Cindy Hyde-Smith

Hyde-Smith was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, and grew up in Monticello, Mississippi.[13] She is a graduate of Copiah-Lincoln Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi, where she earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and political science.[2][13] She is a cattle farmer who previously worked as a congressional affairs consultant before being elected to the state legislature.[1] She is a cattle farmer who previously worked as a lobbyist and congressional affairs consultant before returning to Mississippi and running for the state legislature.[1][13] She was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1999 and joined it in 2000, representing District 39 until 2012 as a Democrat who switched her party affiliation to Republican in December 2010; her Senate office says she chaired the Agriculture Committee for eight of those years.[1][2][13]

Hyde-Smith was elected Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce in 2011 and re-elected in 2015, serving from 2012 to 2018; she was the first woman to hold the post.[1][2][13] According to her Senate biography, her tenure there included efforts to reopen foreign markets for American beef exports, and the department was recognized as a "model agency" for effectiveness and budget control.[2]

Gov. Phil Bryant appointed Hyde-Smith to the U.S. Senate on April 2, 2018, after Cochran announced his resignation for health reasons, and she became the first woman elected to represent Mississippi in Washington.[1][2][13] She defeated former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy in a special runoff on November 27, 2018, and again defeated him in the 2020 general election to win a full term.[1] In the 119th Congress she serves on the Appropriations, Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Energy and Natural Resources, and Rules and Administration committees, and chairs the Appropriations subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and the Agriculture subcommittee on Commodities, Derivatives, Risk Management, and Trade.[1][2] Her office says the first bill she introduced as a senator, a migratory bird hunting measure for youth, veterans and active military, became law in March 2019 as part of a larger package, and that she leads the Senate Pro-Life Caucus.[2] She advanced from the Republican primary on March 10, 2026.[1]

Hyde-Smith and her husband Mike have a daughter and live in Brookhaven, according to her Senate biography.[2] The biography describes a fifth-generation farming family that raises beef cattle and is a partner in a local stockyard auction market.[2]