Mississippi Turning

We Can Win a Neglected Senate Race

By Steve Schear

On May 3, the New York Times published this article about Scott Colom, the Democrats’ candidate for the Senate in Mississippi. Before then, almost no one outside Mississippi was paying attention to his U.S. Senate race. “In March, we increased Democratic turnout 90% compared to the 2024 primary,” Colom said, “but we still didn’t get media coverage.” Colom thinks the lack of media attention explains why he hasn’t gotten anywhere near the financial support of James Talarico in Texas. But Scott Colom also thinks he can win in November.

Why Colom Could Win

The Supreme Court’s recent decision to gut the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais will make it much harder for Black candidates for the House to win in the South. One of the advantages of a Senate race is that you can’t gerrymander it.

Although Mississippi is one of the reddest of red states, Colom could beat Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith if he receives financial backing. In the March Senate primary, 146,458 Democrats turned out to vote, almost as many as the 156,841 Republicans. In 2023, Democrat Brandon Presley lost the election for governor by only 3 points, fewer than 27,000 votes.

Meanwhile, Hyde-Smith is riding a wave of unpopularity. According to a recent poll, just 35 percent of state voters think favorably of the senator, a drop of 19 points since last June. Fifty-five percent disapprove. Thirty-eight percent of Mississippi residents are Black, and over 90 percent of Black voters have a negative opinion of Hyde-Smith. That might have something to do with her infamous comment in 2018 that if a supporter “invited me to a public hanging, I’d be in the front row,” a reference to lynching.

“Most black voters’ only association with Hyde-Smith is that comment,” Colom said. “Since then, she’s done no campaigning, no communication, no outreach. She’s been totally MIA, and so they have a very negative opinion about her.”

Colom will, of course, also need to attract white voters. “We do have white Democrats in Mississippi, so you gotta excite them,” he said. “They’ve been investing time, resources, and money, and are hopeful for a better outcome.”

Colom’s is running on a platform of lowering costs for families and bringing good jobs to Mississippi. He is also focusing on healthcare. “We are already in a situation where our rural hospitals are in terrible shape,” he told the Times. “We are already in a crisis, and she (Hyde-Smith) made it worse.” He is also emphasizing that he will put the interests of Mississippi residents first if elected to the Senate, unlike Hyde-Smith, who “isn’t working for us anymore, voting against Mississippi jobs and investments because it serves her donors’ agenda.”

Colom has won election three times as District Attorney in a district that is 57% white, proving his capacity to attract white voters. Hyde-Smith’s ties to Trump, he believes, will hurt her with some Republicans, because of Trump’s broken promises to bring down prices and stay out of wars.

Closing the Fundraising Gap

Colum has been working hard to raise campaign funds. In the final quarter of last year, he raised more money than the incumbent, but Hyde-Smith still has a lot more to spend, $2.46 million to Colom’s $560,000. If not remedied, the cash discrepancy will make it difficult for Colom to win.

Two million dollars might seem a big gap to fill, but it’s not much in a Senate race. In Texas, Senate candidate James Talarico has raised $40 million in just seven months. In North Carolina, Roy Cooper has raised $27 million for his Senate bid. Since becoming a Senator, Jon Ossoff has raised $78 million. But while National Democrats are investing heavily in three Southern candidates, they are neglecting Colom, who could most use the help.

Asked about the funding discrepancy, Colom said, “I can’t get to the root cause of it, because it’s not based on the numbers. Our last Democratic candidate for governor performed better than the Democratic candidates for Texas or Florida.”

Neglecting Mississippi really makes no sense. A senator from Mississippi has the same number of votes in the Senate as any other senator. Donations go a lot farther in small states like Mississippi, Nebraska, Iowa. and Alaska. Small state media markets are much less expensive, and there are fewer voters needing mailers, canvassers, phone calls and the like. We can win these races with far less money than the larger states in play.

Unfortunately, big Democratic funders have not yet invested in Mississippi. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee has not sent any money to Colom, according to its latest FEC filing. The Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC, with $75 million in cash, hasn’t sent any money to Colom either.

It’s Time to End 300 Years of White Supremacy

Colom could win this race. He talks like a normal guy, not a politician. An eighth-generation Mississippian, he is a family man with a wife and two very cute daughters. As District Attorney, he closed a record number of cold cases, and won 94% of his trials, earning praise from Democrats and Republicans alike. Hyde-Smith, on the other hand, is a singularly unappealing candidate, as this video clip shows.

It’s time to invest in Mississippi. Since the first slaves arrived in Mississippi in 1719, there has been a reign of white supremacy, except for a few short years after the Civil War. Our current problems with voter suppression are modest compared to what happened after Reconstruction. Because of poll taxes, literacy tests, and lynchings, Black voter registration dropped from 97 percent in 1868 to just 6 percent by 1892, as described in this article on Black Voting Rights in Mississippi. Blacks have been disenfranchised and kept from full representation ever since. Although Mississippi has elected Black mayors, sheriffs and other officials, the state has not elected a Black to a statewide office since 1890. Colom could be the first. From my perspective, Democrats in the rest of the country have a moral and ethical obligation to take action to help take Mississippi’s government out of the hands of the white oligarchy.

Whether Colom wins or loses, building Democratic strength in Mississippi will pay dividends in the long run, as long as we stay focused on winning the state.

How Can Colom Get More National Attention?

I suggested that Colom should do some over-the-top events ridiculing Hyde-Smith’s refusal to debate or even to come to a town hall. If you have other ideas about how Colom could get more media attention or more consideration from Democratic donors, let me know at steveschear@gmail.com.

Another way you can help is by contacting the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee at (202) 224-2447 or contact@dscc.org and asking the DSCC to fund Colom’s race.

Steve Schear is an organizer from Oakland, CA.