Who is Scott Colom? Senate Majority PAC’s ₹11.3 cr ad campaign for him - Why is Mississippi Senate race difficult?

The US Senate race in Mississippi has drawn fresh attention after the Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic-aligned political action committee, announced a $1.2 million (approximately ₹11.3 crore) television advertising campaign backing Democratic candidate Scott Colom against incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.

The campaign, announced on October 20, marks the PAC’s first advertising investment in Mississippi during the 2026 election cycle. The advertisement is scheduled to run statewide from Wednesday until Election Day on November 3.

It accuses Hyde-Smith of failing to pass any legislation during her decade in office while voting for measures that would reduce access to Medicaid.

"A decade in power, Hyde-Smith hasn’t passed one piece of legislation, but she did vote to kick people off Medicaid,” a narrator says in ad, according to AP.

The spending is a notable development in a state where Democrats have struggled to win statewide elections. Although the race remains difficult for Colom, recent shifts in election forecasts and increased attention from national Democrats have brought the contest into sharper focus.

Who is Scott Colom?

Scott Colom, 43, is a Democratic candidate for the US Senate and the district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th Judicial District, which covers Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha counties. Born and raised in Columbus, Mississippi, he is a seventh-generation Mississippian.

According to his official campaign biography, Colom studied English and history at Millsaps College before earning a law degree, cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He began his legal career at the Mississippi Center for Justice and later worked as an attorney.

Colom entered public service as a judge in 2011, becoming the first Black justice court judge in Lowndes County. He subsequently served as a municipal court judge in Aberdeen and as a prosecutor in Columbus. In 2015, he defeated a 27-year incumbent to become district attorney for the 16th Judicial District, taking office in January 2016.

His career also brought him into conflict with Hyde-Smith. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden nominated Colom for a federal judgeship on the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Hyde-Smith opposed the nomination and refused to return a procedural “blue slip”, effectively blocking its progress in the Senate.

Colom launched his Senate campaign in September 2025. He has focused on affordability, healthcare and employment, while slamming Hyde-Smith’s voting record.

Why is the Mississippi Senate race difficult?

Mississippi has been a Republican stronghold for decades. No Democrat has won a US Senate election in the state since 1982, making Colom’s challenge a steep uphill task.

Republican President Donald Trump won Mississippi by nearly 23 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election. Hyde-Smith, who was first appointed to the Senate in 2018 and subsequently won election, is seeking another term. She defeated Democrat Mike Espy by 10 percentage points in the 2020 Senate race.

Colom also faces the challenge of appealing beyond the Democratic voter base in a state where Republicans have traditionally enjoyed strong support among white voters. He is seeking to mobilise Black voters, who make up a substantial share of Mississippi’s population, while attracting support from white voters who may be dissatisfied with the incumbent.

Colom has also received support from prominent Democrats, including Senator Raphael Warnock and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Cook Political Report recently moved the Mississippi Senate race from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican”, indicating a more competitive contest but still giving Hyde-Smith the advantage.

About the Author

Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers. <br><br> With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations. <br><br> Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. <br><br> He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune. <br><br> He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP. <br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X