National Democratic donors and organizations are putting new resources into Mississippi's U.S. Senate race, viewing Democrat Scott Colom's campaign against Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as a test of whether the party can become more competitive in a state it has not won at the Senate level in nearly four decades.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has encouraged donors in recent months to consider investing in Mississippi, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several national Democratic groups are assisting with advertising or canvassing, while a PAC funded by George Soros and his son Alex Soros has directed $1 million to another super PAC that has spent in support of Colom.
About $4 million in advertising has been spent or reserved in the race, according to AdImpact, bringing an unusual volume of political advertising to a state generally considered reliably Republican.
"We're not going to pretend it suddenly became an easy state to win," Pamela Shifman, president of the Democratic donor network Democracy Alliance, told the Journal. "It's that the political potential has been chronically undervalued."
The electoral hurdles remain substantial. Donald Trump carried Mississippi by 23 percentage points in 2024, and Republicans have held both of the state's Senate seats for decades.
Colom's case for a more competitive Mississippi centers partly on its electorate. About 37% of residents are Black, the largest share of any state, and more than 90% of Black voters typically support Democrats, according to an Associated Press report published back in August. Turnout among Black voters, however, has historically lagged behind that of white voters.
Recent statewide elections have also produced narrower margins. Hyde-Smith defeated Democrat Mike Espy by seven percentage points in 2018 and 10 points in 2020, while Republican Gov. Tate Reeves won reelection in 2023 by about three points.
Colom, a district attorney who has repeatedly won election in eastern Mississippi, has sought to position himself between the party's moderate and progressive wings while emphasizing his record as a prosecutor.
"We've got to get out of this mindset that Mississippi is not competitive," Colom said while campaigning at Tougaloo College. "You can just look at the math."
