WITHIN REACH: New Washington Post Report Highlights Growing Democratic Hope in Mississippi as Colom Builds Momentum Toward November

Washington Post: Colom “has top Democratic officials and donors increasingly hopeful” in a race that “just a few months ago was nowhere to be found on the party’s 2026 plans” – FULL STORY HERE

Mississippi Today: Sen. Cory Booker kicks off his fall campaign travel in Mississippi, joining Colom in Gulfport Friday to launch “Canvass with Colom” – MORE HERE

District Attorney Colom: “If we try, we win these voters”

Jackson, MS — In case you missed it, The Washington Post reports that District Attorney Scott Colom’s campaign has Democratic officials and donors increasingly hopeful about flipping Mississippi’s Senate seat, as an invigorated Democratic base and a depressed Republican electorate put the race within reach. In a new story published today, The Post spotlights Colom’s case that Mississippi voters have been written off for too long, and that showing up for them — unlike Cindy Hyde-Smith, who hasn’t held an open forum in six years and refuses to debate — is how this race gets won.

The momentum is showing up on the ground. Mississippi Today also reports today that U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) will kick off his fall campaign travel in Mississippi this Friday, joining Colom in Gulfport to launch “Canvass with Colom” with campaign volunteers. Booker is the third sitting U.S. Senator to campaign with Colom this year, following Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester. And the campaign is built on a homegrown base: through June, Colom had raised $2.8 million and outraised Hyde-Smith among individual contributors, $1.9 million to $1.8 million, with more of his money coming from Mississippi than from any other state.

“I am proud that Democrats across the country are supporting this campaign because they know that Mississippi is in play, and that Mississippi matters,” said District Attorney Colom. “I look forward to campaigning with Senator Booker as we energize voters who are ready for change.”

The Washington Post: Mississippi Democrats dare to wonder whether Senate seat is in reach

By Dan Merica and Gregory S. Schneider

Key points:

• Now Colom, the 43-year-old district attorney for several counties in northeast Mississippi, has top Democratic officials and donors increasingly hopeful that he could pull off the inconceivable and use this year’s poor political environment for Republicans to win a Senate race that just a few months ago was nowhere to be found on the party’s 2026 plans.
• Colom and others argue that an invigorated Democratic base and depressed Republican electorate in the state could lead to the unexpected. “The wave doesn’t have to be humongous for us to capture Mississippi,” Colom told The Washington Post recently.
• National Democrats are “conditioned not to care about Mississippi,” Colom said. “To me, you can’t be a party that cares about working people if you don’t care about working rural people in Mississippi who are struggling.”
• [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] spokesperson Maeve Coyle called Colom “a strong candidate” who has “put Cindy Hyde-Smith on notice.”
• When the state legislature briefly considered redrawing Mississippi Supreme Court district lines over the summer in ways that would have further disadvantaged African American residents, [NAACP Mississippi State Conference Executive Director Charles Taylor] said, some 5,000 people turned out in the rain on a Wednesday to protest. The legislature abandoned the effort. “That showed me that folks are motivated,” Taylor said.
• Colom is also benefiting from recent Democratic success in Mississippi. In 2023, Gov. Tate Reeves (R) won reelection by fewer than 27,000 votes, or about 3 percentage points, over Democratic challenger Brandon Presley, the tightest governor’s race in the state in more than two decades.
• “If we try, we win these voters,” Colom said. “They’ve been written off, not just by Cindy Hyde-Smith but also by other people in the Democratic Party. And I’m just not going to write them off.”

Read the full Washington Post report here.

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About Scott: Scott Colom is a seventh-generation Mississippian, proud husband and father of two, and district attorney who fights every day to keep Mississippians safe. Guided by his Christian faith, Scott has dedicated his life to serving his neighbors and keeping them safe from violent criminals. Now he’s running to lower costs for families, save our Mississippi hospitals, and bring good jobs home. Scott loves his state and will always put Mississippi first – and he’ll work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, to get things done for us.