The president spoke to a nearly full Crossroads Arena in Corinth, Mississippi, when he took the stage around 6:00 p.m. on Monday (Oct. 26). People began lining up well before 7:30 a.m. to get a spot inside.
“The people of this state need to tell the radical left Democrats that Mississippi is not sending a Soros communist to the Senate,” Trump said. “You're re-electing an America-first patriot — she really is — Cindy Hyde-Smith.”
The president described Hyde-Smith’s opponent, district attorney Scott Colom, as soft on crime, painting him as an extreme liberal and noting financial contributions Colom received from the family of George Soros when running for district attorney nearly a decade ago.
“Scott Colom is a fake; a shameless phony who pretends to be a moderate,” Trump said.
A host of other prominent state Republicans hyped the crowd before Trump took the stage, including Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves.
Reeves called Mississippi “red-hot”, urging the crowd to get to the polls on election day.
“Here in America, we are at a crossroads, and that crossroads is whether conservative, rural America is going to define America's next century or whether we are going to allow the socialist coast to destroy it,” Reeves told the crowd. “Make no mistake, this is the most important election of our lives.”
Colom has framed himself as a moderate Democrat, often saying he’s willing to work across both parties. That’s in stark contrast to how Reeves described the current state of politics.
“It's not just Republican versus Democrat: it's common sense versus chaos,” Reeves said. “It's freedom versus government control; it's Mississippi's values versus the radical left's failed policies.”
Mississippi Congressman Trent Kelly, who is also defending his seat in the midterm elections against Cliff Johnson, an attorney and director of the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi Law School, spoke as well.
“I know my people, I know my soldiers that I served with for almost 40 years, and I know we as Mississippians are not communist,” said Kelly. “We fight communists, but we are common sense, conservative Americans.”
Kelly defended the war in Iran, saying Trump has his support to finish it.
“I know gas prices hurt right now, and I know diesel hurts,” Kelly said. “The president's trying to help all he can.”
Mississippi GOP chairman Mike Hurst called Colom a “lunatic”, thanking Hyde-Smith for blocking Colom’s 2022 nomination by former president Joe Biden to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Mississippi U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican, supported that nomination, along with two of Mississippi’s former governors, both of whom are Republicans.
“The left is well-funded; they're organized,” Hurst said. “And they will say and do whatever it takes to win. But they haven't met Mississippi.”
Colom has platformed on higher wages, lower costs and accessible healthcare. Hyde-Smith’s asking voters to keep her in office to continue what she says has been a series of successes since she took office in 2018.
The senator has not sponsored any legislation during her tenure, but has co-sponsored 32 bills that became law. In contrast, Mississippi’s senior Senator, Roger Wicker, has represented Mississippi in Washington since 1995, becoming a senator in 2007, and has sponsored 761 bills, 18 of which became law.
“We've accomplished a lot, and we have more to work on: I have completed 360 projects, totaling more than $2 billion for Mississippi,” Hyde-Smith told the crowd. “We have invested in our roads, especially our hospitals, our rural hospitals, our farmers, our law enforcement, the military bases.”
“The control of the Senate is at stake, and President Trump needs a Republican Congress to fight alongside him,” Hyde-Smith said. “I want you to send me back to be that fighter with President Trump.”
Trump touted his own record on Monday night, calling on voters to see him as the one on the ballot when voting in the midterms.
“Less than two years ago, the radical left Democrats handed us the Dark Age of America: but we quickly turned it into the Golden Age of America,” Trump said. “No other president has ever accomplished so much in such a short [period of time].”
