Extra Mile Podcast - Legislative Session: U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith

(Will Craft) Thank you for subscribing to the Extra Mile podcast. Help us out by leaving a review and a five-star rating wherever you download the show. After leaving a review, slide on into our DMS over on social media @MississippiDOT and let us know as a thank you. We have compiled a Google map list of all of our guests’ favorite spots to eat on Mississippi highways.

It is our gift to you. Seriously, you guys are the best. We could not do the show without you, and we greatly appreciate the support. Remember, Drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.

*INTRO MUSIC*

(Paul Katool) That’s nearly 2 billion and that's money that's going to be spent on improving safety, enhancing mobility and improving economic growth and development in the state of Mississippi.

(Will) Yeah. And with this historic funding from the legislature, new construction will be popping up all over Mississippi.

(Drew Hall) MDOT presents the Extra Mile Podcast.

(Brad White) Men and women of the Department of Transportation are up to the task and up to make sure that we deliver a product that the taxpayers can be proud of. So, I'm ready for us to go to work.

(Paul) Welcome into another edition of the Extra Mile Podcast legislative session presented by the Mississippi department of transportation.
I'm MDOT deputy director of public affairs, Paul Katool. And as always, I'm joined by my cohost Will Craft. He is the director of public affairs for the agency. And ever since we learned about this interview, you've been looking forward to it. Big time guest. We have U. S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in the studio with us today.
We're going to give a little brief introduction and then just get right into things. In 2018, she was appointed by then Governor Phil Bryant to fill the U. S. Senate seat. vacated by the late great Senator Thad Cochran. Uh, she won a special election for the seat in November 2018, then won a six-year term in November 2020.
And she is the first woman elected to represent Mississippi in Congress. That's awesome. Senator Hyde Smith. Thank you so much for joining us today. Making a stop by.

(Cindy Hyde-Smith) Well, thank you for having me. This is a new opportunity for me, so I'm thrilled to be here.

(Will) We surely appreciate it. Uh, one thing before we get into it, the ties run deep around here.
We love the transportation world and the family. Our director, Brad White, was at, and I believe that you guys crossed paths once or twice before, correct?

(Cindy) Oh, no doubt. He was my chief of staff. And, uh, I was so sad when I lost him to the governor's office. But I thought, you know, we've got a good friend down there that will help out.
And then when he made this move, I thought, hey, this is great. We've got a good contact down there but does a great job at anything he does. And I certainly enjoyed him when he was in Washington with me.

(Will) He is one of the good guys for sure. We're glad to have him. Your loss was our gain there. So unfortunately, we do appreciate that though just to get into a little bit of things here.
I think most people know who you are and what you're doing now. And I think they're probably very familiar with you, a lot of your past work being the agriculture queen of Mississippi, running the show there for some time, but even backing up before then maybe some time in the Senate. How did you first get involved in politics?

(Cindy) Well, good question, Will. In 1999 is when I first ran for office. And I was in the situation where the guy that was representing me didn't represent me.
And I thought, I want to make some changes. That district had never had a woman. And I had never run for anything. Oh, really? In my life, in 1999. My daughter was five weeks old.
She was about this long. When I went, and yeah, you can relate to that, when I went and qualified to run for the State Senate. So, we took on a 20-year incumbent. And my husband always says there's one and a half people that thought she could win, and that was all her and half of me, is what he says. But we got busy and, oh my gosh, we worked, we really, really worked.
And that area was Lawrence and Lincoln County and part of Pike County. So, we had a strategy and could literally, as everybody can, write a book. In the campaign, when you take out a 20-year incumbent, you have earned your spot in the sun, because it was not an easy race. But when we started out, I thought I wanted five in the race in the primary, and I got five so I could split it up because I knew if I got into a runoff, that chance is that I would become the next state senator.

(Will) And it worked out well, right? Took home the W. I didn't realize that you're the first woman in that seat elected as well. So just break down the wall every direction you go. I mean, killing it right on.

(Paul) We love to see it. Yeah. So, we'll flash forward a little bit.
You're appointed by Governor Phil Bryant. You head to D. C. It's got to be a new experience for you. So, what were the first few months’ kind of like up there getting to know things?

