Companies Asked a Mississippi Senator to Refund Donations. They Are Still Waiting.
WASHINGTON — When video surfaced last month of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi telling a supporter she would be “on the front row” if he invited her to a “public hanging,” some of the country’s largest corporations found themselves in a public relations nightmare.
Having cut checks to Hyde-Smith’s campaign, they risked association with comments that were quickly condemned by her Democratic opponent, a black man, and national civil rights groups as “racially tinged” and highly offensive, particularly in a state haunted by a history of lynchings. Almost a dozen companies and one major sports league issued public statements condemning what she had said and asked for refunds. Still others did so quietly.
But almost three weeks after Hyde-Smith, a Republican, defeated the Democrat, Mike Espy, in a runoff election, it appears that only one of the donors has received any of the more than $50,000 in total that the senator has been asked to return. They might as well give up on waiting.
Hyde-Smith’s campaign told at least one company, Walmart, on Thursday that it did not intend to refund its money. What it did not say: The campaign is out of money anyway after a frantic push to the finish line, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss the finances.
Read more: https://www.sunherald.com/news/state/mississippi/article223132250.html
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