Scott Colom exposes Cindy Hyde-Smith's neglect of Mississippi

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit · October 25, 2026

Scott Colom is challenging Cindy Hyde-Smith in a race defined by late Democratic funding and corporate greed, proving that Mississippi workers deserve a senator who prioritizes people over proteins.

I know what it looks like when the people in charge treat your zip code as a rounding error. I saw it in Flint when the water turned brown. I saw it in my neighborhood when the 2008 crash took the houses.

In Mississippi, that neglect has a name: Cindy Hyde-Smith. For a decade, she has occupied a Senate seat while her constituents struggle to survive. Now, Scott Colom is running to replace her.

He is a Black Democrat and a district attorney who actually sees the wreckage Hyde-Smith ignores. The GOP is terrified because Colom is speaking to the material pain of working people. They are fighting back with a playbook of corporate cash and culture-war distractions.

The material cost of political neglect

The real Mississippi is not found in a campaign brochure. It is found in Starkville. The Washington Post reports that resident Michael Ward has three farm-haul trucks idled by the high cost of diesel fuel.

Ward had to buy a red trailer to spread chicken litter because fertilizer costs too much. This is the ledger of the working class: rising costs and idled equipment.

While farmers struggle, Cindy Hyde-Smith offers platitudes. In a February interview, she told an interviewer, "You have so many proteins to choose from" when discussing high meat prices. ABC News reports that this video went viral.

Hyde-Smith has spent a decade in Washington without passing a single piece of legislation, according to Senate Majority PAC. Her campaign claims her bills are part of larger packages.

This is the same mechanism seen in the 2020 United States Senate election in Georgia. There, a Democratic surge happened by mobilizing Black voters against incumbents disconnected from the needs of their constituents.

Culture wars as a corporate shield

Semafor reports that the Senate Leadership Fund is spending in the "low seven figures" to protect Hyde-Smith. This Republican super PAC uses these attacks to protect concentrated interests.

This is a smoke screen. By framing Colom as "too radical," they hide the fact that corporate agricultural interests are squeezing the life out of Mississippi farmers.

In 2023, Hyde-Smith blocked Colom's nomination for a federal judge. She cited his support for transgender rights and a George Soros-linked PAC. This 2023 block of nomination was a clear act of political hostility. It mirrors the 2020 United States Senate elections.

There, Black candidates leveraged working-class struggles to challenge GOP incumbents. She used ideological purity tests to keep a qualified Black man out of power.

The danger of the late bet

Scott Colom has the momentum, but his own party has treated him like an afterthought. Politico reports that national Democrats put over $1 million behind Colom this week.

Rep. Bennie Thompson is right to be angry. He warned that "engagement can't come two weeks or less before the general election."

This pattern is an echo of the 2018 United States Senate elections. Back then, we saw a late-stage strategy of panic, not investment.

Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982. Donald Trump won the state by 20 points in 2024.

But the 2008 United States presidential election showed us that high-profile Black leadership can break historical barriers. With Kamala Harris and Barack Obama campaigning, Colom could become the first Black U.S. senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction.

The national Democratic establishment will likely continue to underfund Southern grassroots organizing until late-cycle panic sets in. They view Black working-class voters as electoral capital rather than strategic investments.

Meanwhile, corporate agricultural giants will use the Senate Leadership Fund to mask economic pain with culture-war grievances. Justice requires a senator who puts farmers and small businesses before corporate donors. Scott Colom is that candidate, and Cindy Hyde-Smith is the obstacle.

Scott Colom exposes Cindy Hyde-Smith's neglect of Mississippi

The material cost of political neglect

Culture wars as a corporate shield

The danger of the late bet

Sources