U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith says her inspiration for public service through political office comes from her daughter, the sixth generation in their family to work as a cattle farmer in Brookhaven, Mississippi.
As a farmer from a smaller town herself, the senator says she feels first-hand the struggles that many Mississippians are facing, like the cost of fuel increasing and rural hospitals struggling.
“When you’re involved in agriculture, you learn pretty quickly that decisions made in Washington affect real families back home,” she said in an email that her campaign communications director sent to the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 8. “When diesel goes up, we feel it. When cattle markets change, we feel it. When interest rates or input costs rise, farmers feel it. And when a rural hospital is in danger of closing, that’s not some statistic on a government report. That’s where your family, your employees, and your neighbors go when they need help. The commitment to solving those problems is what led me to serve as Mississippi’s Commissioner of Agriculture and it’s now why I serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee. I’ve always wanted rural Mississippi to have somebody at the table who actually understands rural Mississippi.”
Hyde-Smith made history as the first woman elected to represent Mississippi in Congress after then-Gov. Phil Bryant appointed her to the position following U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran retirement in 2018. Before she became a U.S. senator, she was the first Mississippi woman to serve as commissioner of agriculture and commerce, serving from 2011 to 2018.
She started her political career as a Mississippi state senator for Senate District 39 representing Lawrence, Lincoln and Simpson counties as a Democrat in from 1999 to 2010 before switching to the Republican Party in 2010 and finishing out her term in 2011. She told Brookhaven’s Daily Leader that she felt led to change parties due the changing political landscape and her concern for the state and country.
“At that point, it just really wasn’t a huge issue,” she told the Daily Leader in December 2010. “After serving in office as long as I have, I just live under the belief of conservative policies. I think it’s time to woman up and take control, get us in the direction we need to be going.”
The Mississippi Free Press requested an interview in person or via phone with Hyde-Smith, but her campaign team’s communications director Nathan Calvert asked the news outlet to email the questions, saying “We are more than happy to answer any questions in writing to complete your candidate profiles.”
Gas Prices and ‘Energy Independence’
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said in a Sept. 24 social media video that she traveled throughout Mississippi in August to hear voters’ concerns. The number one issue they mentioned was the price of gas and diesel, she explained.
The senator serves on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which she said is looking at ways to increase gas and diesel production in the U.S.
She claimed that the U.S. achieved “energy independence” at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term in office in 2020. But that did not mean the U.S. was solely producing its own energy, as the country was still importing oil and other forms of energy from other countries, including Russia. Instead, the U.S. was producing more energy than it used, exported more energy than it imported and increased the amount of petroleum exports, including gasoline and other fuels, factcheck.org reports.
Hyde-Smith claimed the Biden administration wanted to “restrict U.S. energy production and increase energy costs,” but the U.S. was still producing more energy than it expended in 2021 when President Joe Biden was serving in office, the fact checking website noted. Biden signed an executive order on March 8, 2022, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that blocked new U.S. purchases of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal.
The senator said she wanted the U.S. to return to the levels of “energy independence” that Trump touted in 2020. During the Biden administration in 2024, the U.S. had the highest number of natural gas exports in the country’s history at about 25%, with exports increasing almost every year since 2014, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports. Energy imports also increased slightly in 2024 while U.S. crude oil imports and exports increased.
“Energy is part of the equation in the price of all of our goods,” Hyde-Smith said in an email to the Mississippi Free Press. “Farmers pay for diesel, fertilizer, equipment and transportation, and those costs eventually reach consumers. So I want to increase American energy production, reduce unnecessary regulations, support our farmers and continue pursuing policies that bring inflation down.”
‘So Many Proteins to Choose From’
When she was Mississippi’s agriculture commissioner, Hyde-Smith pushed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to approve an emergency exemption to help cotton farmers in the Mississippi Delta exterminate plant bugs that had caused about $81 million in damages in June 2012.
A beef processing plant in Oakland, Mississippi, failed to pay back a $55 million state loan when Hyde-Smith was serving on the Mississippi Senate Agriculture Committee. She helped mitigate the damages, which resulted in the State suing the firms who constructed the plant, and it closed in August 2004, three months after opening. The State settled with the owners of the plant for $4 million in 2012, then-Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced.