(Cindy) Well, it is different when you really didn't intend on being there. And I was so happy as an Ag Commissioner and you know, had been there seven years and was very reluctant when the governor contacted me and I said, we’re going to find somebody really good.
I'll help you. I was literally that reluctant for about a month that I was thinking, I don't think we're going to do this, but I'm so glad that I did. And, you know, now, later on, now that I've been here six years, I do see that it really made a big statement for little girls, young women, wanting to get into politics, that I am the first woman to serve in Congress for Mississippi.
At the time, I didn't really think about it that much. But I've had so many people come up to me and say, we followed your career, and we just are so glad that the woman stepped up. So, it does mean more to me now than it did then, because I was happy in my world, but, you know, I've been there six years, and I'm still pretty much a newbie.
I mean, you got Senator Grassley from Iowa. He's 90 years old. And you know, he came, I think, Late 30s, early 40s to Congress. He's been there a long time. But It's been so many firsts. I mean, I wasn't there long at all till we got to the Kavanaugh hearings.
And gosh, how contentious that was.

(Will) What a time to be there.
Wow. Yeah.

(Cindy) I was so glad Brad White was my chief of staff at that time because he could turn bodyguard very quickly. And I had to do so a few times because Kavanaugh was tough. And I was the first woman that went to the floor to defend him. So, when I did, it was game on after that, but I could not see a man as good as Brett Kavanaugh be treated like he was treated.
I mean, it was just merciless. It was unbelievable the way that that man was treated. So, they were trying to talk me out of it when I was going to the floor, and they said, oh, we may want to wait. I said, no, that man needs me right now, and I'm going to the floor to defend him.
But it was, it was, a lot of interesting things happened after that.

(Will) I'm sure he appreciated that very much.
I'm sure. Well, one thing Brad always says, and it's a little bit of a backtrack talking about D. C. there, but there's no good place to eat catfish. Is that right?

(Cindy) Exactly right. They just don't know how to cook it. You can give them a recipe; they don't know how to cook it.
Yeah, we miss the southern food.

(Will) We're going to get Willie Simmons on the phone, we're going to open up a restaurant, we'll make that happen. And that kind of leads us, what you were just talking about with Judge Kavanaugh there, leads us into a little bit of our next question.
Over the past five years, a lot has happened in D. C. What's one of maybe the most memorable, if not what you just explained?

(Cindy) Oh my gosh. I mean, no doubt. You know, we impeached the same president twice. We went through COVID and there were just no presidents. on COVID.
At all. It was a scary time, but then we also went through January the 6th.
When we ran for our lives and that would, when somebody says what's the most significant thing or stands out, that's easy. Oh, January the 6th when we ran for our lives because we did not know what we were running from. We had been in the chamber in the impeachment hearings. And You know, we did not know what was going on outside.
And so, you know, we could just, we heard, the first thing I heard was somebody opened the door and I heard a roar. And I thought, I've never heard anything from inside this chamber. It's always quiet. So, I didn't know what was going on. The guy showed up and they had on their helmets and there, you know, their automatic weapons and they said, you have to run.
And We had no idea what we were running from. So, you know, we thought of a terrorist attack because they were trying to get us to a lower floor. And so, I could just picture the airplane coming through the Capitol. And you know, it's, had I known, I would not have been nearly as fearful. If I'd known, you know, it's a mob coming in.
But you just didn't know, and we all thought terrorists, so.

(Will) I think we would have reacted very similarly.

(Cindy) Pretty tough day, but John Kennedy. from Louisiana. He sat in front of me. He got me by the hand, and we ran together. He never let go of my hand while we were running. He, you talk about Mississippi women, Louisiana men.
He was going to take care of me until we got to a stairwell. And then it was a spiral stairwell. And I'd really never been down that stairwell before. And he had to let go of my hand. And going down there, I get just smashed with members trying to escape, and my face is next to somebody. But when I turned and realized, it was Bernie Sanders.
So, the next day, Senator Kennedy said, do you remember what you looked up and said to me from that stairwell? And I said, yeah. I looked up at him and said, “Don’t let me die with Bernie Sanders.

