United States Senate election in Mississippi, 2020

Elections in Mississippi, 2020

• Election date: Nov. 3
• Registration deadline(s): Oct. 5
• Online registration: No
• Same-day registration: No
• Recount laws

• Early voting starts: N/A
• Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Nov. 3 (postmarked); Nov. 10 (received)
• Processing, counting, and challenging absentee/mail-in ballots
• Voter ID: Photo ID
• Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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2022 → ← 2018
U.S. Senate, Mississippi
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: January 10, 2020
Primary: March 10, 2020 Primary runoff: June 23, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent: Cindy Hyde-Smith (Republican)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in Mississippi
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Likely Republican Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
U.S. Senate, Mississippi U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th Mississippi elections, 2020 U.S. Congress elections, 2020 U.S. Senate elections, 2020 U.S. House elections, 2020 Alabama U.S. Senate raceAlaska U.S. Senate raceArizona U.S. Senate raceArkansas U.S. Senate raceColorado U.S. Senate raceDelaware U.S. Senate raceGeorgia U.S. Senate raceIdaho U.S. Senate raceIllinois U.S. Senate raceIowa U.S. Senate raceKansas U.S. Senate raceKentucky U.S. Senate raceLouisiana U.S. Senate raceMaine U.S. Senate raceMassachusetts U.S. Senate raceMichigan U.S. Senate raceMinnesota U.S. Senate raceMississippi U.S. Senate raceMontana U.S. Senate raceNebraska U.S. Senate raceNew Hampshire U.S. Senate raceNew Jersey U.S. Senate raceNew Mexico U.S. Senate raceNorth Carolina U.S. Senate raceOklahoma U.S. Senate raceOregon U.S. Senate raceRhode Island U.S. Senate raceSouth Carolina U.S. Senate raceSouth Dakota U.S. Senate raceTennessee U.S. Senate raceTexas U.S. Senate raceVirginia U.S. Senate raceWest Virginia U.S. Senate raceWyoming U.S. Senate raceSubmit

Voters in Mississippi elected one member to the U.S. Senate in the election on November 3, 2020.

Incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith won election in the general election for U.S. Senate Mississippi.

Candidate filing deadline	Primary election	General election
January 10, 2020	March 10, 2020	November 3, 2020

The election filled the Class II Senate seat held by Cindy Hyde-Smith (R). Hyde-Smith was first appointed in 2018.

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Mississippi modified its absentee/mail-in voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

• Absentee/mail-in voting: Any individual under a physician-ordered quarantine, or an individual caring for a dependent under quarantine, due to COVID-19 was eligible to vote by absentee ballot. The absentee ballot postmark deadline was extended to November 3, 2020, and the receipt deadline to November 10, 2020.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Mississippi

Incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith defeated Mike Espy and Jimmy Edwards in the general election for U.S. Senate Mississippi on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cindy Hyde-Smith (R)	54.1	709,511
		Mike Espy (D)	44.1	578,691
	Submit photo	Jimmy Edwards (L)	1.8	23,152

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,311,354
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Mississippi

Mike Espy defeated Tobey Bartee and Jensen Bohren in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Mississippi on March 10, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mike Espy	93.1	250,496
		Tobey Bartee	4.1	11,148
		Jensen Bohren	2.7	7,345

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 268,989
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Mississippi

Incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Mississippi on March 10, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cindy Hyde-Smith	100.0	235,463

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 235,463
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates in Mississippi in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Mississippi, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates, 2020
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Signature formula	Filing fee	Filing fee formula	Filing deadline	Source
Mississippi	U.S. Senate	Qualified party	N/A	N/A	$1,000.00	Fixed number	1/10/2020	Source
Mississippi	U.S. Senate	Unaffiliated	1,000	Fixed number	$1,000.00	Fixed number	1/10/2020	Source

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election. It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Cindy Hyde-Smith	Republican Party	$3,407,099	$3,292,471	$168,543	As of December 31, 2020
Mike Espy	Democratic Party	$12,320,919	$12,439,497	$175,593	As of December 31, 2020
Jimmy Edwards	Libertarian Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in Mississippi, 2020
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 3, 2020	October 27, 2020	October 20, 2020	October 13, 2020
The Cook Political Report	Likely Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

Election history

2018

See also: United States Senate special election in Mississippi, 2018

General runoff election

Special general runoff election for U.S. Senate Mississippi

Incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith defeated Mike Espy in the special general runoff election for U.S. Senate Mississippi on November 27, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cindy Hyde-Smith (R)	53.6	486,769
		Mike Espy (D)	46.4	420,819

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 907,588 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

General election

Special general election for U.S. Senate Mississippi

Incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Mike Espy advanced to a runoff. They defeated Chris McDaniel and Tobey Bartee in the special general election for U.S. Senate Mississippi on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cindy Hyde-Smith (R)	41.2	389,995
✔		Mike Espy (D)	40.9	386,742
		Chris McDaniel (R)	16.4	154,878
		Tobey Bartee (Nonpartisan)	1.5	13,852

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 945,467 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jason Shelton (D)

2014

U.S. Senate, Mississippi General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Thad Cochran Incumbent	59.9%	378,481
	Democratic	Travis Childers	37.9%	239,439
	Reform	Shawn O'Hara	2.2%	13,938
Total Votes				631,858
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State Official Results

2012

U.S. Senate, Mississippi General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Roger Wicker	57.2%	709,626
	Democratic	Albert N. Gore, Jr.	40.6%	503,467
	Constitution	Thomas Cramer	1.2%	15,281
	Reform	Shawn O'Hara	1.1%	13,194
Total Votes				1,241,568
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Mississippi, 2020
• United States Senate elections, 2020

Footnotes

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Mississippi's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Cindy Hyde-Smith (R)

Roger Wicker (R)

Representatives

District 1

Trent Kelly (R)

District 2

Bennie Thompson (D)

District 3

Michael Guest (R)

District 4

Mike Ezell (R)

Republican Party (5)

Democratic Party (1)