Just hours before polls close in Mississippi’s runoff Senate election between Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) and Democrat Mike Espy, another corporation is severing its ties with Hyde-Smith, who has been widely criticized for joking about attending a “public hanging.”
The health insurance mammoth Blue Cross Blue Shield Association confirmed to the Hill on Tuesday afternoon that it had asked the Hyde-Smith campaign for a refund of its $1,000 donation. Rantt Media was first to report on the refund request.
Blue Cross Blue Shield joins a number of other companies and groups that have asked the Hyde-Smith campaign for their money back since the sitting senator’s remarks surfaced earlier this month. Others include Major League Baseball, Walmart, Pfizer, AT&T, Union Pacific, Boston Scientific and Google.
The hanging remark is just one of a several incidents that have earned Hyde-Smith criticism for racially charged rhetoric. In recent weeks, a photo surfaced of Hyde-Smith from 2014 wearing a Confederate hat. It also was reported that she attended a private school for white students only after public schools were desegregated.