(Will) That's incredible. I can't imagine being in that situation. I guess y'all found out what was at the bottom of that stairwell that day.

(Cindy) After we got back to the Hart building, when we ran through the tunnels, they started bringing TVs in. And we thought, okay. But I mean, literally, we were putting things in front of the door because we didn't have security with us. And we just, like, I couldn't tell anybody where we were, but it was an incredible day, but it's easy to pick out the most extraordinary day probably of my life.

(Will) I guess so. You know, it's one thing for, for lots of us that saw everything kind of unfold on TV, but I really can't, it's probably the first time I've really thought about it from that vantage point of, of having no idea what was actually taking place, but being ushered out of the room with great haste and, you know gosh.

(Cindy) See, during the trial, we couldn't have our phones. So, nobody was inside the chamber, we didn't have our phones.

(Will) You really didn’t know what was coming.

(Paul) How long were you down there? Hours?

(Cindy) Oh, hours. Yeah. Wow. And then finally the National Guard did get there, and Capitol Police was, you know, there. It was just an unbelievable experience of them having to literally fight off a mob.
But then they came in and they just said, you know, who's willing to go back to the Senate floor, but they had swept it after everybody had come in there and You know, I said we got a job to do I'm going back.

(Will) Yeah, that's good and then expected to go right back to business as usual, goodness.

(Cindy) but we did. I don't remember anybody Saying that they wouldn't go back. Now, there were some that didn't want to be sure, but you know, we had a job to do.

(Paul) Great story. What a day in American history for sure. Well, we'll all remember you in particular for sure. So, let's kind of get into some policy stuff you know for those that don't know you serve on four committees, I believe kind of break those down for us.

(Cindy) Well, I serve on the Appropriations Committee

(Paul) Big one right there.

(Cindy) So I landed in a really good spot.
The good thing about getting appointed is You know; I was able to just walk into Senator Cochran's positions he already had. And so, I landed on the Appropriations, and of course Agriculture is my whole heart. And I was able to get on Ag, which I totally, totally love being in Agriculture. I'm on the Rules Committee.
I'm on the Energy Committee, so yeah, but the Subcommittee of Appropriations is the THUD, as we call it, Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development. And when the Ranking Member, Senator Susan Collins, came in and she said, Cindy, you know, do you want Homeland Security, or do you want Transportation? And you know, I just looked at her and said, I’m so concerned about the border.
I really would like Homeland Security because I mean we know what this wide-open border means right now. But I said, I think I can help my state the most by transportation and I'm here to help my state. So, I chose transportation and If Republicans win, I'll be the chairman of that subcommittee, and hopefully that's what will happen.

(Will) Very nice. Very nice. We very much appreciate you making that decision for us, too. Yes. As evidenced by lots of the work that you guys are doing right now, or just finished up, rather, with the THud bill that's come out. Lots of good stuff in there for Mississippi, right?

(Cindy) Oh, yeah. We did very well.
But of course, it helps to be the ranking member and Senator shots. Brian Shots from Hawaii is the chairman. And so that's my counterpart. And we work very well together. And, you know, it's like anything else. You just have to get in there and be sincere there for the right reasons, truly wanting to look at the big picture of every state in the country.
And then keeping in mind that, you know, obviously. Mississippi. But those important decisions really are important. You know, it just can have so many long-lasting effects and knowing what the needs are for our state and being able to do those things just like weight limits for certain agricultural products.
And you know, having all of these log trucks that were on two lane roads. That's
How many videos I've seen of school buses because they just can't stop fast. And so I'm all about safety. And of course, that's I'm sure the mother in me. But it was really nice that we were able to get that.
past and done that we have safer highways now Because those log trucks are not forced to go down downtown Macomb to get to the mills to get their harvest.

(Will) Get those loads out of the local communities off the you know, you have a walking path right there and an 88, 000-pound log truck coming by. That's it.
Yeah, I think that is probably much safer. I think lots of city folks out there in the suburban areas would definitely agree with that for sure. Lots of other things as well. I think the speaking on timber specifically, but just got through working on some legislation to, to help with that forestry, the pine beetles.

