Stuart Stevens joined Joy Reid to plunge headfirst into the Mississippi Senate race, where Democrat Scott Colom is looking to unseat Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Mississippi isn’t exactly a blue state, to say the least, as Stuart knows all too well as a native son. But Hyde-Smith comes off as a weak, accidental senator with no real accomplishments to speak of. There’s an absence of enthusiasm from the base. In fact, when she won her seat against Democrat Mike Espy, Hyde-Smith underperformed Trump while Espy over-performed Biden.
In other words: this seat’s winnable, especially in a midterm with no Trump at the top of the ticket.
It’s not a given, obviously. The ground game needs to catch fire for Colom, whose athletic, coachy-feel seems to resonate with voters, and digital media is also essential. But, again … winnable.
Maybe Mississippi is a microcosm for other challenging states and races. Stuart and Joy zoomed out to to Senate races in North Carolina — where Democrats have Roy Cooper and Texas — where Dems have James Talarico. Both are winnable, too. The case can be made that Dems have been too timid in red states in years past. If they’re going to move the needle this year, they need to be bold and confident in their message.
And we need to run everywhere, win or lose.
