Howard Sherman and David Baria, both of whom are running for the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, have attempted to align themselves with Espy. Espy was the first African American from Mississippi to be elected to the U.S. House after Reconstruction in 1980. He also served as the Agriculture secretary under the Clinton administration. Espy will also be on the November ballot in a special election to succeed Thad Cochran, who resigned earlier in the year. Sherman and Baria will be facing Roger Wicker, the Republican incumbent from Tupelo, in the regular scheduled Senate election. Espy stated in a statement that he is running his own race for the Nov. 6 special election to fill the seat left vacant by Sen. Cochran’s departure. He also said that he has not endorsed any candidate in Tuesday’s runoff. He encouraged voters to vote Tuesday for the candidate they chose, but he did not endorse either of them. He stated that Howard and David were both correct on the policies that are important to him and that he believes both could win in November. The person who took over Espy’s position as 2nd District U.S. House Member for Mississippi has made it clear that he will be supporting Espy in the runoff. David Baria is my endorsement. Rep. Bennie Thomson of Bolton said that he has known Thompson for many years and they have worked together on several pieces of legislation. Thompson will be running radio and television commercials for Baria over the last weekend of campaigning. Thompson made it clear that Espy and Baria will make a strong team in November’s general election. He said that Trump’s tariff proposals made him feel that Mike Espy will do an outstanding job of battling Trump’s poor policies in the U.S. Senate. This was in reference to Trump’s proposed tariffs on China, which could have a negative impact on Mississippi farmers. Sherman, a California-based venture capitalist, won the first primary, but failed to win the majority required to avoid the runoff. Baria, a third term state legislator from Bay St. Louis is the House’s minority leader. His campaign has been built on the endorsements that he received from elected Democratic officials throughout the state. State Rep. Omeria Scott, of Laurel was third in the first primary. She endorsed Sheman in the second. Espy’s clarification is due to confusion over endorsements on social networking. After social media conversations suggested that the Democratic Party of Sherman’s home County of Lauderdale had endorsed Baria on Tuesday, the committee released a statement denying it had issued an official endorsement. However, several members of the committee had supported Baria. On Tuesday, voters in the 3rd Congressional District can vote in the Republican runoff between Michael Guest (the district attorney for Rankin, Madison and Madison counties) and Whit Hughes (a Madison former hospital administrator, economic developer). Guest won the first primary by a large margin but did not win a majority of the primary. Six candidates were seeking to succeed Gregg Harper, who has represented the 3rd District for 10 years in Congress. Guest received a significant endorsement from Republican Gov. Phil Bryant. In the November general election, the winner of the Republican primary race will face Democrat Michael Evans (a Preston state House member). Voters who voted for one party in June 5’s primary cannot vote in Tuesday’s other party runoff. Those who didn’t vote on June 5, however, can vote in either the primary or secondary runoffs, but not both on Tuesday.