(Cindy) Oh yeah, that has been, you know, with the drought that we've had, it's just the dinner bell for pine beetles because it was a really serious, serious drought in our area in Southwest Mississippi. I mean, we were walking across the pines that we normally water cattle in. Oh, wow. We were walking across them.
And it is just the drought. When that happened, and the pine beetles, just the infestation, going up and down the highways of Mississippi, you just see it everywhere. that it was a great loss. And timber has never really been treated in the Farm Bill with the opportunities as other cash crops.
And timber's a cash crop.
I mean, that's usually the retirement plan for people. That's usually college savings plans out there in that stand of timber that we're going to cut the timber and send the kids to college. And so, when you lose that, you're losing a cash crop. So right now, You know, we, I did locate some money that was already at USDA to possibly provide reforestation money and hopefully we're going to get removal money for municipalities that are having to take down all these because they're going to fall on these power lines and it's going to affect everyone.
But it's been critical in our state and well, I actually have a bill introduced that has not been passed, and if it passes, it will help the municipalities. So right now, that is not the case. There's no help out there for them.
But we do have the program to help replant, and You know, who knows, we may have something else to come up in a supplemental for disasters because this was truly a disaster for Mississippi.

(Paul) Fingers, fingers crossed. It's so wild to me that a little beetle like that could cause so many problems, but it is, it is the truth. So obviously you've gone through a few priorities. Anything else you want to mention in your committees that you're focused on right now?

(Cindy) Well, in Noxubee County, we did get to, I think it's Dearborn Highway.
We ran right in front of a cotton gin. And you know, this road was just deplorable. And that new cotton gin was there. These people had invested and opened it. And they told me, they said the problem is trying to get these trucks down here to this new cotton gin that they can bring their cotton to. So, we were able to get money to help them.
And I mean, I went down the road, I went to the gin, and I thought, how is this even possible that, you know, these guys are coming in and out of here? Because you know, I think about When, you know, I'm just a Mississippi girl and when a bearing starts going out, you hear that vibration. You're tearing up your equipment on these terrible roads.
And, you know, I'm one of those that when the lights start getting dim, I say your alternator is going out. And, you know, when you hear a squeak, that's your fan belt. And, you know, I'm conscious of maintaining equipment and maintaining these expensive large trucks. And so, I was glad that we were able to get that there.
For them in Knoxville County. And you know, when you talk about energy and we are in such an ag state going up and down the highways and the price of gas is what everybody talks about what it is now, what it was compared to a few years ago. But you just think about those log trucks. And I text Glenn Hyde and I said, how many gallons does your log truck 220.
So, you fill up. Something that holds 220 gallons to get you started for the week to get the harvest out of the woods and to the mills that affects your bottom line. That's hard to know, pencil out when you're buying 220 gallons of fuel instead of filling up your car. So, I try to, especially in Washington, D.C. Broaden the aspect of what things are really like. You know, you're just concerned about your car. And of course, they want everybody to have an electric car now. But think about those folks that are out there up and down the highways. And the gas bill that they have, the fuel bills that they have, it's very different.
And when you have fuel at the price that it is, because we're not drilling, it truly affects every industry.

(Will) Oh yeah, no doubt. I can't even imagine. One of the first, every time I go to Washington for an extended period of time, as soon as I get home, at the behest, I guess, of my gas budget, but I just have to go drive around some rural area, see some grass.
I feel like, you know, when you get up there, this concrete city, there's just not a lot of outdoors to be had in the same way that we experience outdoors here. So do you do anything like that? Do you go home, go to the farm?

(Cindy) You know, I remember my friend, Senator Alan Nunley. When he was in Congress, he said, Cindy, I just have to go home on the weekends to normal people.
So not only are you getting to normal people, but Mississippi is also such a great state. It really is. And when you are there all week and you do come home, you really have a greater appreciation for this wonderful state.

