Kristoffer Ealy is a political scientist, political analyst, and professor in Southern California. He teaches American Government and political behavior, with a focus on political psychology, voting behavior, and political socialization. Subscribe to his Substack, The Thinking Class with Professor Ealy.
Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith gave the people of Mississippi a choice. In February, a WLOX anchor asked her what Republicans planned to do about beef prices. Now, Cindy raises cattle. Her husband is a fifth-generation cattle rancher. She sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee. If anybody in Washington ought to be able to get through a question about ground beef without stepping in shit, you’d think it would be her. Instead, she told the people paying those prices they “have so many proteins to choose from.” Five generations in the cattle business and Cindy got on television and told Mississippi to buy chicken. I hope somebody made her explain that at the next family reunion.
She had months to come up with a better answer. When WLOX caught up with her in October, Cindy explained that gasoline was different because, unless you wanted to ride a bicycle, you had to buy it. So there you have it. Put the hamburger back, get on your Schwinn, and pedal your ass to a second grocery store. I’m sure the people working two jobs in Biloxi were grateful to learn their senator had also found time to redesign their commute.
The minute I saw Scott Colom’s ad, I knew he was winning this race. A man stands over a grill, flipping burgers that cost about 22 percent more than they did when Trump took office, and asks, “Pick another protein? Shit, I’d rather pick another senator instead.” A woman in a grocery aisle gets as far as “What the f—,” and an older woman in a diner announces that Cindy “done lost her damn mind.” Then there’s Colom at his kitchen table, laughing like a man who’s already read the returns. When somebody’s grandmother tells a camera crew your senator done lost her damn mind, everybody at home knows exactly how many chances Grandma gave that woman before she said it in public. Mississippi looked over the menu, thought about the chicken, thought about the pork, and ordered a new senator.
That order took 145 years to come out of the kitchen. Mississippi sent Hiram Revels, the country’s first Black senator, to Washington in 1870. It sent Blanche K. Bruce, the second, a few years later. Bruce served a full term that ended in 1881. The state legislature chose both men, back when senators were picked by legislators. Mississippi spent the better part of the next century making sure Black citizens could barely get to a ballot box, much less choose a United States senator. When Colom is sworn in this January, he’ll be the first Black senator from Mississippi since Bruce and the first Black senator Mississippians ever elected themselves.
Colom’s lead at the end of election night was 43 votes. When the Associated Press called the race, it was 4,669. He won all 12 county updates that came in on the day of the call. Even in Republican-leaning Jackson County, where Hyde-Smith needed to make up ground, Colom won the last batch. Think about how easy it would have been for either party to look at Mississippi a year ago and decide the outcome was settled. Then think about all the people whose ballots were still being counted a week after the rest of the country had moved on. There’s your difference between a state Republicans can win and a state they think they own.
The same mistake cost Republicans three other Southern Senate seats.