The war with Iran and President Donald Trump’s tariffs have both negatively affected beef farmers and soybean farmers who rely on selling their products to other countries and obtaining diesel fuel for farm equipment. China once was the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, but partially due to Trump’s policies, China now purchases most of its soybeans from countries like Brazil, which has become the world’s largest soybean producer.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith successfully fought for $10 billion in direct economic assistance for farmers in 2025 to help with the impacts of increased input costs and falling commodity prices. She also secured a 2025 agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to purchase up to $30 million in farm-raised catfish and $25 million in Gulf shrimp.
“I’m a farmer, so I understand exactly why they’re concerned. My family’s farm feels higher diesel and input costs just like every other operation in Mississippi,” the senator said in an email. “I support President Trump’s efforts to secure fair trade deals for American producers, but I’ve also been very clear throughout my career that I’m going to fight for Mississippi agriculture when our producers are hurting. … Our farmers need lower input costs, strong export markets and a dependable safety net. I’m going to keep fighting for all three.”
Trump claimed in an Aug. 21 social media post that the U.S. cattle herd fell to its smallest size in history during former President Joe Biden’s tenure, drastically increasing beef prices. The nation’s cattle herd has been steadily decreasing since 1975 and hit its lowest number since 1951 in 2024, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. Beef prices began rising in 2020 due to COVID-19 during Trump’s first term and have increased by 57% over the last five years, NPR reported in August. Beef prices were 3.6% higher in September 2026 as compared to a year prior, the USDA reports.
Hyde-Smith said she will continue to fight for policies to help cattle ranchers grow herds without relying on foreign beef imports, noting that she spoke to the White House about the matter.
“Mississippi and American cattle producers are weathering drought, high input costs, and a shrinking herd,” she said in an Aug. 24 social media post. “They shouldn’t be asked to absorb the cost of cheaper imports too.”
Her comments in August are in contrast with remarks made this past February where she said Americans who can’t afford beef “have so many proteins to choose from” during an interview with WLOX host Hugh Keeton. The host had asked what Republicans are doing to get both beef prices and the cost of living under control, pointing to a key 2024 campaign promise Trump made when he said he would “end inflation on day one.”
International Conflicts
The U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khameini. Thousands of Iranians have been killed and the U.S. has lost nearly two dozen service members, with hundreds of others injured. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s critical sea shipping lanes, causing significant fuel price disruptions. Despite President Donald Trump promising a swift end to the conflict, the Iran War has gone on for eight months.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said in the Sept. 24 social media video that the Trump administration is working to end “the conflict with Iran, which will ultimately lower the price of fuel.” Trump instigated the war with Iran through a joint U.S.-Israeli strike force that began an unprovoked bombing campaign of Iran, blanketing the country in missile fire on March 8. The surprise attack interrupted weeks of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
The U.S.-Israeli attacks constitute the most egregious violation of Congress’ Article I Constitutional authority to declare war since the Iraq War in 2003, continuing the executive branch’s failure to properly consult Congress to approve acts of war, ongoing since the end of World War II.
Hyde-Smith has consistently opposed war powers resolutions, ultimately symbolic measures that have allowed lawmakers opposed to the war to put supporters on record. The senator voted against the most recent resolution on Sept. 24.
“I voted based on what I believe protects Americans, our troops, and our national security.
Iran’s nuclear ambitions represented a serious threat to the United States and our allies,” the senator said in an email to the Mississippi Free Press. “The administration’s objective has been to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, protect Americans, and restore security in the region. I don’t want an endless war, and President Trump doesn’t either. I want this conflict brought to a successful conclusion as quickly as possible. But while American service members are carrying out a mission, I’m not going to vote to tie the hands of our Commander in Chief in a way that I believe jeopardizes their safety or our national security. Congress has an important constitutional role, and I take that seriously, but the President also has a responsibility as Commander in Chief to protect this country.”