(Will) It's a great place. Love the area too, that you're from down there, Brookhaven. Very fond memories of going down there and playing football games.
Lots of wins from Simpson Academy down there, but you know, we did lose a few to the Brookhaven Academy there in town, but love the place, man. Absolutely. Any chance to get to go down there and see it. Talking about what you're working on now, parlaying that right on into your home for a little while, as we were talking about joking before we came in here, we hate the word recess because it's almost busier, if not absolutely busier when you get home, but a full agenda today going from here right to another event, correct?
Just a, just a load of stuff going on, and I think it's, we have the U. S. speaker in the town today?

(Cindy) Yes, Mike Johnson is here, our neighbor from over in Louisiana. An incredible guy. I'm telling you, I was a big fan of Kevin McCarthy, and I thought he did a great job, and I am really a big fan of Mike as well.
We could not have chosen, the House could not have chosen, I think, a better person. He's working under some difficult circumstances. I mean, one vote can call to vacate the chair, and it's a big balancing act when they have a majority of one, one person. So, he has a tall drink of water in front of him, but I am there to support him because he truly is, he's there for the right reasons.
He gets the South, he gets the Southeast, and so of course I love that part about it, but he's just a level-headed guy with good judgment, and not always the case that you find in Washington, D. C.

(Will) I can only imagine.

(Paul) There you go, there you go. Very cool to have him in town today for sure. So, you've been there for a good number of years now.
The media cycle just runs and runs and runs. So much stuff going on. But when it comes to your accomplishments, what would you look at and say that's the, that's the number one thing that you've checked off the list?

(Cindy) Well, I tell you Actually The truck issue of getting safer highways in Mississippi, that's a pretty big accomplishment.
I know that Susan Collins said it took her 10 years to get that for Maine. And like I said, with the ag background, I just concentrate on that so much, but there's so many little things too, you know, even when you can go in, and you can help Build a courthouse because that one's dilapidated in that area and you can do the things on the highway with health care.
You know, if you move the needle a little bit, you really feel a sense of accomplishment because it is so hard to get a bill passed in D. C. to get something in it. The first thing that was ever signed by President Trump that I had passed was extending duck hunting season. And in Mississippi, that's a big deal in Mississippi.

(Will) It was a big deal. I had lots of friends telling me how big that was. I forgot about that.

(Cindy) Yeah. So many people say, oh, the only thing she's gotten past is the duck hunting bill. Well, in Mississippi, that's a pretty big deal. And since then, of course, we've gotten a lot more and bills that were very important to me.
But to realize that you're actually helping folks, you're changing lives. And with COVID, going through that, when there was nobody in the capital that had any experience, and you know, we thought it'd last a couple of weeks and we would be back. But trying to get a vaccine, trying to help the people that, you know, had family members literally dying daily.
That was such an incredible time. I mean, even in my hospital in Brookhaven, I mean, in the very beginning, they were putting these folks in double body bags, because we didn't know what we were dealing with. And when you deal with something that serious and try to figure out how we're going to save these businesses to sit around the table and say, you know, that cleaners had to close all week because nobody could come in because of COVID.
How are they going to pay for their health? How's the help going to make their car note? So, we came up with a paycheck protection plan and really thought, how do we disperse it? Where do they go to apply for it? And then realizing there's a bank in every small community. Let's go through the banks. But you talk about uncharted waters in such a desperate time.
And that wasn't a regional thing all over the country. That was a national thing to think about. How do we, first of all, get the health care that we need to identify whatever this virus is. And then how do we save this country economically? And it was definitely a time that I will not forget, you know, going through two airports.
Twice a week, three airports twice a week, actually, with no vaccine whatsoever. And we didn't have a choice. We had to keep going. We were down five weeks from Congress when it, you know, got in the height of it. Before there was, and I mean, I had people that I knew dying of this, but we still had to go to that airport, get on that airplane, and go to Atlanta, and then go into D.C.
The first time we went back, it was like a ghost town. There was no other person in that airport. Me and Doug Davis, my chief of staff, got off the airplane and we said, it is a movie set. It was so creepy.
Got outside. Not one car at DCA. Not one car and no traffic. anywhere. You could roll a bowling ball from the airport and hit the Capitol.
There was no one anywhere. And, you know, having to arrange transportation, you know, I can remember one night eating rice and a can of peaches for dinner because the grocery stores were closed, the restaurants were closed. So, whatever was in the cabinet, you know, that, that really brings you to a level of survival.
This is a heavy lift, but we got to get through it. And we did get through it.

