2026-10-21T10:00:45.460Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/21/politics/mississippi-senate-scott-colom-democrat-black-voters
对于民主党人斯科特·科洛姆来说，他争取密西西比州联邦参议院席位的征程希望渺茫，但并非毫无胜算。
这位43岁的地方地区检察官希望在这个深红州击败共和党现任参议员辛迪·海德-史密斯。该州已有近40年未曾选出民主党参议员，自重建时期以来也从未在全州范围内选举过黑人候选人。两年前，唐纳德·特朗普总统以23个百分点的优势赢得该州。
他和盟友们认为，共和党的政治逆风，加上该州占选民总数35%的庞大黑人选民群体（这一比例在全美各州中最高），只要获得足够的关注和资金支持，密西西比州正处于具备竞争力的临界点。
“我认为美国民众已经习惯了在政治上放弃密西西比州，”科洛姆在杰克逊市为期周末的竞选活动前接受CNN采访时表示，“这是一个先有鸡还是先有蛋的问题。我们不在密西西比州开展竞选活动，所以表现不佳，然后我们又说，‘好吧，我们表现不佳，所以不该参与竞选。’”
这位极具个人魅力的民主党人似乎正让越来越多的本党领导人深信不疑：前副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯将于周四与他一同展开竞选活动。巴拉克·奥巴马总统上周为他录制了背书广告，参议院的四位黑人民主党参议员近期都已到访该州。周二，与参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默结盟的大型民主党超级政治行动委员会宣布，将投入120万美元用于广告宣传以助力他的竞选。
“我很高兴美国民众开始关注此事，因为现实是密西西比州并非毫无希望，”科洛姆说道，“它只是被背叛了的事业。”
在整个南方地区，民主党人开始抱有希望，即便在密西西比州这类共和党堡垒中也能获胜，原因在于共和党在中期选举中的不利处境，以及战略家特伦斯·伍伯里所说的、针对共和党遏制黑人政治权力的激进举措而日益高涨的“反激进化情绪”。
“黑人选民的动员以及共和党选民的不满情绪，可能会让密西西比州这类地区在今年的选举中成为极具可能性的胜选之地，”民主党调研机构HIT Strategies总裁伍伯里说道。
密西西比州全国有色人种协进会执行主任查尔斯·泰勒表示，要想实现逆袭，科洛姆需要获得该州黑人选民的高投票率，同时还要争取到约25%的白人选民支持。
这位民主党人表示，他并未被这一极高的障碍吓退。
“我想对所有密西西比州民众说，”科洛姆说道，“当我谈论关税损害密西西比州民众利益时，我指的是所有密西西比州民众。当我谈论提高最低工资时，这将帮助所有密西西比州民众。”
科洛姆角逐参议院席位之际，国会中的黑人代表权正面临数十年来最严峻的威胁。
今年早些时候的一起重大选区重划案件中，最高法院削弱了1965年《投票权法案》中剩余的提起种族歧视诉讼的权力。就在最高法院对“路易斯安那州诉卡莱斯案”作出裁决后的几天内，田纳西州、路易斯安那州和阿拉巴马州由共和党控制的州议会迅速拆分了原本拥有大量黑人选民的国会选区。
但尽管该地区非裔美国人的选举权力面临新的挑战，本届中期选举中，几位黑人民主党候选人在共和党或倾向共和党的选区中展开的竞选活动却超出预期。
例如在阿拉巴马州，共和党议员绘制的选区地图将民主党众议员肖马里·菲格雷斯的原选区作为目标，独立政治预测机构Inside Elections上周将该选区的选情从“大概率共和党获胜”调整为“倾向共和党获胜”，理由是当前的政治环境。
部分民主党人持乐观态度的一个原因是黑人选民。菲格雷斯表示，在他的新选区中，黑人选民仍占选民总数的相当比例，约为40%，低于旧选区的47%。而蒙哥马利市——1955年反对种族隔离公共交通的抵制运动发起了现代民权运动——的选区完整保留了下来。
“我们仍有一些经历过那些斗争的人，当然还有他们的子女和孙辈，他们依然保有同样的精神，同样理解历史的重要性，”菲格雷斯在接受CNN采访时表示，“他们对所发生的一切感到愤怒，我们认为这将在11月的选举中体现出来。”
与此同时在北卡罗来纳州，尽管新的选区地图将黑人选民从他当前的选区中剥离，并加入了极度红色的社区，现任两届众议员唐·戴维斯仍与共和党候选人劳里·巴克哈特展开了一场竞争激烈的选战。作为一名空军退伍军人，戴维斯在竞选活动中宣扬自己在国会山的温和派记录，努力争取新一批更保守的选民支持。
在北卡罗来纳州的其他地区，今年由共和党控制的州和县级选举委员会做出决定，拒绝在几所大学校园内或附近设置早期投票点，这引发了学生的抗议，因为他们缺乏便捷的交通前往投票。
上周，该州早期投票的第一天，北卡罗来纳农工州立大学的300多名学生游行到校外的一个投票点投票。该校是全美规模最大的历史黑人学院或大学。
