Why Democrats are daring to dream in Mississippi, starting with a candidate crossing the state in a taco truck

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.

对于民主党人斯科特·科洛姆来说，他争取在密西西比州赢得美国参议院席位的努力虽然希望渺茫，但并非毫无希望。

这位43岁的当地检察官希望在这个深红州击败共和党参议员辛迪·海德-史密斯。该州近四十年来从未选出过民主党参议员，自重建时期以来也从未选出过黑人候选人赢得全州选举。两年前，唐纳德·特朗普总统以23个百分点的优势赢得了该州。

他和他的盟友认为，共和党面临的政治逆风以及该州庞大的黑人选民群体（占比 35%，是所有州中最大的）使得密西西比州在获得足够的关注和资金后，即将成为具有竞争力的州。

科洛姆在杰克逊市周末竞选活动前接受CNN采访时表示：“我认为，在政治方面，这个国家已经习惯性地忽视了密西西比州。这就像先有鸡还是先有蛋的问题。我们在密西西比州不参与竞争，所以表现不好，然后我们又说，‘好吧，我们表现不好，所以我们不应该参与竞争。’”

这位魅力四射的民主党人似乎正在赢得越来越多党内领导人的支持：前副总统卡马拉·哈里斯将于周四加入他的竞选活动。上周，奥巴马总统为他录制了一则支持广告，而美国参议院的四位黑人民主党参议员也都在最近几周前往该州助选。周二，一个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，将斥资120万美元开展广告宣传活动，以支持他的竞选。

“我很高兴全国开始关注密西西比州，因为事实是，密西西比州并非无可救药，”科洛姆说。“它只是被背叛了。”

在整个南方，民主党人开始希望他们即使在密西西比州这样的共和党堡垒也能取得胜利，因为共和党的中期选举环境不利，而且正如战略家特伦斯·伍德伯里所说，人们对共和党遏制黑人政治权力的激进举措产生了“反弹”。

“黑人选民的积极性提高以及共和党选民的沮丧情绪，可能会使密西西比州这样的地方在今年大选中获胜，”民主党研究公司 HIT Strategies 的总裁伍德伯里说。

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，科洛姆要想爆冷获胜，需要密西西比州黑人选民的大力支持，再加上大约 25% 的白人选民的支持。

这位民主党人表示，他不会被这道高门槛吓倒。

科隆说：“我要对所有密西西比州居民说：当我谈到关税损害密西西比州居民的利益时，我指的是所有密西西比州居民。当我谈到提高最低工资时，那将对所有密西西比州居民都有好处。”

科洛姆竞选参议员席位之际，黑人在国会的代表权正面临几十年来最大的威胁。

在今年早些时候一起轰动一时的选区重划案中，最高法院几乎彻底削弱了根据1965年《投票权法案》提起种族歧视诉讼的权力。在路易斯安那州诉卡莱斯案中，最高法院作出裁决后几天内，田纳西州、路易斯安那州和阿拉巴马州由共和党控制的立法机构便争相重新划分黑人人口众多的国会选区。

尽管非裔美国人在整个地区的选举权力面临新的挑战，但今年秋季，几位黑人民主党候选人在共和党或倾向共和党的地区开展了比预期更强劲的竞选活动。

例如，在阿拉巴马州，共和党地图绘制者将目标锁定在民主党众议员肖马里·菲格斯的选区，但独立政治分析机构“内部选举”上周将选情向菲格斯倾斜，从“可能”共和党转为“倾向”共和党，理由是政治环境的变化。

民主党人乐观情绪高涨的原因之一是：黑人选民。数据显示，黑人选民仍然占选民总数的相当大一部分，在他新的选区约占40%，低于旧选区划分下的47%。而蒙哥马利市——1955年反对种族隔离公共交通的抵制运动正是从这里开启了现代民权运动——仍然保持完整。

“我们这里还有一些亲历过那些战役的人，他们的子女和孙辈也大多秉持着同样的精神，同样理解历史的重要性，”菲格斯告诉CNN。“他们对所发生的事情感到愤怒，我们认为这会在11月的选举中有所体现。”

与此同时，在北卡罗来纳州，连任两届的众议员唐·戴维斯正与共和党候选人劳里·巴克豪特展开激烈角逐。尽管新的选区划分方案将黑人选民从他目前的选区分流出去，并纳入了一些共和党传统票仓，但戴维斯的选情依然胶着。这位空军退伍老兵在竞选活动中大力宣传他在国会山的中间派立场，力图赢得一批更为保守的新选民的支持。

在北卡罗来纳州的其他地方，共和党控制的州和县选举委员会今年决定拒绝在几所大学校园内或附近设立提前投票站，这引发了缺乏便捷交通工具投票的学生的抗议。

上周，在北卡罗来纳州提前投票的第一天，300多名来自北卡罗来纳州立农业技术大学的学生游行到校外投票站投票。该校是美国规模最大的传统黑人大学。

“他们试图剥夺全州少数族裔选民的选举权，并压制他们的投票率，”21岁的大三学生泽维尔·琼斯说道，他参与组织了这次游行。“我希望他们明白，即使他们利用权力组织起来反对人民，人民也会立即组织起来反击。”

在密西西比州，选区重划也引发了民众的积极行动。

据全国有色人种协进会 (NAACP) 的泰勒称，今年 5 月，在密西西比州考虑重新划分选区但最终放弃之后，仍有约 5000 人冒着下雨的工作日聚集起来，为投票权举行集会。

