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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

JACKSON — Republican Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel raged at his own party on Thursday after President Donald Trump endorsed his opponent, incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, in the special election for her U.S. Senate seat.

“@cindyhydesmith has helped me put America First,” Trump wrote in a tweet Thursday afternoon. “She’s strong on the Wall, is helping me create Jobs, loves our Vets and fights for our conservative judges.”

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Award-winning News Editor Ashton Pittman, a native of the South Mississippi Pine Belt, studied journalism and political science at the University of Southern Mississippi. Previously the state reporter at the Jackson Free Press, he drove national headlines and conversations with award-winning reporting about segregation academies. He has won numerous awards, including Outstanding New Journalist in the South, for his work covering immigration raids, abortion battles and even former Gov. Phil Bryant’s unusual work with “The Bad Boys of Brexit" at the Jackson Free Press. In 2021, as a Mississippi Free Press reporter, he was named the Diamond Journalist of the Year for seven southern U.S. states in the Society of Professional Journalists Diamond Awards. A trained photojournalist, Ashton lives in South Mississippi with his husband, William, and their two pit bulls, Dorothy and Dru.