Mississippi midterms: Colom trying to capitalize on economic discontent. Hyde-Smith trying to tie him to far left
By Taylor Vance and Michael Goldberg | Originally published by Mississippi Today
A Republican incumbent is trying to fend off a closely watched challenge from a Democratic district attorney and a military veteran running without a party label in Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race.
Incumbent U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican from Brookhaven, is facing Scott Colom, the Democratic nominee and a district attorney for north Mississippi from Columbus, and Ty Pinkins, an independent candidate and Army veteran from Rolling Fork.
The race has attracted millions in spending from political action committees and outside groups supporting Hyde-Smith and Colom. Some national Senate Democrats see the race as a long-shot opportunity to net an additional seat as the party aims to ride a backlash to President Donald Trump’s administration and reclaim a majority in the upper chamber.
Despite polls showing a favorable political climate for Democrats nationwide, Colom still faces a steep challenge, as Mississippi hasn’t sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since John Stennis in 1982. Trump also won Mississippi by nearly 23 points in 2024. But since then, Trump’s approval rating has cratered after his administration pushed tariffs, war in Iran and other policies that have raised prices for consumers.
Colom is attempting to capitalize on that discontent, while Hyde-Smith is attempting to tie Colom to the most far-left elements of the Democratic Party. On policy grounds, the three candidates disagree on a wide range of issues, including Trump’s tax-and-spending agenda, health care policy and the influence of money in politics.
Hyde-Smith, former state agriculture commissioner, is running for a second full term. Her family raises cattle and has ties to a local stockyard auction market. She began her political career in the Mississippi Senate as a Democrat in 1999, switching to the Republican Party in 2010 for the remainder of her term.
Former Gov. Phil Bryant appointed her to the U.S. Senate in April 2018 to replace retiring Sen. Thad Cochran, then won a special election later that year and a full six-year term in 2020, becoming the first woman elected to represent Mississippi in Congress.
Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she chairs the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee. She has closely aligned herself with Trump, backing his 2025 tax and spending package along with his defense and border security priorities.
Trump rewarded Hyde-Smith with an early endorsement, calling her “100% MAGA.” That endorsement helped propel her to an easy victory over GOP challenger Sarah Adlakha in the Republican primary.
Hyde-Smith has not granted Mississippi Today an interview since she launched her reelection bid last year and has done few interviews with any Mississippi media outlets.
Urging her supporters to show up to vote in November, Hyde-Smith has touted her close relationship with Trump and vowed to fight the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
“This November, the stakes couldn’t be higher,” Hyde-Smith said on social media. “We can’t let the radical Democrat socialist agenda take hold in Mississippi. Together, we’ll defend our conservative values, protect our freedoms, and keep fighting for the people of this great state.”
Colom is the Democratic nominee, and he’s spent nearly a decade as the elected district attorney for the 16th Circuit Court District in north Mississippi, becoming the first Black person elected as the top prosecutor for the district. He’s a Columbus native.
In 2023, then-President Joe Biden nominated Colom to a vacant federal judgeship, but Hyde-Smith blocked the nomination, citing his ties to a political action committee that had received funding from billionaire George Soros.
Colom announced his Senate campaign in a video criticizing Hyde-Smith’s vote for Trump’s tax and spending legislation, which paired Medicaid cuts with tax breaks and new defense and deportation funding.
Colom argued the bill would strip health coverage from more than 100,000 Mississippians and strain the state’s hospitals to help fund tax breaks elsewhere. He’s also pledged to push for eliminating income taxes for teachers and law enforcement officers and raising wages for Mississippi workers.
Colom told Mississippi Today that Hyde-Smith’s voting record shows she has prioritized donors’ interests tied to Trump over the state’s own needs.
“Corruption costs Mississippi,” Colom said. “It costs us at the pump, at the pharmacy, at the co-op, at the checkout. And it costs us something even harder to measure: the trust in government that a democracy requires. In Mississippi, no one is above the law. No one should be beneath its protection. That’s the standard I brought to this courthouse, and it’s the standard I’ll bring to Washington.”
He has said he’s forgiven her for blocking his judicial nomination even as he remains critical of how she votes in the Senate.
Pinkins is running as an independent after leaving the Democratic Party in 2025, citing concerns about the influence of wealthy donors and disagreements with local party leaders.
A Rolling Fork native who grew up chopping cotton to help support his family, he was the first in his immediate family to graduate high school and attend college. He went on to serve 21 years in the U.S. Army, including three combat tours in Iraq, and earned a Bronze Star for actions in combat. He later earned a law degree and a master’s in national security law from Georgetown University.
Pinkins says both major political parties are beholden to special interests and have failed average Mississippians.
This is Pinkins’ third statewide campaign. He lost a 2023 race for secretary of state to Republican incumbent Michael Watson and lost the 2024 U.S. Senate race to Republican Sen. Roger Wicker while running as the Democratic nominee.
Two incumbent U.S. senators have visited the state to stump for Hyde-Smith and Colom, and Colom has raised more money than the Republican senator in two separate fundraising quarters. Most independent race forecasters continue to rate the contest as solidly or safely Republican.
The general election is on Nov. 3.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