(Will) Yeah. I don't want to go back to that. I don't miss wearing that mask at all. No way.

(Paul) We appreciate you and your colleagues' work during that time. That's certainly unprecedented. Will and I say we're ready for precedent in times where we're ready for.

(Cindy) That's my thing. Marco Rubio is a good friend, and he would always say, Cindy, this just isn’t normal. Well, during Kavanaugh, he would say, Cindy, this just isn’t normal. And all the impeachments, this just isn’t normal COVID. I said, Marco, when's it going to get normal?

(Will) And look, I wanted to take just a moment there, just say, appreciate you.
Some of the things you've just mentioned, talking about the paycheck prevention plan, the healthcare for those. I mean, there's a lot of really big gray issues that you guys have to deal with up there, but I think that just shows, again, you know, we have folks up there in DC representing us Looking out for the individuals, you're talking about folks that are working in cleaners and laundromats and, and fast food restaurants and all these different places and, and looking at legislation at a federal level for the individual, not just the big, huge stuff that's out there that y'all are working on, but so I appreciate you, you, you looking at those things and keeping that with you.
As you're going up to Washington.

(Cindy) Well, if I may for a moment, there is one thing that I'm working on that is, I'm, speaking of transportation, I am so out of my lane on this. I am way out of my lane. But the nursing shortage.
is so critical. And so many hospitals here in Jackson have been on diversion.
And I got a call from a family that their son had had 30 seizures, and they could not get him into Jackson Hospital. This has been two weeks ago. They were trying to go to Little Rock or Pensacola. And I mean, people don't realize that if you have a stroke in Hazlehurst, you're probably going to have to go out of state.
And it's not because we don't have beds that These hospitals don't have the staff. So, I compare it to going into the restaurant that has all these open tables, but they can't seat you because they don't have servers. Same thing. We can't accept you at the hospital. We don't have staff. And so, the nursing shortage is something that I really want to address.
That's when I say I'm out of my lane on this. But somebody's got to do it. And the thing that we pinned it to is I've pinpointed it too, or I have, is there's such a shortage in nursing instructors because they can make so much more money on the floor. We have community colleges with nursing programs, but they can't keep the nursing instructors.
So, we're going to have to go buy some nursing instructors. And until we increase their salaries, that they're lined up out the door, we had 1, 200 qualified applicants for nursing school last year that didn't get in. That would be 1, 200 more in the state very shortly had they gotten in, but they couldn't get in because of the shortage of the nursing school staff.
And I met with Kim Hoover, the former Dean of Nursing at UMC. I met with a representative from the Hospital Association. And You know, we've got to figure out a way to create a fun, maybe public private partnership with the hospitals involved and the legislature to make sure that we can keep the staff there to instruct nurses.
So, that's one thing that really concerns me because I'm getting calls every weekend from people that have a medical emergency. But they're having to go out of state in many cases.

(Paul) Scary. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up. And I'll shout out Will's wife. A nurse. Yeah. I was about to say, as the husband of a nurse, I appreciate that.
He knows for sure. Well, we have some fun questions for you. But for that, we're going to hit this one final transportation note. So, in your words, why is it important to have a strong transportation network and how does that kind of help tie into economic development and growth?

(Cindy) Well, it's all about economic development, just like the cotton gin in Noxubee County.
That was a new business right there, but the highway was terrible, and people were choosing to go somewhere else. And I mean, had I built that, I would have been so concerned, but the jobs that it creates, the attractiveness of, yes, this is where I want to be because they have a good highway transportation system.
We're trying to attract industry and good roads attract good industry. I mean, it's just the necessity that we have to have, and we have to maintain, but definitely economic development. And when people hear that, sometimes they think, oh, that's just jobs created by contractors and jobs created by bridge builders.
And it is, but it's also. Very attractive when you're trying to introduce a new industry into this state.
If they had gone down that highway in Noxubee County, I guarantee you, they would have chosen somewhere else. So even off of interstates, on state aid roads, everywhere, it is critically important that we have that.
And when we do something, the money is normally spent right here. And it does create jobs for those buildings. But also, there's certainly a ripple effect to that.

