On Sunday, Charles Younger, a state senator from Columbia, stated that he believed Hyde Smith has atoned enough for her controversial statements. Younger said that public hangings could be reinstated as a method for execution, and that it would deter many crimes. Younger was referring to Hyde Smith’s remarks, which were captured on video Nov. 2, and first published by independent news site The Bayou Brief. She said something in jest, which wasn’t politically correct, but I bet nine out of ten Democrats would vote for the execution of the young man who killed nine people in South Carolina church — the African Americans who were murdered in South Carolina. Younger was referring specifically to Dylann Roof (a white supremacist who killed nine African American churchgoers) in June 2015. Roof was sentenced to death by a federal jury in 2017. He had committed the murders in a historic Charleston black church. Hyde-Smith initially refused to address the controversy but then offered an apology. This was during a debate last week with Mike Espy who is her opponent in the Nov. 27 U.S. Senate runoff. Hyde-Smith’s comments sparked backlash due to the fact that Mississippi has seen more lynchings than any other state. Many of these lynchings were committed by white mobs against African Americans and were executed by hanging. Younger answered the question about Roof’s response to Hyde Smith’s comments by saying that “public hanging was an execution method.” It wasn’t like lynching. It was a public hanging that had to go through the courts. And it wasn’t an issue of color or race. It was a punishment. It was a punishment. Mississippi hanged 257 persons between 1804 and 1940. Two of these were black women and two were black men, the overwhelming majority. A database of public executions compiled in Alabama by M. Watt Espy and John Ortiz Smykla shows that 200 people, or 78 per cent, were executed in Mississippi by hanging. 48 people were hanged, which is 18.6 percent of the total. Younger, who was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 2014, later wrote Mississippi Today that he supported Hyde-Smith because he, too, is a farmer. Younger’s legislative biography identifies his occupation as a farmer/rancher. Younger is the chairman of County Affairs Committee with his wife. They have three children. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Colton, one of his sons was sentenced to eight year in prison for robbery. Younger stated in an email that while she agreed that the illustration she used was inappropriate, she believed that Younger had a good heart. Younger also said that he believes that Younger can help all Mississippians. Mississippi Today’s complete coverage of the historic runoff election between Cindy Hyde Smith and Mike Espy can be found here.