“他们试图剥夺全州少数族裔选民的选举权，压制他们的投票率，”协助组织游行的21岁大三学生泽维尔·琼斯在谈及共和党政策制定者时说道，“我希望他们明白，即便他们动用权力与民众作对，民众也会团结起来进行反抗。”
在密西西比州，选区重划也引发了维权行动。
全国有色人种协进会的泰勒表示，今年5月，密西西比州考虑但最终放弃了选区重划，尽管如此，仍有约5000人在一个雨天的工作日出席了为投票权举行的集会。
密西西比州的共和党议员仍将选区重划提上议事日程，他们很快计划至少为州立法机构席位绘制新的选区边界。该州共和党州长泰特·里夫斯暗示，在未来一轮的地图绘制中，共和党将针对该州联邦众议院代表团四名议员中唯一的黑人和民主党人本尼·汤普森的选区。
“我去过理发店，那些通常不怎么参与政治的人一直在问我选区重划的情况，”泰勒说道，“他们可能不一定会使用所有专业术语，也不了解技术语言，但很明显，他们明白‘路易斯安那州诉卡莱斯案’是对投票权的攻击。”
他告诉CNN，今年该组织开设了11个选民登记点，这是自2012年以来首次开展大规模选民登记活动。此次行动使选民登记名单新增了超过17000人。
科洛姆面临着巨大的不利条件。就在六年前，另一位民主党人、前国会议员迈克·埃斯比为击败海德-史密斯筹集了1200万美元，并获得了全国关注，最终仅以10个百分点的差距落败。
但科洛姆和他的盟友们看到了他竞选活动的希望迹象。
三年前，民主党人布兰登·普雷斯利在州长选举中以约3个百分点的差距惜败于里夫斯。而在今年3月的初选中，民主党选民的投票率大幅飙升——较2018年（上一次密西西比州参议院选举未与总统选举同期举行）增长了75%。与此同时，同期共和党选民的参与率保持稳定。
共和党人表示，如果民主党人认为密西西比州民众会抛弃海德-史密斯，转而支持科洛姆，那他们就是在妄想。海德-史密斯 currently 任职于权力强大的参议院拨款委员会。
“密西西比州民众了解她的政绩：为基础设施和农村医疗保健带回数十亿美元；确认保守派法官，否决自由派法官；为工薪家庭和小企业减税；保障边境安全；投票反对让男性进入女子体育赛事和更衣室，”海德-史密斯的竞选经理杰克·蒙森在一份声明中说道。
密西西比州资深共和党幕僚奥斯汀·巴伯表示，一众知名民主党人为支持科洛姆到访该州，最终可能会帮助现任议员。
“他们唤醒了共和党基础选民，此前他们相当懈怠，”巴伯在接受CNN采访时说道，“他们会想，‘好吧，我们不会让本党输给民主党中的极左翼。’”
科洛姆表示，他的一项重要任务是让他的潜在支持者相信，民主党人能够获胜。
为了实现这一目标，他不知疲倦地开展竞选活动，在全州范围内举办了60场市政厅会议，并乘坐引人注目的“密西西比至关重要”餐车巡回宣传。
该竞选团队在餐车上提供“自选蛋白质”的塔可饼，以此讽刺海德-史密斯在本月早些时候被问及牛肉价格上涨时所说的“有如此多的蛋白质可供选择”的言论。
上周，科洛姆的竞选团队更进一步，发布了一段讽刺海德-史密斯言论的恶搞视频，仅在X平台上就获得了200万次观看。“再选一种蛋白质？她简直疯了，”视频中一名女子拖着长腔说道，随后咬了一口炸鲶鱼。
整个周末，科洛姆都展现出了充沛的精力和干劲。他在杰克逊市四处奔走，并在杰克逊州立大学的返校节活动中进行竞选活动，同行的还有另一位远道而来支持他的外州民主党人、得克萨斯州众议员贾斯敏·克罗克特。
克罗克特是达拉斯的一位激进派议员，今年早些时候曾参与参议院竞选但落败。她在接受CNN采访时称，密西西比州是民主党取得胜利的“沃土”。
“从人口结构来看，密西西比州绝对应该成为一个蓝色州，”她说道。
周六，科洛姆一早先与一个机械师工会成员进行了视频通话，随后前往布伦特药店——密西西比州首府颇受欢迎的聚会地点的一家餐厅。
在那里，他在明信片上手写留言，他的支持者，包括杰克逊市商人托尼·库利，随后会将明信片 addressed 并准备好寄给他们的家人和朋友。
库利指出，民主党人在医疗保健方面的立场，以及加强医疗补助计划——为低收入和残疾美国人提供的联邦健康保险计划——的必要性，是她支持科洛姆的原因之一。
“我认为医疗保健是一项权利，”66岁的库利说道，她对农村医院的关闭和护理人员短缺表示担忧。
离开布伦特药店后，科洛姆前往杰克逊州立大学的返校节盛会。
尽管科洛姆的银行可用现金落后于海德-史密斯，但他在截至9月底筹集的近400万美元资金已足够让他开展电视广告宣传。他告诉CNN，他是15年来仅有的四位能够在该州投放全州范围电视广告的民主党人之一。
周六，当他走在数千名学生和杰克逊州立大学校友中间，他们一边参加聚会，一边享用烧烤和炸鸡时，有迹象表明他的竞选活动正在取得突破。
人们认出了他，停下来与他自拍，偶尔还会喊出“下一任参议员”的口号。
克罗克特的T恤上贴着科洛姆和汤普森的竞选贴纸，她在竞选餐车外拍照、接受电台采访并进行直播。
科洛姆的妻子纳迪亚是杰克逊州立大学的毕业生，曾为该校的“跃动J-塞茨”啦啦队跳舞。周六她与其他校友一起在球场上表演。
