With hours until polls close, Mississippi's U.S. Senate candidates make final pushes

Hyde-Smith was unavailable for a phone interview on Monday, and her team didn't respond to a texted request for comment on Tuesday. But, the senator has been active on social media, encouraging voters to get out to the polls. 

"Every vote matters, and Mississippi needs conservatives to show up today," Hyde-Smith said on Facebook, early Monday afternoon. 

Colom, a district attorney from Columbus, said on Monday that he's excited by the enthusiasm he's seen on the campaign trail and wants voters to see him as a fresh voice to represent Mississippi to the nation.

"Part of what got people inspired in this campaign is I'm not afraid to challenge the status quo," Colom said. "I'm not afraid to talk about the fact that [Hyde-Smith] cut healthcare for half a million Mississippians, I'm not afraid to talk about how she betrayed the farmers, I'm not afraid to talk about how she betrayed veterans."

"I've done the work over a long period of time, and people have responded to that work by showing up."

Although polls show Hyde-Smith still comfortably ahead of Colom, he's confident that he can win after a campaign marked by strong support from national Democratic leadership and local turnout at campaign events. 

As of Monday, the Mississippi Secretary of State's office reported that they'd received a whopping 116,453 absentee ballots. That's a surge from the last midterm election in 2022, with DeSoto, Harrison and Hinds counties in the lead for ballots received so far. 

The voter energy may be spurred by redistricting efforts. That's been prominent especially n the South, following the Supreme Court's dismantling of parts of the Voting Rights Act. 

Colom says he sees his campaign not just as a challenge to Hyde-Smith's tenure as Mississippi's U.S. Senator, but a reminder to the country that Mississippi Matters.

"It's also a message to everybody in the other 49 states that you cannot continue to ignore Mississippi: if you do that, ultimately, we're never gonna be a...country...that's gonna actually live up to our potential and be great," Colom said. "Part of the reason Donald Trump was able to convince people that we need to make America great again is because too many Democrats forgot that unless Mississippi is great, the country's not great."

Pinkins, the Independent candidate and an attorney and army veteran, said he's also seen a lot of energy from voters, particularly as he made his final campaign stops in the Delta on Monday. He hopes voters see him as a different kind of break from the status quo.

"That's one of the reasons I got into this campaign, because I think we need leaders," Pinkins said. "Until voters decide that they want to do something different, voters are going to continue to get the failed policies from the two political parties that they keep having to choose from: hence, they have a third option this year."

And, while Pinkins said it's a good election when voters have their choice of candiates, he also hopes to stand out to Mississippians, particularly for his financial record. 

"They can go and look at my record and see and neither of my opponents can say that: they cannot say that they're not tied to the big money," Pinkins said. "Neither of them can say they they don't own stock and neither of them can say they're not tied to organizations like AIPAC."

"So, I'm proud of the campaign that I've run, I'm proud of be integrity that I have shown and I'm proud of the honesty that I've shown to voters when they ask me questions."  

If you haven't already checked out who's on your ballot, you can get a sample ballot at mpbonline.org/voterguide before heading to the polls. Polls close at 7:00 p.m., but voters still in line are entitled to cast a ballot.