FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2026
Colom lifted to victory by broad coalition of Mississippians
Victory comes as new local reporting reveals Hyde-Smith billed nearly $10,000 in Vegas hotel stays to her campaign — then voted to keep her spending secret
District Attorney Colom: “Tonight, Mississippi voted for a new direction, and that’s what this campaign has always been about”
Columbus, MS — District Attorney and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom won the Mississippi Democratic primary tonight, securing his place on the November ballot against incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. Colom, a seventh-generation Mississippian and District Attorney with a 94% conviction record, won an overwhelming majority of the vote, powered by a broad coalition of Mississippians across the state.
Colom’s victory caps a primary campaign built on thousands of conversations across Mississippi focused on the need to lower costs, protect health care and hospitals, and bring good jobs home — issues Colom has pledged to prioritize in Washington. In contrast, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith — who voted to gut Medicaid, slash health care for 140,000 Mississippians, and told Mississippians struggling with grocery prices to stop eating beef and instead ‘choose’ a different protein — billed nearly $10,000 in Las Vegas hotel stays to her campaign account and voted against the very transparency measures that would have required her to explain them, according to a Mississippi Free Press report and FEC records.
“Tonight, Mississippi voted for a new direction, and that’s what this campaign has always been about. I’ve traveled all over this state, listening to farmers who can’t sell their crops, mothers deciding between paying their utility bill or buying groceries, and workers who are terrified of losing their health care. These folks matter, they’re why I’m running, and they’re why we’re going to win. Cindy Hyde-Smith has had the seat, the platform, and the power to act for Mississippi families — but she’s been too busy serving herself and her big-money donors. That ends in November,” said District Attorney Colom.
Colom enters the general election with momentum for his growing campaign: he out-raised Hyde-Smith in Q4, and earned the endorsement of the Mississippi AFL-CIO, Congressman Bennie Thompson, and 29 Mississippi state legislators representing residents in every corner of the state. Colom’s strong election night victory demonstrates that Mississippi — home to the largest Black proportional population in America, and a state where the 2023 gubernatorial race saw Democrats come within 27,000 votes of a win — is competitive when the right candidate makes the right case.
Key highlights of Scott Colom’s primary victory remarks:
“Now, over the last five months—for anybody that’s been watching—you know that I’ve been traveling all across the state listening to Mississippians, asking them what matters to them. And I can tell you all something that I’ve learned: we are headed in the wrong direction, y’all. We’re heading in the wrong direction.”
“But during this campaign, I found out that [Cindy Hyde-Smith is] not asleep at the wheel–she’s in Las Vegas! Vacation! Eating good! Shopping! Based on corporate lobbyist money that she got that’s supposed to go to campaign finance. That’s why she’s so disconnected from the lives of average Mississippians. That’s why she says stuff like, if you can’t afford beef, pick another protein. And while we are headed in the wrong direction—headed towards a cliff—we all know what she’s going to try and do. She’s going to try to divide and distract us. She’s going to have scary commercials that are dark with deep, scary voices—all aimed at dividing and distracting us from what really matters to the working people in Mississippi, what really matters to us.”
“We’re going to go in this new direction together, and we’re going to do it by doing the exact opposite of the failed leadership we’re getting from Cindy Hyde-Smith. We’re going to show up all across the state—listening to Mississippians, understanding their needs, their desires, what will make our state reach its potential. Together, this new direction will include young people […] We’re going to get disaffected Democrats that have too often been ignored and felt like they don’t matter. […] This new direction will include independents and disaffected Republicans. […] We’re going to get them. But we’re going to have to get them together. We’re going to have to get them together.”
“Each generation of Mississippians gets to decide what our future looks like. We all get to write the chapter that future generations will read about Mississippi. We all get to control what they’ll say about us in this moment; what we did to put this state in a new direction. Deep down, I’m sorry, I believe: with your prayers, with your volunteering, with your belief—we can write a chapter that lives up to the best of our state and shows the country that Mississippi matters.”
Read the full transcript of Scott Colom’s primary victory remarks below:
“Thank you to Luci, Madi, Nadia—the loves of my life.
“I’ve got to give a special shout-out to G, Huber, and Theresa—the original “Mississippi Matters” team for believing in us. I also want to thank Congressman Bennie Thompson for his support, his guidance and his endorsement. I’ve been all across Mississippi today, talking to voters in Hattiesburg, Jackson, Grenada. And I want to thank them for opening up their hearts to me and sharing what matters to them. Last but not at least, I want to thank Columbus for always showing up and supporting me. I am absolutely honored to call this my hometown.
“Now, over the last five months—for anybody that’s been watching—you know that I’ve been traveling all across the state listening to Mississippians, asking them what matters to them. And I can tell you all something that I’ve learned: we are headed in the wrong direction, y’all. We’re heading in the wrong direction.
“I talked to the manager of a Dollar General. And she described to me the pain of watching her customers struggle at the end of the month to decide whether they could afford food or basic necessities—and how the tariffs have caused chaos to her consumers, to her customers, to her community. She talked to me about the frustration she felt about low wages that denied the dignity of work, requiring people to work several times and take away time with the family they love and that needs them. We’re heading the wrong direction, y’all. We’re heading in the wrong direction.