在橄榄球比赛期间，科洛姆在这座巨大的马蹄形体育场内与人群互动，随后与他的两个女儿——9岁的露西和8岁的麦迪——一起观看了中场表演，之后悄悄回到他的 Airbnb 短暂小憩。
到晚上10点，他又回到了竞选活动中，这次是参加杰克逊州立大学战胜佛罗里达农工大学后的返校节派对。
他的周六一直持续到周日凌晨2点。
“我正全力以赴，”科洛姆说道，“我会把一切都留在赛场上。”
CNN的莎拉·费里斯和爱德华·吴对本报道亦有贡献。
https://x.com/scott_colom/status/2110149942727553187
Why Democrats are daring to dream in Mississippi, starting with a candidate crossing the state in a taco truck
2026-10-21T10:00:45.460Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/21/politics/mississippi-senate-scott-colom-democrat-black-voters
For Democrat Scott Colom, his quest to win a US Senate seat in Mississippi is a long shot but not a lost cause.
The 43-year-old local district attorney is hoping to topple Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a deep-red state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the chamber in nearly four decades or elected a Black candidate in a statewide race since the Reconstruction era. President Donald Trump won the state two years ago by 23 points.
He and his allies argue that the GOP’s political headwinds and the state’s significant Black electorate – which at 35% is the largest of any state – puts Mississippi on the cusp of becoming competitive, with enough attention and money.
“I think the country has been conditioned to write off Mississippi when it comes to politics,” Colom told CNN in an interview ahead of a weekend of campaigning in Jackson. “It’s a chicken-and-egg thing. We don’t compete in Mississippi so we don’t do well, and then we say, “Well, we didn’t do well so we shouldn’t compete.’”
The charismatic Democrat seems to be turning a growing number of his party’s leaders into believers: Former Vice President Kamala Harris will join him on the trail Thursday. President Barack Obama cut an endorsement ad for him last week, and all four of the US Senate’s Black Democratic senators have trekked to the state in recent weeks. On Tuesday, a major Democratic super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced it would spend $1.2 million on an ad campaign to aid him.
