The Associated Press called the race for Hyde-Smith at 10:24 P.M. ET. Espy, a former congressman and secretary of agriculture, was trying to become the first African-American Senator elected in Mississippi since Reconstruction.
Hyde-Smith was the heavy favorite in Mississippi, which President Donald Trump won by 18 points in 2016 and hasn't elected a Democratic senator in decades.
"Mississippi was one of the last two states to have never elected a woman to Congress," said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, according to USA Today. "While Cindy Hyde-Smith got Mississippi out of that undistinguished club when she was appointed, there still had never been a woman elected, so this is another milestone for the state of Mississippi."
The victory of Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to fill the seat of Sen. Thad Cochran (R., Miss.) in April after he resigned for health reasons, solidifies a 53-47 Senate majority for the Republicans in the new Congress. Democrats took control of the House in the midterms, leaving Trump with a divided Congress heading into the next two years of his presidency.
Trump, who campaigned for Hyde-Smith, tweeted his congratulations to her shortly after the race was called.