The U.S. has sent more money cumulatively to Israel than any other nation in the world, at a total of $300 billion from 1946 to 2024, Council on Foreign Relations data show. Hyde-Smith has never shied away from her support of Israel, cosponsoring a pro-Israel resolution in 2021 that condemned Hamas’ attacks of Israeli citizens and strongly affirmed the U.S. Senate’s “unwavering commitment to our ally, Israel, and its right to defend itself and its civilians against terror by whatever means necessary to stop the murder of Israeli citizens and foreign nationals residing in Israel.”
She has accepted over a quarter-million dollars in donations from AIPAC, the largest pro-Isreal political action committee.
“I support Israel because Israel is an important American ally, and our relationship serves American national-security interests,” the senator said in an email to the Mississippi Free Press. “Iran and Iranian-backed terrorist organizations don’t simply threaten Israel. They have threatened American troops, American citizens, and our interests throughout the region. Preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and supporting our allies makes America safer. My decisions are based on what I believe is best for Mississippi and the United States. Every dollar of foreign assistance should have a clear national-security purpose and appropriate congressional oversight, and that’s the standard I apply.”
‘We Want These Programs Protected for Eligible Americans’
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith voted for the Big Beautiful Bill in July 2025, a massive funding package that cut federal Medicaid and food stamp funding while delivering $1 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. It also removed the federal taxes on tips and overtime.
The Center for American Progress estimates that more than 10 million Americans will be uninsured by 2034 as a result of the Big Beautiful Bill. It says Affordable Care Act plan selections have decreased by 1.2 million Americans and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation dropped four million Americans as of June 2026. However, most Americans will not feel the effects of the bill until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“That bill delivered major tax relief for working Americans—for 97% of filers—and included no tax on tips and no tax on overtime, while putting commonsense accountability into government programs,” Hyde-Smith said in an email. “I would also challenge the premise that our goal is to take health care or food away from people who need it. We want these programs protected for eligible Americans, while encouraging able-bodied people who can work to find work and ensuring taxpayer-funded benefits aren’t going to people who aren’t eligible to receive them. I’ve fought for rural hospitals and telehealth throughout my time in the Senate.”
As a U.S. senator, she approved millions of dollars of funding for Mississippi hospitals and healthcare providers, like Greenwood Leflore Hospital, Delta Health System, Lackey Memorial Hospital, Sharkey Issaquena Community Hospital, Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, Mississippi Rural Hospital Alliance and the Delta Health Transformational Council, Inc.
“I believe we can protect vulnerable Mississippians while also protecting taxpayers and making these programs sustainable,” she said in an email.
During her time in the Mississippi Senate, she successfully sponsored a bill to ban most abortions after 12 weeks, leading then-Gov. Haley Barbour to sign it into law. A federal court overturned the law in 2012. After the Dobbs decision in July 2022, Mississippi implemented a strict abortion ban that excludes exceptions for rape once cardiac activity is detectable, which is around six weeks.
‘A Very Clear Difference Between the Two Candidates’
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith voted to table an amendment on Sept. 10, 2025, that would have required the U.S. attorney general to publicly release the federal government’s full files on Jeffrey Epstein.
“I do want transparency, and I support releasing information that can legally be released while protecting Epstein’s victims. But a procedural vote on one amendment is not the same thing as saying the Epstein files should remain secret,” the senator said in an email to the Mississippi Free Press. “Congress has to be careful about protecting victims, grand-jury information, and other legally protected material. My position is simple: protect the victims, release what can lawfully be released, and follow the evidence wherever it leads. If somebody committed a crime, I don’t care how wealthy, powerful or politically connected that person is. They should be held accountable.”
Former President Joe Biden nominated Scott Colom to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi on Oct. 14, 2022. Hyde-Smith later blocked the Senate from even considering his nomination in 2023 by refusing to return a “blue slip” to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Senators can block judicial nominees from their home states if they do not submit the slip. Her colleague, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, supported Colom’s nomination.
As she explained her decision to block Colom’s nomination to the federal judiciary in 2023, Hyde-Smith said that she disapproved of Colom’s support for transgender rights and the support he garnered from a PAC that billionaire philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros funded in 2015.
Colom is now challenging Hyde-Smith to be Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction.
