Mississippi GOP state senator defends Hyde-Smith by saying public hangings 'would deter a lot of crimes'

A Republican state senator in Mississippi defended a controversial comment about public hangings made by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) by making one of his own.

Video surfaced two weeks ago showing a cattle rancher introducing Hyde-Smith during a Nov. 2 event. She then told a small crowd, "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row." Hyde-Smith is running against Democrat Mike Espy, who is black, in a Nov. 27 runoff. The NAACP says that between 1882 and 1968, there were 581 lynchings in Mississippi, the most of any state.

State Sen. Charles Younger (R-Miss.) sees no connection between Mississippi's history and Hyde-Smith's remark. At a rally Sunday in support of the senator, Younger told Mississippi Today it "wasn't the most politically correct thing to say," but "nine out of 10 Democrats would vote to execute" Dylann Roof, the white supremacist convicted of killing nine people at the Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston.

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"Public hanging was an execution style," Younger continued. "It wasn't lynching — it was a public hanging where it had to pass through the courts and it wasn't a color or a race issue. It was just a means of punishment. And, frankly, if it was back again I think it would deter a lot crimes."