“I talked to a farmer named Michael in Oktibbeha County who followed in his family’s footsteps, and decided to dedicate his life to farming and helping our state reach it’s potential. He described to me the chaos that tariffs have caused to farmers all across our state, forcing them to face foreclosure or bankruptcy. We’re going in the wrong direction, y’all. We’re going in the wrong direction.
“I talked to a woman in Hattiesburg that was a recent kidney transplant survivor. And she described to me the concern she had, about the health care cuts that would cause 140,000 Mississippians to lose health care; that are going to put eight rural hospitals at risk opposing. We’re in the wrong direction, y’all. We are in the wrong direction.
“Last weekend, I talked to a Vietnam veteran in Natchez who had seen the horrors of war—the danger of unclear objectives when it comes to battle—worried about what that means for Mississippi’s sons and daughters, worried about what that means for our army that’s already stressed. We’re headed in the wrong direction, y’all. We’re heading in the wrong direction.
“At the start of this campaign, I know that Cindy Hyde-Smith was asleep at the wheel, I knew that. I knew that because she voted against billions of dollars that went to Mississippi roads and bridges. I knew that because she voted against the money that was necessary to fix the Jackson water crisis, to help our citizens in Jackson have the clean water they need. I knew she was asleep at the wheel, I did, I knew that. She voted against close to five billion dollars that went to the state of Mississippi under the American Rescue and Recovery Act.
“But during this campaign, I found out that she’s not asleep at the wheel–she’s in Las Vegas! Vacation! Eating good! Shopping! Based on corporate lobbyist money that she got that’s supposed to go to campaign finance. That’s why she’s so disconnected from the lives of average Mississippians. That’s why she says stuff like, if you can’t afford beef, pick another protein. And while we are headed in the wrong direction—headed towards a cliff—we all know what she’s going to try and do. She’s going to try to divide and distract us. She’s going to have scary commercials that are dark with deep, scary voices—all aimed at dividing and distracting us from what really matters to the working people in Mississippi, what really matters to us.
“Now, I got good news for you all, you may not know. And I certainly got good news for the country that they’re not aware of yet. This November 3rd, we are going in a new direction. We are going in a new direction. We’re going to go in this new direction together, and we’re going to do it by doing the exact opposite of the failed leadership we’re getting from Cindy Hyde-Smith. We’re going to show up all across the state—listening to Mississippians, understanding their needs, their desires, what will make our state reach its potential.
“Together, this new direction will include young people. We are going to find creative, unique ways to get their attention, to get them engaged in the process, to understand that their voice matters. We’re going to get disaffected Democrats that have too often been ignored and felt like they don’t matter. We’re going to get them, and we’re going to show them that their voice matters. This new direction will include independents and disaffected Republicans. Mississippians, they don’t want a senator that’s 100% MAGA—they want a senator that’s 100% Mississippi. We’re going to get them. But we’re going to have to get them together. We’re going to have to get them together. What I need from everybody in this room, everybody watching this, is to understand: it’s not about what I’m going to do, it’s about what we’re going to do. We’re going to need to build a volunteer army. Ready to fight back the distraction and the divisions by being united and focused. So if you have not already, go to scottcolom.com and sign up to volunteer and help us get prepared to show the state that we matter.
“This new direction we’re going in, it’s going to be rooted in the message that God gave me when I was thinking about running: Mississippi matters. Mississippi matters. This new direction will understand that Mississippi wages matter, and we’re going to help to fight; we’re going to fight, to bring good, high-paying jobs to Mississippi for that manager of Dollar General. Because we understand the dignity of work. This new direction will understand that low costs matter, that our farmers matter, that our small businesses matter. And we would give farmers like Michael their voice back in D.C. This new direction will understand that Mississippi health care and hospitals matter. Which is why, together, we must fight to cancel the health care cuts that will take away health care from 140,000 Mississippians and put eight more hospitals at risk of closing. We have to do that, y’all, we have to do that.
“Last but not least, this new direction will understand that more than anything else, Mississippi’s future has to matter. Each generation of Mississippians gets to decide what our future looks like. We all get to write the chapter that future generations will read about Mississippi. We all get to control what they’ll say about us in this moment; what we did to put this state in a new direction. Deep down, I’m sorry, I believe: with your prayers, with your volunteering, with your belief—we can write a chapter that lives up to the best of our state and shows the country that Mississippi matters. God bless y’all, thank y’all so much.”
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About Scott: Scott Colom is a seventh-generation Mississippian, proud husband and father of two, and district attorney who fights every day to keep Mississippians safe. Guided by his Christian faith, Scott has dedicated his life to serving his neighbors and keeping them safe from violent criminals. Now he’s running to lower costs for families, save our Mississippi hospitals, and bring good jobs home. Scott loves his state and will always put Mississippi first – and he’ll work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, to get things done for us.