Mississippi Senate Race: Trump Campaigns in Final Week
The president travels to the state's northeast corner as millions in ad spending target a contest between Scott Colom and Cindy Hyde-Smith.
By Adam Lin ·
Millions of dollars in last-minute advertising have turned Mississippi into one of the most expensive battlegrounds for the upcoming midterms. President Donald Trump begins his final week of campaign travel in the state on Sunday. He is scheduled to hold a rally in the northeast corner of the state before Election Day.
The contest pits Democratic nominee Scott Colom against incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. Colom serves as a district attorney and challenged Hyde-Smith’s nomination to the federal bench during the Biden administration. He describes the state as a place where Democrats have historically underinvested.
“We’ve been a betrayed cause,” Colom said. “The Democratic Party has not been trying to win Mississippi. Let’s stop kidding ourselves, right? They spent hundreds of millions of dollars in other states. They’ve spent almost nothing in Mississippi.”
Recent polling suggests the race is closer than historical results might imply. Analysts point to elevated Black voter turnout and shifting Republican enthusiasm. Colom argues that national Democratic attention validates his candidacy, while his opponents claim his views are too extreme for the state.
Republican ads have attacked Colom as the most radical Senate candidate in a lifetime. They emphasize his connections to the Biden White House. Democratic advertisements focus on the lack of difference between Trump and local Republicans. Colom contends that voters are fatigued with the current leadership.
“If somebody’s doing a good job, it’s hard to beat them, right?” Colom said. “I mean, if Cindy Hyde-Smith was focused on the voters, you know, it’d be tough.”
The race has become a proxy for debates over Black political power in the South. Several Southern states have redrawn congressional maps following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year. Colom, a Black candidate, stated that these changes threaten to shift power from voters to political leaders.
“The voters have to pick the leaders, not the leaders pick their voters,” Colom said. “That’s not how democracy is supposed to work.”
Source: KNKX Public Radio
