What does this mean? It probably means nothing in the context of Tuesday’s Senate special elections runoff, where Hyde Smith, the interim senator, faces Mike Espy. However, the 2012 Obama turnout is evidence that Espy could win enough votes to defeat Hyde Smith if the conditions are right. Espy stated that “This is a turnout electoral,” to a group of supporters, who were being asked to transport voters to the polls Tuesday. There is no better cliche in political lexicon than that the election outcome will be determined by “turnout.” Every election, it seems, comes down to turnout. The dynamics of this unusual special election make turnout more crucial than for most Mississippi elections. Nate Silver, the well-known statistician who runs FiveThirtyEight, recently tweeted, “I’m still not sure what to think about the Mississippi Senate race, but it’s one where Democrats and Republicans both need to have very high turnouts.” It is unknown how the turnout will be for this unusual Tuesday after Thanksgiving election for a Senate spot in Mississippi. It has never been seen one before. Nov. 6 saw record-setting midterm turnout at about 900,000. This was equal to the turnout for gubernatorial election, but lower than the 1 million Mississippians who voted in presidential elections. Espy is running to become the first African American senator from Mississippi. Black voter turnout must be close to that of the presidential year. Recent gaffes made by Hyde Smith, where she said that she would be in the front row for a public hanging if invited to by a supporter, or while at Mississippi State University laughing about suppressing liberal votes “at other schools”, will help increase African American voter turnout. Not unnoticed is a Facebook post by Hyde-Smith in 2014, when she was agriculture commissioner. It shows her wearing a Confederate hat and carrying a rifle at Jefferson Davis’ Biloxi home. During the Civil War, Davis was president of the Confederacy. “It gives African Americans an additional reason to vote,” Michael Steele (an African American ex-chair of the Republican National Committee) said in a cable news interview with MSNBC. Espy could still be in trouble if Espy has a high African American voter turnout and a low turnout among white voters. The state currently has the most polarized electorate, with more than 90% of white Mississippians voting Republican and over 90% of African Americans voting Democrat. Espy wants to convince white voters that Hyde-Smith’s comments are detrimental to the state. “Sen. “Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith made stupid comments that hurt our state, hurt our job opportunities and hurt our economy,” Espy said. Hyde Smith has since apologized, but she also blasted her critics, saying that “this comment was twisted and was turned into a tool to be used against me.” Hyde Smith and Espy are running in the seat where long-time Senator Thad Cochran retired earlier this year due to health reasons. Governor Hyde-Smith appointed Hyde Smith as interim governor. Phil Bryant. Hyde-Smith led Espy by approximately 8,000 votes in the Nov. 6 election with 41 percent of the vote. Special elections in Mississippi require a runoff, if there is no majority vote for a candidate._x000D