“A rich message, but a poor campaign”: How Scott Colom beat the odds in Mississippi
| Aron Smith/Jackson State University via Getty Images On Wednesday, Mississippi’s Senate race was officially called for Democrat Scott Colom, who will become the first Black person to represent the state in the US Senate since Reconstruction, more than 140 years ago.
Key points
- I sat down with Thompson for Today, Explained to talk about Colom’s run for Senate, how he won, what it means for Thompson personally.
- But I remember telling my mother that, oh, I had gone to Ruleville, Mississippi, to help register Black people to vote for Congress.
- Fifty years later, Scott Colom is winning in Mississippi.
Bennie Thompson (D-MS) speaks during a victory celebration for Mississippi Sen.-elect Scott Colom at Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi, on November 11, 2026.
Additional details
- My uncle fought in World War II; defended democracy all over the world, but when he came back home, he had to ride a segregated train behind the white German prisoners.
- Thompson, who also won his race last week, has represented Mississippi’s majority-Black Second Congressional District since 1993.
- Over the years, the 78-year-old lawmaker has frequently invoked the story of his father, who was never able to cast a vote because of racist Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation until the mid-1960s.
- We’re talking about 50 years ago, and all these challenges that you faced, all these challenges to being able to vote, being able to assume office, being able to function as a mayor in a town that is so segregated.
- And I wonder, growing up in Mississippi, what did you learn about who was allowed to participate in democracy?
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