“All the momentum in the world”: Democratic Senate candidate sees Mississippi as ripe for winning

“People told me I had no chance when I announced, but I knew they were wrong,” Colom said at a canvassing event in Gulfport, in early October. “It's not me doing it: it's the people doing it. I mean, we just had – on a Friday at 12 o'clock – we just had 50 people show up to go knock on doors.”

He was joined by U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey to meet with supporters before going to knock on doors. 

“Mississippi is at the center of a lot of challenges that Americans are facing all over the country, and there seems to be a real blind spot to how these policies have been hurting people in this state,” Booker said. “In the midst of all of that, you have a state that is really starting to say, 'It's no longer about party: it's about what's right for people.'”

“[Colom] is running this campaign in a way that I think is gaining a lot of national attention because he's running it squarely focused on the pain of the people and just the urgency to address those issues.”

Colom’s supporters have coalesced around the fairly straight-forward pillars that make up his platform: higher wages, lower costs, saving health care and saving rural hospitals.

And, his signature catchphrase: Mississippi Matters. 

“I'm proud to be a Mississippian, I understand our potential,” Colom said. “But what bothers me the most is the corruption and the betrayals of what makes our state great.”

Colom is the district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th judicial district, where he’s served since 2016. The seventh-generation Mississippian from Columbus likes to tout his record as a prosecutor – not just in fighting violent crime and corruption, but in becoming district attorney in the first place. 

“When I was 32 years old, I had the courage to run against a district attorney that was putting innocent people in prison,” Colom said. “It was because of the injustice that motivated me to run and I was able to win that election because I ran on the values that actually represent our state.”

His opponent was an independent then – but a big part of his pitch now is looking beyond party lines. 

“I'm a district attorney: I see more Republicans than any other Democrat in the state because there's a bunch of Republicans in my grand jury,” Colom said. “When I talked to them, I realized, man, we have so much in common.”

“Honestly, we [Democrats] haven't really been trying to win in Mississippi for a long time. When we try, we get a lot closer than people realize.”

Janilyah Khadadaram, out with Colom’s team in Gulfport that day, said the issues that matter to her go beyond party lines, too.

“It's not just politics, it's just not just Democrats or Republicans: it's your health care, it's gas prices going up, it is a war that we want nothing to do with,” Khadadaram said. “It's the fact that here on the coast we have so many things happening and so many opportunities, [but] it's hard to get in because everything costs so much and no one's listened to us.” 

And she says a big draw with Colom is his accessibility and willingness to listen – something Colom says his opponent isn’t doing. 

“If you're okay with high gas prices, high grocery prices, health care unaffordable, hospitals closing, corruption, betrayal, vote for Cindy Hyde-Smith,” Colom said in Indianola, after a group discussion he hosted to hear from Delta voters about their concerns. 

“She's making it very clear she ain't gonna change one thing about any of that stuff.” 

In turn, Hyde-Smith has framed him as being ultra-progressive, soft on crime and in favor of policies like transgender surgeries for minors. 

“My opponent, Scott Colom, is the most radical Senate candidate to run for Mississippi, literally, in our lifetimes,” Hyde-Smith said at an October rally in Corinth, featuring President Donald J. Trump.

She critiqued Colom’s associationswith figures such as New Jersey U.S.Senator Cory Booker, as well Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia and former Vice President Kamala Harris – all of whom have joined him on the campaign trail. 

“He is truly in the company that he keeps,” Hyde-Smith said. “When he tells you who he is, please believe him, because that is who he is.”

“Their agenda is dangerous: it's dangerous for the country, and it's dangerous for Mississippi.”

MPB News reached out to Hyde-Smith’s team numerous times for an interview. They did not make Hyde-Smith available – which is part of what Colom sees as an asset for him, despite being behind her in polling. 

“I have all the momentum in the world and that's why she is doing everything she can to run out the clock,” Colom said. “She don't want anybody to cover the race: she doesn't want any attention to the race, she doesn't wanna campaign, she refuses to debate.”

Foster King lives in Indianola and was at the discussion Colom hosted there. He listed healthcare and affordability as major issues he thinks Colom can tackle – and, he says, issues that Hyde-Smith hasn’t always kept up with. 

“I followed him the first time he came here, early part of the year,” King said. “I only want somebody to have our best interests in mind and I think the senator that we have in office now don't have our best interests in mind.” 

“She has been following the administration in the office now, and it's not for us. It's not helping the poor people.”

For Colom, it’s not a matter of pushing one party over another – he’s pitched bipartisanship his whole campaign, saying he’s willing to work with anyone who has good ideas for Mississippi. 

“We just need folks to commit to our state and we have to realize that we're only going to reach our potential together,” he said. “That's the thing that frustrates me the most by people like our junior senator and our governor and other people: they just are continuing to try to divide and distract their way to progress.”

Colom left Mississippi about two decades ago to go to law school in Wisconsin – but, he says he knew he’d be back because he views service as starting at home. 

“That's what running for United States Senate is all about for me; it's a continuation of a service that runs in my family,” Colom said. “I was raised for my community and my church to give back and that's what I'm doing in this moment.”