“I’m glad the country is starting to pay attention because the reality is Mississippi’s not a lost cause,” Colom said. “It’s a betrayed cause.”
Across the South, Democrats are starting to hope they could prevail even in GOP bastions like Mississippi because of the unfavorable midterm environment for Republicans and what strategist Terrance Woodbury calls a “blacklash” building against the GOP’s aggressive moves to curb Black political power.
“There’s an activation amongst Black voters and a frustration amongst Republican voters that might make a place like Mississippi quite possible this year,” said Woodbury, the president of Democratic research firm HIT Strategies.
To pull off an upset, Colom will need huge turnout among Mississippi’s Black populace, combined with about 25% of the White vote, said Charles Taylor, executive director of the Mississippi NAACP.
The Democrat says he’s not deterred by the high hurdle.
“I have a message for all Mississippians,” Colon said. “When I talk about tariffs hurting Mississippians, I’m talking about all Mississippians. When I talk about raising the minimum wage, that’s going to help all Mississippians.”
Colom’s drive for a Senate seat comes as Black representation in Congress faces its biggest threat in decades.
In a blockbuster redistricting case earlier this year, the Supreme Court gutted what remained of the power to bring claims of racial discrimination under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Within days of the court’s decision in Louisiana vs. Callais, Republican-controlled legislatures in Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama raced to carve up congressional districts with substantial Black populations.
But despite the new challenges to African Americans’ electoral power across the region, several Black Democratic nominees are waging stronger-than-expected campaigns in Republican or Republican-leaning territory this fall.
In Alabama, for instance, where GOP map-drawers targeted Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures’ district, the independent political handicapper Inside Elections last week shifted the race in Figures’ direction, from “likely” Republican to “lean” Republican, citing the political environment.
One reason for some of the Democratic optimism: Black voters. Figures said Black voters still make up a substantial share of the electorate, roughly 40%, of his new district, down from 47% under the old lines. And the city of Montgomery – where the 1955 boycott against segregated public transportation launched the modern movement for civil rights – remains wholly intact.
“We still have some of those people that were around for those fights and certainly have a lot of their children and grandchildren that still have that same spirit, that same understanding of the importance of history,” Figures told CNN. “They are aggravated by what has taken place, and we think that’ll be reflected in November.”
In North Carolina, meanwhile, two-term Rep. Don Davis is running a competitive race against Republican Laurie Buckhout despite a new map that siphoned off Black voters from his current district and added in ruby-red communities. On the stump, the Air Force veteran touts his centrist record on Capitol Hill as he works to win over a new cohort of more conservative constituents.
Elsewhere in North Carolina, decisions this year by GOP-controlled state and county elections boards to reject early voting polling places on or near several college campuses have spurred protests among students who lack easy transportation to cast their ballots.
Last week, on the first day of early voting in the state, more than 300 students from North Carolina A&T State University marched to an off-campus polling location to cast their ballots. The school is the nation’s largest historically Black college or university.
“They are trying to disenfranchise and suppress the turnout of minority voters across the entire state,” Xavier Jones, a 21-year-old junior who helped organize the march, said of Republican policymakers. “I hope they see that even when they use their power to organize against the people, the people will organize right back.”
In Mississippi, redistricting also has stirred activism.
In May, after Mississippi considered but backed off redistricting, some 5,000 people still showed up on a rainy weekday to rally for voting rights, said the NAACP’s Taylor.
Redistricting remains on the agenda for GOP lawmakers in Mississippi, who soon plan to draw new lines at least for state legislative seats. The state’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves suggested Republicans will target the district of Rep. Bennie Thompson, the only African American and Democrat in the state’s four-member US House delegation, in a future round of map-drawing.
“I’ve been in the barbershop and people who are not typically the most politically engaged have been asking me what’s happening with redistricting,” Taylor said. “They may not necessarily use all the jargon and know the technical language, but it’s clear that they have an understanding that Louisiana v. Callais was an attack on voting rights.”
This year, the group ran 11 voter registration sites, its first major voter registration drive since 2012, he told CNN. The push added more than 17,000 people to the rolls.
