in the House of Representatives. The first African American and first person from the Deep South to hold the position, Espy served as Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 1994. He announced his resignation in October 1994, following questions from the White House over his use of government perks and acceptance of gifts. He was indicted in 1997 for receiving improper gifts, but acquitted of all 30 charges in 1998. In October 2007, Espy crossed party lines to endorse Republican Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's reelection campaign. Private law career In 2008, Espy became an attorney at Morgan & Morgan, a nationwide law firm, where he handles general plaintiff's law, mass tort, bond and governmental finance, and international relations cases. One of his notable cases was the Pigford lawsuit, where Espy worked in conjunction with a black farmers advocacy group, the National Black Farmers Association, to represent those farmers. Senate campaigns 2018 On March 5, 2018, Republican Senator Thad Cochran announced he would resign as of April 1 for health reasons, triggering a special election. Espy announced his intention to run for the seat that same day, becoming the first declared candidate in the race. He called Cochran "a person I admire and respect, and who has done so much for Mississippi over his tenure." In 2018, CBS described Espy as a conservative Democrat. He has identified his positions as moderate, making a centrist pitch for his Senate campaign. The Clarion Ledger wrote that Espy sought to "play up his bipartisan credentials, like endorsing former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour. Steer the conversation away from anything controversial, even race, and back to health care." When asked by MSNBC's Chris Matthews to comment on President Trump's criticism of several African-American journalists, Espy "refused to bite", instead redirecting the interview to health care. A nonpartisan special election took place on November 6, 2018, the same day as the regularly scheduled U.S. Senate election for the seat held by Roger Wicker, who was running for reelection. Party affiliations were not printed on the ballot. After no candidate gained a simple majority of the vote, a runoff election between Espy and Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith was held on November 27. Espy lost the runoff with 46% of the vote. 2020 Three days after losing the Senate special election runoff to Hyde-Smith, on November 30, 2018, his 65th birthday, Espy filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to