Amid dueling ad buys and a parade of prominent political figures, a Senate hopeful believes “It could be enough” for him to break a trend dating back to the ’80s.
Throughout the midterm election cycle, much attention has been given to Senate races in places like Maine and Michigan, where Democrats propped up some of their more radical players, as well as Texas that has remained an electoral prize just beyond the left’s reach. However, these aren’t the only races that could impact the balance of the Senate as Scott Colom, the Democratic Party’s nominee in Mississippi, got a boost from the likes of former Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Following reports that Colom, trailing incumbent Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) in the polls, already outspent her campaign by about $4.6 million to $3.2 million, it was confirmed that the Schumer-tied Senate Majority PAC reserved $1.2 million in advertising for the closing days of the race.
“It could be enough. I mean, the thing is, the people of Mississippi built this campaign,” Colom told Fox News Digital about the ad buy.
He further argued as his opponent “refuses to debate, she doesn’t campaign,” that, “Because of that, I was able to build momentum on the ground, which means now that it’s getting attention, now that it’s getting resources, I’m able to take advantage of it in a way that other candidates couldn’t.”
In addition to the influx of cash, Colom has been provided Democratic stump support with appearances by Harris, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock. His schedule also includes an event planned for Thursday with South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn as well as one with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg slated to make an Election Day appeal at a Gulf Coast rally.
The last time Mississippi elected a Democrat to the congressional upper chamber was in 1982. Now, University of Mississippi political science professor Jonathan Klingler told Fox News Digital that the character and capital investments have crafted the “talking point of Mississippi as evidence for momentum and building a Democratic wave.”
“So at least I’m not — I can’t say whether that’s the intent of the funding here or visits,” added Klingler, “but that is the effect.”
Meanwhile, Republican leadership hasn’t merely sat back and watched this unfold as the Senate Majority Leader John Thune-aligned (R-SD) Senate Leadership Fund reportedly committed its own seven-figure ad buy as a response. Likewise, President Donald Trump’s ongoing nationwide barnstorming placed him in the Eagle State on Monday where he rallied for Hyde-Smith.
“Instead of saving himself the embarrassment of being denied a job twice by Hyde-Smith,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Bernadette Breslin to Fox News Digital as she referred to the Democrat being blocked for a judgeship as a nominee under then-President Joe Biden, “Colom is running a campaign backed by Chuck Schumer, funded by George Soros, and built on pro-transgender and other far-left policies.”
