The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
●MS-Sen-B: On Wednesday, Republican Gov. Phil Bryant announced he will appoint state Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith to replace longtime GOP Sen. Thad Cochran when the latter resigns on April 1 due to declining health. Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly wanted Bryant to appoint himself to the seat, but the governor had quickly made clear he had no interest in doing so, while Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves was likely far more interested in running for governor in 2019 than going to Washington.
Hyde-Smith will thus become the first woman to ever represent Mississippi in either house of Congress, leaving just Vermont as the only state to never send a woman to Congress. However, whether she will be able to win the special election later this year to serve out the last two years of Cochran's term is very much an open question.
Politico relayed how the White House told Bryant that Trump didn't plan to endorse or campaign for Hyde-Smith, with the administration reportedly expressing concern over her past as a Democrat. Indeed, while Hyde-Smith won the first of her two terms as state agriculture commissioner in 2011 as a Republican, she had served almost the entirety of her preceding 12-year tenure in the state senate as a Democrat until switching parties at the end of 2010, shortly before running for statewide office.