Is Mississippi’s Senate race the sleeping giant of this election? Scott Colom thinks voters are waking up
TheGrio...
Colom argues Mississippi voters are growing frustrated with the status quo as he campaigns to become the state’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.
Mississippi is rarely at play for Democrats in statewide elections. But in the race for the U.S. Senate, Democratic nominee Scott Colom is closing in on Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (as close as 6 points) in a state that President Donald Trump carried by 21 points in the 2024 presidential election.
“We’re getting betrayed. Mississippians are waking up, and they want a fighter who’s going to actually make their life better,” says Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney and former nominee to serve as a United States district judge. He tells theGrio that he sees a shifting tide in Mississippi, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982.
“President [Donald] Trump and Cindy Hyde-Smith broke the promise that they made in 2024,” said Colom. “They promised lower grocery prices. Grocery prices are higher. They promised no more endless wars. Well, we’re in another war with no end in sight, costing each and every one of us in Mississippi at the gas station.”
In prosecuting the case against Trump and Hyde-Smith, who has served in the U.S. Senate since 2018, Colom said the Republicans have “betrayed” Mississippians who are at their wits’ end trying to afford the rising cost of living. He pointed to their signature budget and tax law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made historic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP food assistance and eliminated Obamacare subsidies, resulting in health care premiums skyrocketing to an annual average of $1,904, compared to $888 in 2025.
“According to our Republican Insurance Commission, 200,000 Mississippians lost health insurance from that one decision alone,” Colom told theGrio. “Next year because of the big, beautiful betrayal, at least another 100,000 are going to lose health insurance because of, again, [Hyde-Smith’s] decision to betray what’s best for Mississippi.”
In exchange for massive cuts to health care and safety-net programs, wealthy Americans and corporations received major tax cuts. Critics describe it as the biggest transfer of wealth in U.S. history. Colom says, meanwhile, Trump and Hyde-Smith are cashing in on the backs of taxpayers. In addition to the reported minimum of $2 billion Trump and his family have earned since he took office last year, Colom called out his Republican opponent for corporate kickbacks.
“She’s taking money from fertilizer companies that are under investigation for price fixing, while our farmers are struggling,” Colom told theGrio. The Democrat also slammed Hyde-Smith for taking money from AI super PACS as she fails to provide any oversight of the technology that many call for and warn needs to be properly regulated.
If elected to the U.S. Senate, Colom vowed to work with other members of Congress to end Trump’s tariff policies that have driven up costs for businesses and consumers, and to end the president’s war in Iran, which is driving up gas and oil costs.
“We’re gonna get our voice back when it comes to war powers, which is where it’s supposed to be. And we’re gonna fight to get out the war, so we can actually focus on the economy and the needs of Mississippians,” he asserted. Colom is also calling for the elimination of federal income tax for anyone earning less than $75,000 a year. He told theGrio, “I talk to people and they need more money in their pockets right now, and that’s something I think that we really have to strongly listen.”
Mobilizing Black voters and making Black history
If elected, Colom would also make history as the first Black American elected to the U.S. Senate in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era, when Hiram R. Revels was elected in 1870. He served only one year in office.
When asked about the potential to make Black history, Colom told theGrio, he’s more focused on making sure “it’s not another 150 years until there’s another one.” He added, “Whenever I think about making history, I also think about my obligation to future generations and making sure that I perform and have the ethics and the values, the vision, that make it easier for the next person to be judged on their merits.”
In a state that is 37% African American, Black voters could play a pivotal role in Colom’s potential victory in Mississippi. He says he’s been campaigning across the state, making outreach to Black communities, including holding over 50 town halls and attending festivals, housing projects, and college campuses.
“We took to some HBCUs to offer tacos to college students,” said Colom, noting that the campaign also included “pick your protein” in reference to Hyde-Smith’s comments that Americans “have so many proteins to choose from” when asked by a news outlet about the rising cost of beef.
“We’re going to where the voters are. We’re listening to them. We’re understanding their concerns, and we’re making sure that we have the values and vision to fight for them,” said Colom.
Though Colom sees Mississippi as a sleeping giant this election cycle, there are calls for national Democratic groups to invest more of their political and financial capital in his U.S. Senate race.
“I think everybody can do more,” Colom agreed. “They have to understand that Mississippi matters. You look at the math in Mississippi; it makes sense that you have to compete in a state like this, with such a high percentage of African Americans and a percentage of white voters that vote Democrat.”
He added, “For me, it’s my job to make the argument to make the case.”