Obama ad tells Mississippi voters ‘it’s time for a change’
On 14 October, Raphael Warnock, the Democratic senator from Georgia, campaigned in Jackson for Scott Colom, raising more than $500,000 for Colom’s campaign committee, according to Politico. Barack Obama has released an advertisement in support of Colom, telling voters: “Mississippi, it’s time for a change.”
“I am here because I am tired of the South being overlooked or diminished in terms of its electoral importance,” Warnock told the Gulf States Newsroom. “We ignore the South at our own peril. Democrats are investing here. I would like to see more, for the sake of the country.”
The race has attracted national attention in recent weeks as national Democrats have poured new money into a seat that had seemed out of reach. In August, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the fundraising arm of Senate Democrats, left Colom out of a $40m investment into battleground states; since October, many national Democrats have stumped across the state in support of Colom. Colom said senators Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks were early national supporters of his campaign, and Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris have also recently visited the state to stump for him.
But that wasn’t always the case. “The Democrats just basically conceded the state,” Colom said, describing the previous view of national Democrats toward Mississippi. In doing so, he said, the party was signaling indifference to loyal Black and white Democrats in the state who continued to support the party even if the relationship did not seem reciprocal. “For too long, we weren’t willing to challenge that. For me, I’m ready to challenge. I want to show the people I have courage. And that’s what it takes in this moment. We cannot be afraid to call out the lies. We cannot be afraid to call out the betrayal.”
Trump campaigned for Hyde-Smith in Corinth, a small city near the Tennessee border that typically leans Republican, on Tuesday, telling attendees he was there “because Cindy’s doing great, but I just got to make sure. I can’t take a chance.” Other prominent Republicans in the state attended and spoke at the rally, including Governor Tate Reeves, who told attendees in the nearly full arena that “this is the most important election of our lives.” The fact that Republicans viewed it necessary to call in Trump has been seen by many as an admission of their vulnerability: Mississippi, one of the country’s most reliably Republican states, may be in play in next week’s midterm elections, which will determine which party controls Congress for the last two years of the president’s term.
Colom’s headquarters was buzzing on Tuesday, one week before the election, as volunteers arrived for phone-banking and staffers prepared for another day of campaigning. He had just held a press conference in Corinth that attracted about 100 attendees, despite the short notice, and he also spoke to people who had lined up outside Crossroads Arena to see Trump. The morning after Trump’s visit, volunteers were exuberant, hugging Colom and offering words of encouragement. “We’re going to make history together, with people like you,” he told them.
“[Trump voters] are getting betrayed,” Colom said. “They voted for America first. They’re getting Mississippi last. They were voting for lower grocery prices on day one. Well, the only thing that happened on day one is we got the greatest increase in sales tax in decades. They voted for no more endless wars. We’re back at war with no end in sight. They voted for the release of the Epstein files.”
“I wanted to make sure I go to the lines there and listen to what matters to them,” Colom said. “And tell them: ‘I’m just trying to make sure you get what you voted for. I agree with you. We need lower grocery prices. I agree with you. We need to get out of stupid wars. And I agree with you that we can’t protect pedophiles without a prosecutor.’”
Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982, and it has not elected a Black person to that office since 1875. Colom’s record stands apart from the party label: in 2015, he unseated a nearly 30-year incumbent to become the first Black district attorney for the 16th circuit, and as district attorney he had a 94% success rate for convictions. He is a seventh-generation Mississippian whose father was a longtime Republican who campaigned for Ronald Reagan and was friends with Thad Cochran, a longtime state politician. Hyde-Smith has served in the Senate for eight years and has not sponsored any legislation during her tenure; she has co-sponsored 32 bills that became law.
National Democrats have historically given Mississippi little attention. Obama campaigned in the state in 2008, speaking at Jackson State University, but neither Hillary Clinton nor Kamala Harris visited during their presidential campaigns, and Bernie Sanders canceled a scheduled 2020 appearance at the last minute to go to Michigan instead. The state has largely been ceded to Republicans, said Marvin King, an associate professor of political science and African American studies at the University of Mississippi. “National Democrats do historically ignore Mississippi. They ignore plenty of red states, so Mississippi’s not alone,” he said. “The problem for Mississippi Democrats is that their voter base, the base that they rely on for votes, is quite frankly a lower income base, so it’s hard for Democrats here to raise the money internally.”
Colom has built his own momentum, holding town halls and going to festivals, housing projects and homecomings — including a voting rights town hall at the historic Farish Street Baptist Church in Jackson on 1 August. At his first town hall in Jackson, he said, four people showed up, and Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s lone Black and only Democratic congressional representative, told him he would have to campaign all across the state. The walls of Colom’s office are adorned with photos of him at campaign stops, with volunteers, supporters and staff, and signs in the office carry one of the campaign’s main mottos: “Mississippi matters” — a message Democrats are starting to consider on a national level, too.
“I put these pictures up to remind myself of the joy in it,” Colom said. “It takes a lot of endurance, but these photos remind me of why I’m doing it. It feels like the people of Mississippi are finally getting the attention they deserve. The potential of our state is getting the recognition it deserves and I’m proud to be fighting for the people in this moment.”
King said the late timing of the national Democratic push limited its impact. “If I’m Colom, I’m only upset that the Democrats waited so late,” he said. “If the national Democrats had entered this race in June or July, it’s a very different story.”
Mississippi has the largest percentage of Black voters, a voting bloc that largely votes Democratic. To win, Colom will need both Black voter turnout and about a quarter of the white — otherwise Republican — vote. In 2018, Mike Espy, Mississippi’s first Black congressman since Reconstruction and a former US agriculture secretary, lost a special election to Hyde-Smith by just seven points. Reeves won his 2023 re-election bid by just a three percentage-point margin and finished less than one percentage point above the majority threshold required to avoid a runoff.
Mikel Bolden, executive director of the Mississippi Democratic party, said the voters themselves are why national Democrats are taking notice of the state. “You cannot take voters for granted simply because of how they voted in the past,” she said. “People are paying attention. Voters are speaking out a little bit more. Nationals really sees that not only are we pushing for them, but the voters are pushing for them.”
Mississippi does not have early voting, though the state offers absentee voting to older adults and those with qualifying excuses. As of 27 October, more than 56,000 absentee ballots had been cast in Mississippi, up from 22,221 in the 2022 midterms, when no Senate race was on the ballot. The total is lower than absentee turnout during the 2024 presidential election.
“I feel like I need to do everything I can to represent the values and vision of the people of Mississippi,” Colom said. “For too long, Mississippi hasn’t been a lost cause, it’s been a betrayed cause.”