Article snippet: Politico called the race for Hyde-Smith at 10:22 p.m. eastern time. With 75 percent of precincts reporting, Hyde-Smith leads Espy by 11 points, 55.9 percent to 44.1 percent, according to election results reported at Politico as of 10:22 p.m. eastern time. In the earlier election, Hyde-Smith won 41 percent of the vote, Espy won 40 percent, and conservative Republican State Sen. Chris McDaniel won 16 percent.Hyde-Smith and Espy qualified for the runoff election as the top two finishers in the November 6 election, in which neither candidate received 50 percent of the vote. Hyde-Smith was appointed to the Senate seat in April by Gov. Phil Bryant when Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) resigned for health reasons. On Tuesday, almost all of McDaniel’s supporters cast their ballots for Hyde-Smith, and the increased Democrat turnout was not enough to put Espy over the top. The three week campaign was a lackluster effort by both candidates, marked less by policy proposals than it was by Hyde-Smith’s campaign gaffes, predictable attacks against her by Democrats who claimed her gaffes proved she was a “racist,” and Espy’s long history of questionable ethics. Given Hyde-Smith’s weakness as a candidate, Democrats had hoped to pull off an upset. But Espy proved to be an equally flawed candidate. The final party breakdown of the United States Senate in the 116th session of Congress that will convene in Washington in January is 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats or Independents who caucus wi... Link to the full article to read more