Why are main Democrats and Republicans flocking to Mississippi in latest weeks?
In a local weather the place polls show President Donald Trump’s approval rankings cratering, Democrats are unusually optimistic about Scott Colom’s possibilities of flipping the Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith — even in deep-red Mississippi.
“We bought to have a senator that appears out for Mississippi, that places Mississippi farmers first, Mississippi small companies first, signify our values by not permitting corruption to destroy our nation and really delivers on the commitments to place America first,” Colom informed ABC Information in an interview earlier this week.
Mississippi Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom speaks throughout a voting rights city corridor on the historic Farish Road Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., Aug. 1, 2026.
Sarah Warnock/AP Photograph
The incumbent’s marketing campaign dismisses the Democratic push because the last-ditch effort of a marketing campaign that may fall quick.
Colom is a district lawyer for 4 counties alongside the Mississippi-Alabama border and a former nominee to change into a U.S. district decide. He can be Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.
Democrats have argued that Colom’s outstanding credentials, in addition to voter pushback towards Republican incumbents and motivation amongst Democratic-leaning Black voters, might assist enhance him. Mississippi’s inhabitants is round 36% Black, according to U.S. Census data.
Colom faces an uphill battle, as Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982 and voted for Donald Trump in 2024 by round 20 factors. ABC Information charges the race strong Republican.
However he has gotten the eye of nationwide Democrats; main social gathering figures reminiscent of former former Vice President Kamala Harris and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock have campaigned with him. Former President Barack Obama also recorded an ad for him launched earlier this month.
Harris, throughout a rally with Colom on Thursday, informed attendees, “I have been in these rooms the place there is no cameras, it is senators speaking to one another… When you might have a voice like his in that room, simply take into consideration the influence that is going to have on the choices popping out of that room. Take into consideration that. That is no peculiar time, and that is no peculiar man.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns for candidate Scott Colom in Mississippi, Oct. 22, 2026.
AP Photograph
Colom additionally went viral on-line final week after a social video he posted confirmed Hyde-Smith, throughout a local news interview from February, saying “You may have so many proteins to select from” whereas discussing the right way to take care of greater costs on meat and different items. Within the interview, Hyde-Smith additionally spoke about engaged on rules that may assist vitality manufacturing, and tax incentives to assist improvement.
However it was the proteins half that Colom’s marketing campaign seized on, with a punchy video that featured voters mocking the senator’s phrases, with one saying, “Choose one other protein … I might quite decide one other Senator as a substitute.” (The marketing campaign has confirmed to ABC Information that the video has been was a marketing campaign advert.)
Mississippi Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom listens throughout a maternal well being roundtable on the Capital Membership in Jackson, Miss., Aug. 1, 2026.
Sarah Warnock/AP Photograph
One concrete signal of confidence amongst Democrats over Colom’s possibilities got here on Tuesday, when the Senate Majority PAC, an out of doors group aligned with Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, introduced it could spend $1.2 million on an advert marketing campaign throughout broadcast TV and digital for adverts for Colom.
Requested what indicators the group sees in Mississippi that makes it price investing in, spokesperson Lauren French wrote, “Cindy Hyde-Smith has spent a decade in Washington with out passing a single piece of laws, and Mississippians have seen.”
Hyde-Smith has cosponsored laws that has handed into legislation however laws she initially sponsored or reintroduced has not change into legislation, according to congressional records. Requested to reply to Senate Majority PAC, Hyde-Smith’s marketing campaign pointed to how payments from lawmakers “are sometimes handed as a part of bigger legislative packages,” and that has been true for a few of Hyde-Smith’s payments, together with the primary one she launched. The marketing campaign additionally identified that she is working for under her second full time period.
French mentioned Colom is working a “disciplined marketing campaign” with messages resonating with voters.
Colom and Hyde-Smith have some historical past, as she blocked his nomination for federal decide in 2023. She cited his assist for transgender rights and having beforehand been boosted by a George Soros-linked PAC, according to the Mississippi Free Press.
He insists his bid for Senate shouldn’t be motivated by a want to get again at her.
“It has nothing to do with the run for me … as a Christian, I forgive her. It is in regards to the folks in Mississippi,” Colom informed ABC Information.
Hyde-Smith dismissed Colom’s possibilities.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith arrives within the U.S. Capitol for the primary vote of the week, September 22, 2026.
Invoice Clark/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Pictures
“We’re assured that Mississippians will as soon as once more ship Cindy Hyde-Smith again to the U.S. Senate on November third. That is merely Washington insiders making a final ditch effort to provide life to Scott Colom’s failing marketing campaign,” marketing campaign supervisor Jake Monssen informed ABC Information in a press release.
Hyde-Smith’s supporters could also be extra motivated after a lift from President Donald Trump, who’s set to carry a rally in Mississippi on Monday as a part of a swing of marketing campaign rallies principally in purple states.
The Republican Nationwide Committee introduced the rally round every week after Colom’s social video went viral, though Trump and the group haven’t indicated why they’re doing the rally there and Trump has expressed confidence in Hyde-Smith.
“Cindy Hyde-Smith’s highly regarded … So if I must get her excessive, I’d go there [to Mississippi]. She’s nice. Cindy Hyde-Smith is nice,” Trump informed reporters when requested Thursday in regards to the Senate election.
Hyde-Smith might be attending the rally, in accordance with her marketing campaign.
