Mississippi Senate Race Becomes a Test for Black Voter Turnout

The last time a Democrat won a U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi was in the early 1980s. Now, with just 12 days until the general election, national campaign managers are pouring money into the state to see if that streak can finally break.

The race pits Scott Colom, a district attorney, against incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith. Colom’s campaign argues that the state’s demographics offer a unique opening. Mississippi has the highest share of Black voters in the country, at close to 40%. This population density creates a mathematical pathway for Democrats that does not exist in many other conservative states.

Colom told reporters that the party has historically neglected the state. He noted that while hundreds of millions of dollars were spent in places like Iowa and Texas, Mississippi received almost nothing. He called the state a "betrayed cause" rather than a lost one, arguing that voters are ready to fire their current representative.

The financial rush is evident in the final weeks of the campaign. Democrats have spent about $5 million in Mississippi this month, compared to $3.2 million from the Republican side. Their messaging links the unpopularity of the current presidential administration with the local Senate race, suggesting there is no daylight between the White House and Hyde-Smith.

Rallies have drawn large crowds. In Columbus, former Vice President Kamala Harris joined Colom at a high school gym, where about a thousand people gathered. Harris described the current administration as the "most callous, corrupt and incompetent" in history. She urged supporters to turn their frustration into action on Election Day.

In Corinth, President Trump held a rally to motivate the Republican base. He told attendees that complacency was dangerous. He warned that if voters stayed home because they thought Hyde-Smith was safe, "bad things happen." Hyde-Smith, who was blocked by Colom during a federal judge nomination process in the Biden era, framed the choice as capitalism versus socialism.

The Hyde-Smith campaign has spent more than $1.3 million on an ad calling Colom the "most radical Senate candidate in our lifetime." The ad cites his two nominations by President Biden and claims violent crime doubled while he served as district attorney. The race now serves as a bellwether for the influence of Black voters in the South, especially after a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year rolled back parts of the Voting Rights Act.