Trump visits Mississippi to back Cindy Hyde-Smith against Scott Colom
The president travels to a state he won three times as Democrats invest $1.2 million in a late-stage ad campaign.
By Enzo Conti ·
President Donald Trump travels to Mississippi on Monday.
The trip marks the latest stop in a final week of campaigning before the November 3 midterm election.
Trump will join incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith for an evening rally in Corinth.
Hyde-Smith seeks a second full term in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1947.
Her opponent is Scott Colom, a local prosecutor who would become the state’s first Black senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.
Colom has outpaced Hyde-Smith in fundraising since launching his campaign last year.
He gained national attention this month with a television ad featuring the former state agriculture commissioner.
In the spot, Hyde-Smith says consumers have many other proteins to choose from after beef prices rose.
The ad closes with Colom saying Mississippi should pick another senator.
Colom’s team also released a social media video using an AI-generated image of Hyde-Smith dodging questions.
The Democrat removed the video after the Mississippi attorney general said it could violate state laws on deepfakes near Election Day.
A Senate Democratic super PAC has invested $1.2 million in the race recently that money can reach a wider audience in Mississippi’s small television markets compared to larger states like Texas or Georgia. Hyde-Smith remains the favorite in a state Trump won three times by an average of nearly 20 percentage points. However, Colom is leveraging voter concern over inflation and the Iran war to challenge the Republican establishment. The presidential visit underscores the difficulty Republicans face in protecting their Senate majority, which currently stands at 53 to 47. Democrats need to flip at least four seats to take control of the chamber. In the House, Republicans started the cycle with a 220 to 215 advantage, but recent redistricting efforts have made nine Democratic seats more competitive for Republicans based on 2024 presidential results. Nearly 30 million voters have already cast ballots nationwide as both parties push for a final surge of support in battleground districts.
Source: ABC News
