to the combined Dem total of 42%. Espy's 46.4% of the vote is the best Democratic performance in a Mississippi senate election since the 1982 election. The victory made Hyde-Smith the first woman ever elected to the United States Congress from Mississippi.