Two nooses were found on the grounds of the Mississippi state capitol Monday morning along with signs referring to Tuesday’s special Senate election, a state spokesperson said.
“We are hanging nooses to remind people that times have not changed,” reads one of the signs, said Chuck McIntosh, director of communications for the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees the Capitol Police.
“Tuesday Nov 27th thousands of Mississippians will vote for a senator. We need someone that will respect lynched victims,” reads another sign, McIntosh said.
CNN affiliate WLBT alerted Capitol Police to the items. An investigation is underway.
The items were discovered one day before the runoff between Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Mike Espy, a Democratic former congressman — the final US Senate race to be decided in 2018.
A series of recordings surfaced that featured Hyde-Smith making comments about attending a “public hanging” and suppressing the votes of students in the state.
Additionally, Hyde-Smith once promoted a measure that praised a Confederate soldier’s effort to “defend his homeland” and pushed a revisionist view of the Civil War, CNN’s KFile reported over the weekend.
Officials say they will release pictures of the signs and nooses later Monday.