U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on Thursday launched her reelection campaign for a second full term by highlighting her advocacy for Mississippi farmers, fighting to overturn abortion rights and having a strong relationship with President Donald Trump. 

The state’s junior U.S. senator was greeted by about 150 supporters at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in Jackson. They cheered when she promoted the passage of the “one big beautiful bill,” President Donald Trump-backed legislation that expanded some tax cuts and spending and slashed social safety net programs. 

“The past eight months, we have delivered for the American people,” Hyde-Smith said. 

The senator was flanked by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who spoke in support of her. The pair visited Mississippi State University earlier in the day to announce new policy addressing the state’s veterinarian shortage. 

Rollins said Hyde-Smith fights daily on Capitol Hill for farmers and the agriculture industry by ensuring federal agency leaders understand how federal regulations impact Mississippi farmers. 

“She is a warrior’s warrior,” Rollins said of the senator. “She will never rest until she serves this state and this country to the very best of her ability.” 

Hyde-Smith also praised the Trump administration’s stance on tax policy, heralded its efforts to increase oil drilling, and promoted her own efforts to fight for conservative social policies in Congress. 

A key message she delivered on Thursday is her close relationship with Trump, who has already endorsed her reelection bid. 

“I can send a text to President Trump, and he responds,” she said. 

But at the event, Hyde-Smith touted some policies that likely don’t align with Trump’s agenda, most notably her disagreements with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

“Bobby Kennedy is going to do some really good things,” she said. “I think that he’s going to do some things that are beneficial. But when he crossed over into the line of production agriculture, we had a little dustup. I’ll be honest with you, we had a pretty big dustup over it. I told him in the beginning that when you come after the American farmer and the products that we have depended on for 50-something years, and you think you’re going to take them off the market, I’m going to be the first one through your door.” 

While the senator was not specific about the disagreement with Kennedy, she seemed to be referring to a back-and-forth she had with Kennedy in an Appropriations Committee meeting about the Cabinet secretary’s fight against certain pesticides. 

According to the New York Times, Hyde-Smith told Kennedy not to interfere with the livelihood of American farmers by suggesting certain pesticides are unsafe. 

Hyde-Smith also stated that the state’s agriculture sector needs to be bolstered by migrant farmworkers, as the country would “starve to death” without them. However, she emphasized that the workers should enter the country legally. 

The senator also joked about riding in a truck with a member of the audience and “spotlighting” deer along a trail, something that is illegal in Mississippi.  

“We didn’t spotlight that night, did we? Oh, we didn’t shoot anything. That’s it,” Hyde-Smith said. 

Spotlighting is an illegal hunting technique where a hunter shines a high-powered light at a deer, causing the animal to freeze and making it easier to kill. If someone is caught shining a light at the deer at night, it can result in a hefty fine and the loss of hunting privileges. It is also illegal to intentionally shine lights at deer without shooting them.

Hyde-Smith said the audience member had a large flashlight with a “spinner” on it.  

“I said, ‘I probably need to get out of this truck right now,’” Hyde-Smith said. 

Even though the U.S. Senate race won’t occur until 2026, it appears Hyde-Smith’s Thursday event is a signal that she’s taking a likely competitive reelection campaign seriously.

Scott Colom, a district attorney in north Mississippi, is widely rumored to be considering a run for the Democratic nomination. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said he’s looking for ways to break the GOP’s grip on Mississippi in 2026. 

Ty Pinkins, a 2023 unsuccessful candidate for Mississippi Secretary of State and a 2024 unsuccessful Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, is running as an independent. 

Before she faces Colom and Pinkins, though, Hyde-Smith will have to capture the GOP nomination. 

Hyde-Smith has attracted two Republican primary challengers, neither of whom has held elected office before. One of the challengers entered the race at a press conference hours before Hyde-Smith announced her reelection bid.

Andrew Scott Smith, who has a pork rinds business, calls himself the “Pigskin Politician.” The 29-year-old Florence resident announced his bid for the U.S. Senate on Thursday behind a podium set up between the William F. Winter Archives and History Building and the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson.

Smith said he was challenging Hyde-Smith because she has become disconnected from her constituents.

Smith, who considers himself a monopoly-busting conservative in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt, said he hopes to address consolidation in the American economy through index funds. He also wants to focus on the “fiscal future” of the country by phasing out social security and federalizing the national debt.

Smith took a swipe at Hyde-Smith’s other Republican challenger: Sarah Adlakha “or however you pronounce her last name,” as Smith said in his speech.

Adlakha had already entered the race before Thursday. A physician, Adlakha says on her campaign website that she is running “to protect the values that raised her—faith, family, freedom, and hard work — by securing the border, stopping reckless spending, improving healthcare, and putting Mississippi first.”

Hyde-Smith, a Brookhaven resident, previously served in the Mississippi Senate before being elected to the statewide post of commissioner of agriculture and commerce. In 2018, former Gov. Phil Bryant appointed her to the U.S. Senate to replace Thad Cochran, who opted to retire. She has since been elected to the U.S. Senate twice. 

In 2018 and 2020, Hyde-Smith defeated Democrat Mike Espy, an attorney, a former congressman and former U.S. secretary of agriculture in the Clinton administration. 

Mississippi Today reporter Michael Goldberg contributed to this report.