Colom faces steep odds. Another Democrat, former congressman Mike Espy, drew $12 million and the national spotlight in his bid to defeat Hyde-Smith just six years ago, only to lose by 10 points.
But Colom and his allies see signs of hope for his candidacy.
Three years ago, Democrat Brandon Presley came within about three percentage points of defeating Reeves in the gubernatorial race. And in this year’s primary elections in March, Democratic voting surged – jumping by 75% over 2018, the last time a Mississippi Senate race did not overlap with a presidential election. Republican participation over the same period, meanwhile, held steady.
Republicans say Democrats are delusional if they believe Mississippians will toss out Hyde-Smith, who sits on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, in favor of Colom.
“Mississippians know her record: billions brought home for infrastructure and rural health care; conservative judges confirmed and liberal ones blocked; tax relief for working families and small businesses; a secure border; and votes that keep men out of girls’ sports and locker rooms,” Jake Monssen, Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
Austin Barbour, a veteran Republican operative in Mississippi, said the parade of prominent Democrats trekking to the state on Colom’s behalf could end up helping the incumbent.
“They have woken up the Republican base, who was pretty darn sleepy before this,” Barbour told CNN. “They’re like, ‘Ok, we’re not going let our party lose to the far left of the Democrat Party.’”
Colom says one of his big tasks is building the belief among his likely supporters that a Democrat can win.
To do that, he’s campaigned relentlessly, conducting 60 town halls across the state and traveling with his attention-getting “Mississippi Matters” food truck.
The campaign offers “pick-your-protein” tacos from the truck, a jab at a Hyde-Smith comment earlier in the cycle that there are “so many proteins to choose from” when asked about rising beef prices.
Last week, Colom’s campaign took the dig a step further, releasing a satirical video mocking Hyde-Smith’s statement that racked up 2 million views on X alone.“Pick another protein? She done lost her damn mind,” one woman drawls in the video before taking a bite of fried catfish.
Colom’s energy and drive was on display over the weekend as he raced around Jackson and campaigned at Jackson State University’s homecoming with yet another of the out-of-state Democrats who have swooped in to lend support, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Crockett, a Dallas firebrand who lost her own Senate bid earlier this year, called Mississippi “fertile ground” for Democratic gains, in an interview with CNN.
“Demographically, Mississippi absolutely should be a blue state,” she said.
On Saturday, Colom started the day with a Zoom call with members of a machinist union before stopping in at Brent’s Drugs, a diner that’s a popular gathering spot in Mississippi’s capital city.
There, he wrote handwritten messages on postcards that his supporters, including Jackson-based businesswoman Toni Cooley, then addressed and prepared to mail to their family and friends.
Cooley pointed to the Democrat’s positions on healthcare and the need to bolster Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, as one reason she backs him.
“I believe healthcare is a right,” said Cooley, 66, who expressed concern about the closures of rural hospitals and nursing shortages.
From Brent’s, Colom was off to Jackson State’s homecoming extravaganza.
Although he trails Hyde-Smith in available cash in the bank, the nearly $4 million Colom reported raising through the end of September, has allowed him to go on the airwaves. He told CNN he is one of only four Democrats in 15 years who’s raised enough money to run statewide TV ads in the state.
On Saturday, as he walked among the thousands of students and Jackson State alums partying and feasting on barbecue and fried chicken, there were signs his campaign was breaking through.
People recognized him, stopped for selfies and occasionally gave a shoutout to the “next senator.”
Crockett – with campaign stickers for Colom and Thompson affixed to her t-shirt – posed for pictures, did radio interviews and live streamed from outside the campaign’s food truck.
Colom’s wife Nadia, a graduate of Jackson State who danced for the HBCU’s Prancing J-Settes team, joined other alums on the field to perform Saturday.
During the football game, Colom worked the crowds inside the massive, horseshoe-shaped stadium and then watched the halftime show with his daughters, nine-year-old Luci and eight-year-old Madi, before slipping away to his Airbnb for a quick nap.
By 10 p.m., he was back on the trail, this time for the homecoming after-party, following Jackson State’s win over Florida A&M.
His Saturday ended at 2 a.m. Sunday.
“I’m giving it everything I got,” Colom said. “I’m going to leave everything on the field.”
CNN’s Sarah Ferris and Edward Wu contributed to this report.
https://x.com/scott_colom/status/2110149942727553187