(Will) Yeah. Was that the saying, the rising tide raises all ships. So, in those areas like that, yeah. Seeing that influx of cash for economic development, jobs, healthcare, the things that you're talking about.
We love it. We're, we're, we want all the funding for transportation. We're, we're here for it.

(Paul) No doubt. You stated that perfectly. So, so good stuff, Senator. So, let's get into the fun stuff a little bit. We got one question right off the bat for you. So, when you come back, after you do all the hard work in DC, you come back.
Where's a place you like to eat in Mississippi?

(Cindy) Well, I tell you, I'm a home girl. And you can usually find me at Betty's Eat Shop in Brookhaven on Friday nights. We have some great restaurants in Brookhaven. But several years ago, I built an outdoor kitchen. And it has a fireplace. It has a swing. and we can grill out there and the world goes away.
That is my happy place in that swing. So, I just, I highly recommend outdoor kitchens because food just tastes better outside.

(Will) I agree. It is the go-to move right now with the two youngins running around. We'll do the same thing. Go outside, turn them loose. They, you know, they run around like crazy people, but we get to cook, watch the outdoors, see what's going on, and enjoy the outside.
I love that. I think Betty's was actually a recommendation.

(Paul) Funny enough, before I worked in the communications world, I worked in kitchens and worked with a guy who opened up Betty's Eat Shop. And he was, he was working at Local 463 with me while he was raising money. to open Betty's Eat Shop. And it is phenomenal.
I've been there myself. So, two thumbs up.

(Will) Paul recommended that just this morning. That's funny.

(Cindy) Oh yeah. It is a little local place. And like I said, we have several really good places. Brookhaven is a neat little town. It really is. We have two boutique hotels now. The Whitworth Inn and then Captain Jack's is an old home that was redone.
That is just, it's really, we have some great things going on. One of the neatest things, when Amy Coney Barrett was being brought before, you know, the Senate, she and I were visiting, and she asked me about Brahmas in Brookhaven. And I said, how do you know about Broma’s in Brookhaven? We're talking about a Supreme Court Justice nominee here asking me about Broma’s in Brookhaven.
And she grew up in Metairie, went to school in Memphis, so she said that was my stopping spot. So, we've got a Supreme Court Justice that knows a lot about the eateries in Brookhaven.

(Will) Similarly, we love music in the division here.
We like to go to listen to music. Paul is our expert. He goes to shows all the time. Not like many of our other ones, not unlike many of our other folks here, but a favorite concert maybe that you've ever attended.

(Cindy) There's, I have to split it. There have to be two. Jimmy Buffett at Jazz Fest.
Doesn't get any better than that. And then I had Front Row George Strait tickets in Vegas. And that was pretty over the top as well. So, both of those just stand out. But Jimmy Buffett at Jazz Fest many years ago, I'm a Parrot head.

(Will) I bet that was awesome.

(Cindy) And yeah, that's That was a pretty incredible concert.

(Will) Those are great, great recommendations. Great memories. As a Mississippian, I obviously love Jimmy Buffett, but I am a Southern Miss fan very much so. And my wife and I's first dance was to a George Strait song. I just want to dance with you. So, you hit him right on the head, right? Nail on the head there for those answers for me there.
Love that.

(Paul) Some good stuff. Senator Hyde Smith, thank you so much for dropping by and speaking to us. Thank you so much for all the hard work you're doing up in DC.

(Cindy) Thank you for having me. This has really fun.

(Paul) Lovely conversation. We'll just wrap things there. Thank you to our listeners, our viewers for tuning into the extra mile podcast.
You can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com/TheExtraMile. Follow us on social media @MississippiDOT is the handle there. We want to shout out Drew Hall. He is our editor producer and does everything behind the scenes for us to make us all look good. And remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.

*Show Outro*