A Black Democrat Is Running for Senate in Mississippi. Scott Colom Says Don't Count Him Out.
The district attorney is challenging Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a state where Black voters make up a bigger share of the electorate than anywhere else in the country.
JACKSON, Miss. — Scott Colom, a Black Democratic prosecutor, is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi, a state led for generations by white conservatives, and he insists the race is more competitive than national handicappers assume.
Colom grew up with a Republican father who campaigned for Ronald Reagan and counted the late Sen. Thad Cochran as a friend. He is running against Hyde-Smith, a Donald Trump ally seeking her second full term, as Republicans defend a 53-47 Senate majority at the midpoint of Trump's second presidency.
"Mississippi matters," Colom said repeatedly during a recent day of campaigning. He told The Associated Press he intends to cast Hyde-Smith as a rubber stamp while deflecting attacks that he is a liberal misfit. "I'm going to fight the corruption that we're seeing in D.C. that's making everything less affordable," he said, pointing to Trump's tariffs and the Iran war. "Our junior senator has totally given away our voice."
Hyde-Smith declined an interview through aides. Her campaign manager, Jake Monssen, said, "No one believes in Scott Colom except for Scott Colom," tying the challenger to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and to donor George Soros, whose family backed Colom's district attorney campaigns. Schumer recently held a fundraiser for Colom, and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland traveled to the state to campaign with him. "I can guarantee you one thing," she said. "I'm not the last."
The math is the argument. Black residents make up about 37% of Mississippi's 2.95 million people and roughly a third of a typical November electorate — the largest share of any state. More than nine in 10 vote Democratic, but turn out at lower rates than white voters, who back Republicans by 4-1 or more.
Hyde-Smith beat Mike Espy by 7 percentage points in a 2018 special election runoff and by 10 points in 2020, trailing Trump's 16-point margin. Gov. Tate Reeves won reelection in 2023 by 3 points.
State NAACP Executive Director Charles Taylor said registration drives could add 75,000 Black voters. "It is simple math," he said. Colom's father, Wilbur Colom, said his son needs Black voters at 35% of the electorate and closer to one in four white votes.
Colom emphasizes economics: farmers hurt by tariffs and "400,000 Mississippians that don't have health insurance."
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.