Hyde-Smith tweeted Aug. 26 that she had voted to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program through fiscal 2027. This was a vote her predecessor made in early 2018. After a Mississippi Today reporter requested clarification, the Hyde-Smith campaign removed the tweet. Justin Brasell, spokesperson for Hyde-Smith, stated that the tweet made it into an accomplishment document. This was a mistake. “That’s why they removed it.” Congress approved the extension of the insurance program in January 2018, just two months after Hyde-Smith was elected to the Senate seat. Phil Bryant will replace Thad Cochran who retired for health reasons. Hyde-Smith, a Republican won a special election for the Senate seat in 2018. She was up against Mike Espy (a former U.S. House member, and U.S secretary of agriculture). Espy will be challenging Hyde Smith again this year. Campaigning during the COVID-19 pandemic has been very limited in this election cycle. One of the few visible signs of Hyde-Smith’s campaign was the “One Hundred Accomplishments In 100 Days” Twitter feed. She highlights the accomplishments she considers the U.S. Congress has made during her tenure in daily Twitter posts. READ MORE: Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith’s campaign is low in the polls during a pandemic. CHIP was established in the Clinton administration’s mid 1990s. It provides federal funds to provide health care coverage for children from primarily working families who earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid. “It’s absurd that Hyde-Smith would boast about funding CHIP, when in reality she voted to cut $7 billion from Children’s Health Insurance Program. This program provides crucial coverage for Mississippi children who wouldn’t otherwise have it,” Espy campaign stated in a statement. According to the statement, “Sen. Hyde Smith is once again hurting Mississippi’s working families through following the orders of her party bosses.” The Espy statement was about a proposal by President Donald Trump to reduce funding for the program by $7Billion. The House passed the proposal in summer 2018, but it was rejected by the Senate. Hyde-Smith, however, voted for it. The proposal would have reduced $5 billion in federal funding that could not be used for CHIP. Another $2 billion was held in reserve funds. States could apply for this money if they do not have any other federal funding. According to the Division of Medicaid web site, Mississippi had 48,029 CHIP enrollees as of July 2020.