The campaign has gotten particularly nasty, with both sides hurling insults at the other. During the final stretch before the election, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has been running attack ads claiming Colom is a “transgender defender” who advocates for “sex change surgeries for minors and inmates.” She also claims that “out of state billionaires and millionaires” like Soros are funding the Democrat’s campaign.
The Republican’s campaign team even created a fake website using Colom’s name to amplify these claims. His real campaign website can be found here.
“Scott Colom supports sex-change procedures for children and protections for doctors who perform those procedures,” the senator claimed in an email to the Mississippi Free Press. “That’s radically out of step with Mississippi. I believe there are two sexes. I believe women and girls deserve their own sports and private spaces, and I oppose irreversible sex-change procedures for children. This isn’t about a website, it’s about a very clear difference between the two candidates, and voters deserve to know where both of us stand.
The Democrat told the Mississippi Free Press that he believes in “fairness” in girls’ sports and medical science that says children should not undergo gender-affirming surgeries. He noted that out of all of the town halls he has done during his campaign for U.S. Senate, not one person has brought up this issue to him.
Colom fired back with a website called whereiscindyhydesmith.com. Her official website can be found here.
“If you have information on Senator Hyde-Smith’s whereabouts—or when she plans to hold a public town hall—Mississippi voters would like to know,” the front page of the “Where Is Cindy Hyde-Smith” website says.
In November 2018, a roughly 12-second clip of Mississippi’s junior U.S. senator drew criticism and national attention. Hyde-Smith said that if a certain supporter invited her to “a public hanging,” she “would be on the front row.”
The clip was first posted on Facebook and Twitter by Lamar White Jr., the publisher of The Bayou Brief.
“If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row,” Hyde-Smith says in the clip, standing next to a man with his arm around her shoulder.
White reports that the man was Colin Hutchinson, a Tupelo cattle rancher who had just praised her. The clip is from a campaign stop Hyde-Smith made in Tupelo on Nov. 2.
Hyde-Smith called criticisms of her comment “ridiculous” in a Nov. 11, 2018, statement.
“In a comment on Nov. 2, I referred to accepting an invitation to a speaking engagement,” she said. “In referencing the one who invited me, I used an exaggerated expression of regard, and any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous.”
‘A Lot More Work to Do’
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said Mississippi voters should reelect her for another term because her work in the U.S. Senate is not finished yet. Along with lowering fuel costs, helping farmers, and allocating money to rural hospitals, she said she also wants to help finish building the Yazoo Backwater Pumps, strengthen American military installations and boost the shipbuilding industry.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is moving forward with the Yazoo Backwater Pumps, a controversial project to address backwater flooding in Mississippi’s South Delta region.
The latest plan, detailed in a federal report released Nov. 29, 2024, would install high-volume pumps in the Yazoo Backwater Area, an agricultural region north of Vicksburg flanked by the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers. That area has experienced severe inundations over the years, including a 2019 flood that affected roughly 600 residences and left more than 500,000 acres submerged. State officials estimate that the flood cost the local agriculture industry about $800 million.
The plan in the Corps’ Final Environmental Impact Statement aims to reduce flooding while minimizing harm to the area’s vast natural wetlands, which perform an array of ecological functions and rely on rain and floodwater for survival. Federal agencies have rejected previous versions of the Yazoo Pumps project because of their potential to damage those wetlands and the wildlife they house.
“I would ask Mississippians to look at the choice in this election and look at my record,” she told the Mississippi Free Press in an email. “We’ve passed major tax relief, including no tax on tips and no tax on overtime. We’ve worked to completely secure the border. We’ve fought for Mississippi farmers, rural hospitals, law enforcement, and our military installations. We’ve moved the Yazoo Backwater Pumps closer to reality and invested in roads, ports, water systems, and communities across our state. I’ve traveled across the state, celebrated the work to keep Franklin County’s hospital open, met with military leadership in Columbus, and stood with law enforcement on the Gulf Coast.”
“I’m a fifth-generation Mississippi farmer, I know who I work for, and that’s the people of Mississippi,” the senator continued. “I’m asking for another six years because we’ve accomplished a lot, but there is a lot more work to do.”
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