Did Scott Colom Just Lose the Election Because of Kamala Harris?

Published October 16, 2026

Scott Colom’s decision to bring former Vice President Kamala Harris into his Mississippi U.S. Senate campaign has raised questions about whether national Democratic support could complicate his efforts to attract Republican and independent voters. Harris is scheduled to campaign with Colom in Columbus on October 22, less than two weeks before the November 3 election against Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and independent candidate Ty Pinkins. The decision comes in a state where Harris received approximately 38% of the presidential vote in 2024, compared with nearly 61% for Donald Trump.

Over the past few weeks, I have talked with center-right Republicans who were open to voting for Colom. Several told me the string of national Democrats changed their minds. Some now plan to vote for Hyde-Smith. Some respect Pinkins and would rather back him than Colom, though they doubt he can draw enough statewide support. Others say they may skip the Senate race.

These were conversations, not a poll, and I won’t claim they speak for every Mississippi voter. But they are the voters Colom has to win, and they are the ones telling me he is losing them.

Colom has leaned hard on national Democrats in the closing weeks. Barack Obama recorded an endorsement ad. Cory Booker joined him in Gulfport for “Canvas with Colom.” Pete Buttigieg arrives October 27, and Harris is scheduled for Columbus on October 22. Magnolia Tribune noted that such an open embrace of the national party is unusual in Mississippi.

Colom’s own slogan is “Mississippi Matters,” and Hyde-Smith has already attacked him over his national ties. Every new headliner makes that slogan harder to sell, and each one gives her another picture for her argument. For more on where Colom actually stands, read my earlier piece, Is Scott Colom a Moderate Democrat? What the Record Shows.

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s certified 2024 results leave little room for debate. Donald Trump received 747,744 votes, or 60.89%. Harris received 466,668 votes, or 38.00%. Trump won by 281,076 votes, nearly 23 percentage points.

A Senate race is not a presidential race, and 38% is not a ceiling for Colom. But if he only matches Harris, he is about 12 points short of a majority, and independent Ty Pinkins is on the ballot too. Closing that gap takes crossover voters, and Colom has put Harris in front of them.

Colom’s campaign is promoting a Wedgewood Polls survey of 511 likely voters, taken October 12 to 14, that shows Hyde-Smith ahead 52% to 48%. With a 4.3-point margin of error, the campaign calls the race tied. Magnolia Tribune reported that Wedgewood is less than a year old. Its first published poll, on the Louisiana Republican Senate primary, had John Fleming ahead 48% to 44%. Julia Letlow won that race 56.9% to 43.1%.

Mississippi has seen this before. In 2020, Mike Espy’s campaign pointed to a poll showing him one point behind Hyde-Smith while Obama and other national Democrats campaigned for him. He lost 54% to 44%. The Wedgewood poll was also taken before Harris arrived, so it cannot measure her effect on anyone. I would treat it as a number the Colom campaign wants voters to see, not as proof of where the race stands.

The best argument for Colom’s approach is that it was never aimed at Republicans. Semafor described Obama’s ad as an effort to boost turnout, and noted that national Democrats have watched this race because of the state’s large Black population. A Democrat cannot win Mississippi without a big base turnout, and Harris is good at generating one.

That is a fair point, and it is also an admission. If the plan is base turnout, then the crossover vote Colom needs most is not the priority. Turnout has a ceiling too. Harris got 38% here with a full presidential campaign behind her, and a Senate candidate cannot beat that number by repeating it.

This week, a 2001 mugshot of Colom began circulating online. According to the Mississippi Free Press, the Hyde-Smith campaign put it on a website it built to attack him. Colom’s campaign first said the image was fake and likely made with AI. It was not fake. Magnolia Tribune reported that law enforcement sources confirmed the mugshot and a booking record from the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center.

The record shows Columbus police arrested Colom, then 18, early on March 25, 2001, at Luxapalila Creek Park and charged him with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor, with a municipal court date of April 11, 2001. The record does not describe what happened. It shows a charge, not a conviction, and no outcome has been reported.

Colom has since acknowledged the arrest. In an October 16 statement to the Mississippi Free Press, he said that as a high school senior he and a friend did something dumb and stayed out past curfew. An arrest at 18, 25 years ago, tells voters very little about the district attorney he is today, and it would have been a minor story if he had explained it right away. Instead, his campaign said it had verified the image was fake. That claim was wrong, and a claim of verified fakery that collapses within a day makes his next claim harder to believe.

Colom needed Mississippians who have never voted for a Democrat. With less than two weeks left, he chose Kamala Harris, the nominee this state rejected by nearly 23 points, on top of Obama’s ad, Booker’s visit, and Buttigieg’s trip later this month. His campaign is also leaning on a poll from a firm less than a year old, the same approach Mike Espy took in 2020 before losing by 10 points.

Then came the mugshot. His campaign said it had verified the image was fake, and law enforcement sources said otherwise. The arrest at 18 was never the story. The denial was. A candidate asking Mississippi for its trust cannot afford a week like that. I think Harris and the mugshot cost him this race, and November 3 will show whether I’m right.

The opinions expressed here are mine alone. This article is not sponsored or paid for by any campaign, candidate, or political organization. I encourage readers to do their own research and draw their own conclusions. At some point, we have to ask ourselves what we expect from the people who want to represent us. Is it too much to expect serious conversations about Mississippi’s struggling hospitals, our schools, the rising cost of living, and the opportunities available to our children? Or have political campaigns become more interested in producing viral videos than explaining how they intend to improve our state?

Over the past several weeks, I’ve watched Scott Colom’s campaign take a direction that concerns me. His campaign shared footage of Cindy Hyde-Smith near an elevator with a security officer, turning the encounter into social media content. Then there was the staged telephone call, the AI-generated video, and even someone dressed in a chicken costume. Some people may find these tactics entertaining, but I see the same political games that frustrate me about the far right and far left. If we’re going to criticize Donald Trump and other Republicans for this kind of behavior, we should hold Democrats to the same standard. Political accountability shouldn’t depend on which party someone belongs to.

I’ve personally spoken with center-right Republicans who were seriously considering voting for Colom. Some told me their opinions changed as his campaign became increasingly associated with national Democratic figures and confrontational political messaging. These were informal conversations, not scientific statewide polling, and I won’t pretend they represent every Mississippi voter. But their frustration was real, and I believe it deserves attention. There’s nothing wrong with challenging an incumbent, demanding debates, or asking difficult questions. That’s what campaigns should do. However, I also expect candidates to explain their policies, present accurate information, and demonstrate that they’re taking the responsibility of representing Mississippi seriously.

Mississippi has real problems that won’t disappear when the election ends. Whoever wins will still have to address healthcare, education, economic opportunities, and the challenges facing working families. That’s why I believe this election deserves more than political theater, costumes, staged confrontations, and social media entertainment. When November 3 comes and goes, none of those things will determine whether our hospitals remain open, our children receive a quality education, or our communities have a better future. What matters is what our elected officials actually accomplish for Mississippi. And that’s where I believe the conversation should have remained all along.

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