Democrat Scott Colom made history this month, becoming Mississippi’s first black senator since the Reconstruction era after defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
The 43-year-old’s victory also contributed to a Democratic majority of at least 55 seats in the Senate – the party’s biggest midterm victory since 1986.
Voters across the United States reflected on the significance of Colom’s victory, and many older voters expressed hope that it could open a new chapter for a state and region marked by a long history of racism and segregation. Others have looked to Colom and a new generation of Democrats to deliver on key campaign promises, whether it’s tackling the cost of living, ending the U.S.-Iran war or tackling the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies.
Dye Bailey, a black senior from Grenada, Mississippi, said, “It makes me so proud to see Scott Colom win the Senate because Mississippi has been trying to (stop) black people from voting for our rights for so long. Mississippi is so racist, but I’m proud that all of (all of) Mississippi can (unite) as one people.”
Bailey added that she hopes Colom will fight for health care for all Mississippians, “feed the needy” and protect voting rights.
For Greg P, a 71-year-old retired Chicago-based professor who spent most of his childhood and young adulthood in Mississippi, Colom’s victory offers hope.
“My father was an Episcopal priest, and my family was active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Our family burned a cross on the lawn of our rectory in 1971, and I was attacked several times in my mid-teens by racists incensed by our activism,” he said.
“What gives me hope is that Colom was able to speak to both black and white Mississippians, convincing black voters that this time they could actually win, and persuading a significant percentage of whites that a black senator would do better with them than a white senator had done for years.”
He continued: “White people in Mississippi often spoke to me about the horrible things they believed would happen to them ‘if black people took over,’ showing absolute clarity about what white people had done to black people there over the decades and centuries. They believed that revenge would be the first thing to do. Now, it seems that a significant number of them have overcome that fear, which gives me great hope that others will follow this path in the future.”
Like Greg, Catherine Park, a 64-year-old hospital laboratory director based in Newark, Delaware, sees Colom’s victory as a sign of change. Park grew up in southern Mississippi in the 1970s, when the “KKK really had a presence in the state.”
“I am so proud and excited for Senator Colom. I watch the news daily about his growing lead. Times are changing,” Park said. She added that she hoped he would “make a difference in one of the poorest states in the country” and that “his example would become a shining light to lead Mississippi out of the 19th century and into the 21st.”
Pat Crimm, a 72-year-old retired electrical engineer who grew up in segregation-era Jackson, Mississippi, said he registered to vote on his 18th birthday, casting his first vote against Richard Nixon. He sees Colom’s victory as the start of a new political chapter for Mississippi.
“Besides the Dixiecrats, I have only voted for one Democrat who carried Mississippi and was elected – Jimmy Carter,” Crimm said, adding, “Scott Colom seems like a good man who will help us recover from the current administration. His predecessor in the Senate was anti-poor and an ardent Maga. I hope there is a new sheriff in town who will fight for Mississippi and America.”
For Sherri Vacarella, a 75-year-old retired teacher based in Portland, Oregon, who grew up in Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s, Colom’s victory “is the most exciting change in Southern politics in my long life.”
“The idea that he will represent Mississippi, a state that has tried to prevent black representation since Reconstruction, is especially sweet for this senior progressive Democrat. I pray for his success and fully hope that he will do a great job as a senator from Mississippi,” she said. “I am optimistic that Senator Colom will focus on affordability and propose legislation that will reduce costs and provide a more reliable national government, thereby ending the horrors of ICE, the Iran War and Pete Hegseth.”
Similarly, JJ Amawaro Wilson, a 57-year-old writer based in New Mexico who identifies as Anglo-Nigerian-American, said: “In the most racist state in a deeply racist country, this is an extraordinary result, a seismic shift. In the arena of modern electoral politics, it is comparable only to (Barack) Obama’s ascension to the presidency. Colom knows his history. He knows that his accomplishment comes in the wake of the civil rights struggle of Fannie Lou Hamer, Martin Luther King, John Lewis and many others.
Wilson continued: “Colom has earned his place in history. Now he must focus on the present, particularly on the cost of living and corruption. I hope he succeeds in improving the lives of everyone in Mississippi, including those who voted against him, because that is his mandate and that is how he will stay in office.”
Charmaine Rehg, 74, who lives in Eugene, Ore., and is originally from St. Louis, Mo., said Colom’s victory “will mean a lot more respect for Mississippi, which has been demeaned for being ‘backward’ and ‘redneck’.”
Rehg recalled what she witnessed growing up and traveling through the South on family vacations to Florida, saying, “We saw separate water fountains for ‘white’ and ‘colored’ people.” We saw separate bathrooms on a train we took one year. In Florida, black people were not allowed on public beaches. So I’m excited to see this victory, especially in Mississippi. This is part of many other changes in the south.
Looking ahead, Rehg said she hopes Colom will pursue a series of policy changes, including a “health care system more in line with that of Europe.”
“We have an extremely expensive and fragmented system. Plus, housing is overpriced, which I hope he addresses. And I hope he addresses environmental degradation. His state is on the Gulf Coast, where there is a history of oil spills and pollution at sea, particularly fertilizer runoff from land carried down the Mississippi River to the Gulf, causing dead zones due to algae blooms,” she declared.
“And I want him to help this country stop the war with Iran, not support (Benjamin) Netanyahu and help Ukraine,” Rehg added.
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