密西西比州共和党议员仍将重新划分选区列为议程上的重要事项，他们计划很快至少在州议会席位上重新划分选区。该州共和党州长泰特·里夫斯暗示，共和党人将在未来一轮选区划分中重点关注本尼·汤普森众议员的选区。汤普森是该州四名联邦众议员中唯一的非裔民主党人。

泰勒说：“我去理发店的时候，一些平时不太关心政治的人也问我选区重划的情况。他们可能不了解所有专业术语，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，今年该组织设立了11个选民登记点，这是自2012年以来首次大规模开展选民登记活动。此次活动新增了17000多名选民。

科洛姆面临着巨大的挑战。另一位民主党人，前国会议员迈克·埃斯皮，六年前曾筹集了1200万美元竞选资金，并吸引了全国的关注，试图击败海德-史密斯，但最终却以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成功的希望。

三年前，民主党候选人布兰登·普雷斯利在州长竞选中以微弱劣势败给了里夫斯，差距仅约三个百分点。而在今年三月的初选中，民主党的投票率大幅飙升，比2018年增长了75%，2018年是密西西比州参议院选举上次没有与总统选举重叠的年份。与此同时，共和党的投票率在同一时期保持稳定。

共和党人表示，如果民主党人认为密西西比州选民会为了科洛姆而抛弃强大的参议院拨款委员会成员海德-史密斯，那他们就是在自欺欺人。

“密西西比州人民了解她的政绩：为基础设施和农村医疗保健争取了数十亿美元；确认了保守派法官的任命，阻止了自由派法官的任命；为工薪家庭和小企业减税；确保了边境安全；并且投票阻止男性干预女子体育运动和更衣室，”海德-史密斯的竞选经理杰克·蒙森在一份声明中说。

密西西比州资深共和党人士奥斯汀·巴伯表示，众多知名民主党人为科洛姆前往该州助选，最终可能会帮助这位现任议员。

“他们唤醒了共和党的基本盘，在此之前，他们还相当沉睡，”巴伯告诉CNN。“他们现在想的是，‘好吧，我们绝不会让我们的党输给民主党的极左翼。’”

科洛姆表示，他的重要任务之一是让他的潜在支持者相信民主党人也能赢得选举。

为了实现这一目标，他不懈地开展竞选活动，在全州各地举办了 60 场市政厅会议，并带着他引人注目的“密西西比事务”餐车四处奔走。

该竞选活动提供餐车上的“自选蛋白质”玉米卷，这是对海德-史密斯此前在被问及牛肉价格上涨时发表的言论的讽刺，当时他说有“这么多蛋白质可供选择”。

上周，科洛姆的竞选团队更进一步，发布了一段讽刺视频，嘲讽海德-史密斯的言论，仅在X网站上就获得了200万次观看。“换一种蛋白质？她疯了吧，”视频中，一名女子慢条斯理地说着，然后咬了一口炸鲶鱼。

科洛姆周末精力充沛、干劲十足，在杰克逊四处奔走，并在杰克逊州立大学的返校节上进行竞选活动。与此同时，另一位前来支持的外州民主党人，德克萨斯州众议员贾斯敏·克罗克特也一同出席。

克罗克特是一位来自达拉斯的激进派政治家，她今年早些时候竞选参议员失败。在接受 CNN 采访时，她称密西西比州是民主党取得进展的“沃土”。

“从人口统计学角度来看，密西西比州绝对应该是一个民主党州，”她说。

周六，科洛姆先与机械师工会的成员进行了一次 Zoom 通话，然后前往布伦特药店，这是一家位于密西西比州首府的热门聚会场所。

在那里，他手写了明信片上的信息，他的支持者，包括居住在杰克逊的女商人托尼·库利，随后填写了地址，准备寄给他们的家人和朋友。

库利指出，这位民主党人在医疗保健问题上的立场，以及加强联邦医疗保险计划（Medicaid，为低收入和残疾美国人提供的医疗保险计划）的必要性，是她支持他的原因之一。

“我认为医疗保健是一项权利，”66岁的库利说道，他对农村医院的关闭和护士短缺表示担忧。

从布伦特家出来后，科洛姆就前往杰克逊州立大学参加返校节盛会。

尽管科洛姆的竞选资金储备落后于海德-史密斯，但他截至9月底已筹集到近400万美元，这使他得以投放电视广告。他告诉CNN，他是过去15年来仅有的四位筹集到足够资金在全州范围内投放电视广告的民主党人之一。

周六，当他走在成千上万名学生和杰克逊州立大学校友中间，他们正在聚会，享用烧烤和炸鸡时，种种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，偶尔还会向这位“下一任参议员”喊话。

克罗克特的 T 恤上贴着科洛姆和汤普森的竞选贴纸，她摆姿势拍照，接受电台采访，并在竞选餐车外进行现场直播。

科洛姆的妻子娜迪亚毕业于杰克逊州立大学，曾是该校黑人大学啦啦队 Prancing J-Settes 的成员。周六，她与其他校友一起在球场上表演。

在足球比赛期间，科洛姆在巨大的马蹄形体育场内与观众互动，然后与他九岁的女儿露西和八岁的女儿麦迪一起观看了中场表演，之后便溜回他的 Airbnb 小睡了一会儿。

晚上 10 点，他又踏上了征程，这次是为了参加杰克逊州立大学战胜佛罗里达农工大学后的返校节庆活动。

他的周六一直持续到周日凌晨2点。

“我会全力以赴，”科洛姆说。“我会把一切都留在球场上。”

CNN的Sarah Ferris和Edward Wu对本报道亦有贡献。