Bryant short list for Cochran replacement gets very short: 2

Gov. Phil Bryant said last week his pick for an interim replacement for U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran would come "sooner rather than later." Most folks are taking that to mean sometime this week.

And the Republican governor's short list — according to numerous sources — has gotten short indeed: Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves — who had been Bryant's top pick — doesn't want the job largely because he has young children and doesn't want to move his family to Washington, instead looking at a gubernatorial run in 2019.

Others — and the list was fairly lengthy at one point — have according to many sources either been eliminated for various reasons or opted out.

More:Why are Bryant, McDaniel splitsville?

Hosemann and Hyde-Smith would be formidable candidates for subsequent election to the office in a November special election. Both are polished candidates who've successfully run statewide campaigns. In Hyde-Smith's case, the appointment would be historic, the state's first female U.S. senator.

But the question on many minds, including Gov. Phil Bryant's, is whether Hosemann or Hyde-Smith could weather a challenge from the right from state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who's already running a conservative and tea-party fueled campaign. The race, which will be a free-for-all with no primaries, already also has a serious Democratic contender, former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, raising concerns of splitting the Republican vote.

McDaniel and his supporters have been calling for Bryant to appoint McDaniel in the interim and "unite the GOP." But Bryant was emphatic last week that he would not appoint McDaniel, calling him "opportunistic" after McDaniel dropped out of the race against Sen. Roger Wicker to run for the Cochran seat.