Democrats pour $5 million into Mississippi race 12 days before vote

Democratic operatives have spent approximately $5 million in Mississippi over the last month, outpacing the $3.2 million spent by Republicans in the closing weeks before the November 3 election. The financial surge targets a U.S. Senate race that national polls suggest has become unexpectedly competitive.

The state possesses the highest share of Black voters in the nation, nearing 40 percent, which Democratic strategists view as a key pathway to victory. Scott Colom, the Democratic nominee, told NPR that the party’s previous neglect of the state was a strategic error. He described Mississippi as a “betrayed cause” rather than a lost one, noting that the party spent hundreds of millions in other states while investing almost nothing here.

Incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith won the state by 23 points in 2024, and the region remains deeply racially polarized. Despite this, both parties have rushed to spend millions of dollars in the final weeks. National polling indicates that elevated Black turnout, combined with defections from the Republican base, has made this deep red race deeply competitive this cycle.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris joined Colom at a rally in his hometown high school gym on Thursday, drawing about 1,000 attendees. Harris criticized the current administration, calling it “the most callous, corrupt and incompetent presidential administration we have ever experienced.” She urged voters to turn their anger into action with only 12 days remaining until the election.

President Donald Trump visited Corinth a few days later to rally support for Hyde-Smith. He told the crowd that when candidates are doing well, voters often stay home, and he was there to ensure people turned out to vote. Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, Jake Monssen, stated that the president’s visit was meant to explain the consequences of electing Democrats and the radical socialist policies pushed by Colom.

The Hyde-Smith campaign has spent more than $1.3 million on an advertisement titled “Most Radical,” which claims Colom is the most radical Senate candidate in a lifetime. The ad notes that violent crime doubled on his watch while he served as district attorney. Hyde-Smith framed the choice as socialism versus capitalism and communism versus democracy, telling voters that endorsements do not win elections, votes do.

Colom believes voters want to replace the incumbent. He said that if Hyde-Smith had been focused on voters, she would be tougher to beat, but it is clear that Mississippi residents want to fire her. The race has become a focal point for debates on Black voting power in the South, with Republicans signaling a desire to redraw state legislative and judicial maps after the midterms.

Ashley Kennedy Shelton, who runs a nonpartisan civic engagement group in Louisiana, said people of all stripes are expressing frustration and a desire for change. She predicted that voters would show up at the ballot box because they are tired of the current system. The last Democratic senator from Mississippi was elected in the early 1980s, and the last successful Black statewide candidate served during Reconstruction.